The beginning

The Caracas-native Edicson Ruiz started on flute at age nine. Then at age 11 he joined the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela, where he was seduced by the double bass. He has spent his life studying and perfecting his technique ever since. At age 17 he earned a spot at the Berlin Philharmonic as a double bassist, and he has kept it for the last six years.

With a smile that seldom disappears from his face, Edicson Ruiz tells us his beginning in music: “At a gala in 1994, quite different from the great stories of music, Edicson’s debut occurred at an apartment balcony in Caracas. His audience was a lot of buildings and the Avila mountain, and his accompaniment was the chaotic symphony of the capital city: “I played the notes of the National Anthem as hard as I could so that the twin girls in the apartment next door could hear me”, he says with pride.

The evolution

"Inever liked classical music. I thought it was rather boring –the image of a conductor moving so strangely, almost like an autistic for over 2 hours. I never thought it was rational”, this young musician shares with us between giggles. He says that he started on orchestras because he had to obey his mother, because she forced him.

His first contact with music was at age nine, when he joined a choir that sang at “Plaza Morelos” (Caracas), and where he also played flute. “I already had a small notion. Remember that I used to stand at the balcony of my home apartment in “La Candelaria”, and I played to National Anthem. It made me feel good, strong. I’d play really hard, bad, out of tune, but be that as it may have, I felt the energy. That was my first experience –at a stage”, remembers Edicson.

Two years later his mother heard about the System of Orchestras and took him there. The young boy could not refuse to join El Sistema: “My mom made me go by telling me, ‘you’ll get in and if you don’t like it, you’ll get out’. Then I went and found that it was very fun, more than just academic”, he said. After beginning under pressure, classical music became the sense and guide in Edicson’s life.

The commitment

You started by force at age 11. When did it become fun to you?

Right away. In the beginning the double bass did not get my attention, it looked weird to me and so I applied for violin, viola and flute; after my exams I’ve got a viola, but I could not identify myself with that instrument. It just was not me. We did not have instruments on our first practice and there was only one double bass. It was the only sound that we could hear and it came from the floor filling the whole room. That sound really moved me and I felt its strength. Now when I play it, I feel the power of the low octave in Schonberg or Beethoven, which is quite dark, and though I don’t really love it dark, it is the feeling that awakens me, seduces me and dominates me.

Do you feel the same when you play today?

All the time! Now I focus more on playing solo and am always studying my pieces. That is part of a singing voice. It is not as dark as in the orchestra which is a movement in the shadows, or a horror movie –emulating sounds with a low voice. That is the low octave that we all pursue.

Do you think that you still would have exploited your music skills even if you had not entered the National System of Orchestras?

I do not know. I see music as something magical. It is quite a phenomenon. You can not tell a thunderbolt “fall now”. Music is like that –it may happen on someone with many conditions or it may not happen. And I thank Master Abreu about that, for giving himself to this task with such pedagogy and a native method, so calculating and visionary; for putting that seed of music in us the rural kids without that culture of classical music. He knew how to sow it and now he is reaping it.

To dream

Neither fatigue nor wrong will beat Edicson. He struggles constantly to improve and reach excellence on his instrument. He studies every day and seeks to work as a soloist. “I remember that I have constantly changed since I was a child, every month, from the position to hold the instrument. I have tried to discover new things and improve. Fortunately, all the sacrifices that I have made have turned into blessings and have proved to me that I am not wasting my time. I take life as a constant evolution and one has to fight to do it right and learn more and more. I do ask God not to allow me to fall into pessimism”, he says excitedly.

Although he has performed nearly 400 times, he says that each one has been important, not to discredit any of them: “It would be selfish and cheap not to mention one of them. I enjoy each time that I perform because they are a struggle for a gold medal. I am always pursuing excellence and that is why they have been so magical, filled with that feeling of perfection, and not only from a technical viewpoint but also spiritually. A concert is nothing –what is important is the work and that is what I want to share with the audience and the double bass society”.

It is not hard to reminisce the bad times: “Going wrong has always been the worst. Years ago Igor Lanz was conducting me. I got terribly lost and I was the only bass with four cellos. I was completely out of phase and I did not know what to do. I mimicked playing and I was horribly embarrassed. I faked for about three minutes and it was absolutely awful”.

Edicson Ruiz states that his performance and perseverance have taken him where he is now and that “disadvantages are for those who do not dream. They will not come up”. Despite having an agenda filled with tours, practices, lessons and other occupations, he does not take it as an obligation or a job, but rather as the center of his life and his passion. “It is a beautiful challenge offering me an incredible opportunity to develop virtues and to come in contact with so many people. This is achieved with perseverance, effort, and discipline. Coexistence teaches faithfulness and respect”, he says.

Berlin

Edicson has been a main double bass player at the Berlin Philharmonic since 2001, one of the most internationally renowned orchestras. He says about it: “It was crazy! It was too early. It was hard in the beginning. They did not treat me like a child but like a professional who must play the way it should sound. The level of musicianship is very high, it does not matter whether I improve –I must do it the right way. It is a type of crash but very positive, although not pleasing, because we always want content. We are not used to the demand for excellence.

Do this time in Berlin and your aspirations as a soloist break your relationship with El Sistema?

No. I do feel that there has been a lack of relationship due to my orchestra activities in Berlin. That is why I do not play in orchestras here (in Caracas). But I still play chamber music with the Symphony Orchestra. I do not attend the practices but I do play often, teach lessons, and both the Latin American Academy of Double Bass and the Venezuelan school are totally renewed with the material that I have brought from Germany. I think that this is my gift to Venezuela and thank God that it happens in the orchestra. Being a main player in Berlin is irrelevant. Music is what matters.

What else will you give as a musician?

I want to share particularly with other Venezuelans, the virtues behind music. It is evident that a musician’s mind will never be the same as that of someone else with another profession. It is a different feeling, other reactions without control, not artistically, neither in harmony with nature, the Avila mountain, or the beach; but we are surrounded by a different nature that invades us.

What does it mean to you that international composers come to you to compose pieces for double bass, and then you have the benefit to premiere them?

I think that music is a language and that is why I do not like to play a recital with two works, but rather with six or seven, brief but capable of carrying a message. What I enjoy the most about composers writing for me is that it will always have an injection of energy, and this encourages me to keep studying.

And beyond

Beyond the instrument and the interpreter

His mother’s support has been invaluable for his progress. He admits that just like her, he does not enjoy traveling so much: “The day before getting on a plane I ask God to forgive me for all my wrongdoing, and that he takes me there alright. I always feel like it is the first time and that traveling is completely new again”.

He emphasizes that playing double bass is not a job or an obligation: “To me, playing has always been an opportunity to improve; that is why those times when I lock myself up to study, without vacations, have not been a job, but fun, because if it had ever been a job to me I would have already changed it for another one that pays more money. I have never had issues on that sense”, he shares.

Edicson seeks to “unload” for fun without feeling compromised, and disconnect from music. He has found a new interest: “Not long ago someone gave my mother a plant, and I enjoy watering it and seeing it grow. I love nature”. He can not choose one plant in particular: “I can not have a favorite. I would rather a multicolored garden”.

Having played in Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, all Europe, the United States and parts of Latin America, he has a strong feeling for his roots: “Venezuela has always been a magical country, in constant motion. The difference between this land and Europe is the comfort to develop relationships with people. Up there you live in the show and the bus; nothing to do with the way it is here with the bread guy, the grocery store girl, the children playing downstairs, the neighbor who will not let you sleep with his music at top volume. Up there everything is too perfect and the exercise of music is well respected; but perfection not always makes you happy”.