BOSTON, MA (June 6th, 2023) – Boston-based and Mexican-born composer-percussionist Reynaliz Herrera, with her ensemble Ideas, Not Theories, release their debut album on June 30, 2023. Praised for her “toe-tapping vibe” by the Boston Globe, Reynaliz’s four-movement work BIKEncerto continues her exploration of the bicycle-as-instrument, now with the accompaniment of a chamber orchestra.

 

Reynaliz Herrera has created formal and theatrical compositions on the instrument of her choice – the bicycle – since completing her studies in 2012 at Boston Conservatory (Now Boston Conservatory at Berklee). Once an aspiring orchestral percussionist and classical soloist, Reynaliz stumbled upon the bike as an instrument by necessity – busking is less daunting when your mode of transportation becomes your instrument.

 

Abandoning Bach for the bike, she’s taken her experimental music-theater company, Ideas, Not Theories, to festivals across the US, Mexico, Canada, and even Barbados. With praise from sources as varied as the Percussive Arts Society and the Boston Cyclists Union, this attention-grabbing music has received acclaim at the Flea Theater NY, Boston and Brooklyn Children’s Museums, National Arts Center of Canada, International Festival of Arts & Ideas (New Haven, CT), and Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, among countless others.

Over a decade removed from the conservatory, BIKEncerto: a concerto for solo bicycle and orchestra, represents a reconciliation of Reynaliz’s found voice in the bicycle with her classical background. In BIKEncerto, she uses each movement to highlight a specific characteristic of her instrument, whether its designing a “tire keyboard” in Tires Movement by adjusting each tire’s PSI, conjuring melodic fragments from the tuned rods in Spokes Movement, or playfully exploring diverse parts of the bike in Metallic Movement. With a catalog of countless bike sounds, Reynaliz brings an innovative DIY, yet thorough, approach to percussion music, tracing her found objects roots from performing with her mother’s contemporary dance company as a teenager to now create music that is at once groove-based, humorous and playful, and possibly wry socio-economic critique.

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my musical work focuses extensively on the use of the bicycle as a musical instrument. My creative process and goal in general, has been to explore the musical bike’s different capabilities. Even though I have been composing for bicycles and
performing my bicycle music for the last 10+ years, with “BIKEncerto: a concerto for solo bicycle and orchestra” I challenged myself to explore the bicycle as a musical instrument in a more mature, nuanced and in-depth way, I want to treat these types of instruments (unconventional percussion and bicycles) as seriously as you would treat a violin, and show that they are capable of making interesting, complex, colorful and sophisticated music.

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“BIKEncerto: a concerto for solo bicycle and orchestra” is comprised of four different musical movements, heard in the five tracks of the album:

I. “Everything Movement”
Explores and features all the different sounds of the bicycle. Influenced by Octatonic scales, and
free jazz.

II. “Spokes Movement”
Explores and features the sounds of the “Melodic Spokes” using Reynaliz Herrera’s “Spokes
Keyboard”. You will hear melodies with the spokes, accompanied by a colorful
and playful blend of the strings and woodwinds. Inspired on Balinese Gamelan
Music.

III. “Metallic Movement”
Explores and features in detail all the metallic sounds of the bicycle (Frame tubes, chain-wheel,
spoke protector disc, wheel rim, etc). Atonal music, featuring latin rhythms, polyrhythms and a
mechanical feel.

IV. “Tires Movement” 
Explores and features the sounds of the “Tires”, using Reynaliz Herrera’s “Tires Keyboard”.
Inspired in Brazilian Samba music, everything is blended together simulating a “Carnival”.

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 ~ Reynaliz Herrera

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