He's all about the music
Published Saturday December 31st, 2011
Joey Roy is a musician, a music librarian, a music teacher and the manager of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra
By TARA CHISLETT
chislett.taralynn@dailygleaner.com
If you don't have kids involved in the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, you might not know Joey Roy. In fact, if you run into him in a casual setting, he'd probably seem like a typical 25-year-old guy who likes hanging out with his girlfriend, playing sports when he has the chance and organizing impromptu jam sessions with friends.
But when orchestra season is in full swing, Roy's schedule quickly fills with commitments that keep him busy from the time he wakes up in the morning until late in the evening.
He's a musician, a music librarian, a Sistema teacher and an as of summer 2011, orchestra manager for the NBYO.
Fitting an interview in on Dec. 22 while his Sistema kids watch a movie during their last class before Christmas, he says he doesn't end up with a lot of free time these days.
"I haven't taken an actual day off since October sometime," says Roy. "It's lots of hats, lots of hats ... it's a job but it doesn't feel like a job that much. It's fun."
Growing up in Dalhousie Junction and later moving to Campbellton, Roy said he became interested in music at an early age.
"I've wanted to play drums since Grade 4 and finally got to try in Grade 9 music class," he says. "I got my own old set that Christmas."
After high school, Roy went on to study at Université de Moncton, where he originally thought he wanted to pursue a business degree.
But two years in, he switched his major over to music performance, going on to receive his bachelor's degree in percussion performance.
"I just graduated actually," he says. "I did my final exam in September. I was already doing these jobs here and I was in school so I had to take a few days off Sistema to do my graduation recital."
As a university student, Roy says he was always looking for ways to be involved in music.
In addition to joining the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, where he went on to become principal percussionist, he formed a percussion trio with two friends called Triolet d'Nord, which still performs together. He also took part in several different smaller projects as opportunities came up.
Essentially, he says, if someone asked him to play, he always said yes.
"I think that's why I ended up in this position," he says.
"I always went with every opportunity that presented itself to me."
Roy says landing the role as orchestra manager and percussion teacher in the Sistema New Brunswick program in Moncton was very much an example of his 'say-yes-to-every opportunity' philosophy since the two roles are ones he never thought he'd be in.
"When I went into business, that was kind of what I was looking at, you know, managing or having a business," he says.
"But then I went to music - music performance - and I was just speared toward performance. So I didn't think I'd be doing something like this. It didn't even cross my mind that I could or someone would want me to. But I was approached by the orchestra this summer and they suggested that I might want to roll two jobs into one, be the orchestra manager with the NBYO and be the percussion teacher with Sistema. So I said okay."
As orchestra manager for the NBYO - an orchestra made up of musicians between the ages of 11 and 21 from all across the province - Roy says his role includes everything from booking venues to making sure technical requirements are met to being a general point of contact for members and their parents.
He describes himself as the backstage guy.
"Every time they lose music, which happens every time, I have to get them more music. Basically every time they (the members) need to know something, I'm the one who tells them - where they're going, what the dates are, what's going on, what the schedule is, he says. "I take care of the members, if you will."
As a teacher in the Sistema program, Roy says he spends three hours each day working with kids enrolled in the program's new percussion program.
A program that gives disadvantaged children in Grades 1 to 4 a chance to learn to play a musical instrument, the Sistema program opened its first orchestral centre in Moncton in 2009, with a second following in Saint John in 2011.
In its early years in Moncton, Roy says Sistema only offered string and woodwind instruments but percussion has been added this year.
Although he taught privately in the past, he says he felt a little nervous on his first day teaching in the Sistema program.
"I was scared myself," he says. "But over time, you become comfortable."
Because Sistema runs after school every day, Roy says that means he's at the school from noon until 5:30 daily, arriving early to set up for the three hour practice time.
It's a large portion of his day, but he says being backstage at the recent Christmas show and seeing his students perform for the first time was an amazing experience that makes the time spent worthwhile.
"It was almost emotional," he says. "You see them go and you're like wow. They're doing it. They're on stage and they're all scared before going on stage ... then they go out and bang, they're all playing together and they sound great. And you can see the excitement on their faces when they leave the stage.
"It's just great."
When he's not teaching, travelling or working to keep the NBYO running seamlessly, Roy says he spends a lot of his time in Moncton practicing with Triolet d'Nord, who recently returned from playing at the Labrador Creative Arts Festival. He's also involved in an Iranian percussion quintet called Avahang.
Outside music-related projects, he says he tries to spend as much time as he can with his friends, his family and his girlfriend, Renée Rodgers.
"She's supportive but at the same time, she'd like that I have more time. When I have opportunities for tours and what not, she's like, 'Aw yeah, that's great but that means lots of time alone for me,'" he says with a laugh.
"But she's very supportive. So are my friends and family. They'll call sometimes and they'll be like, 'Hey, you coming here this weekend? I assume you're probably not but can you?' But they're great."
And although there haven't been many half days or Christmas parties in his schedule, Roy says that support and the pleasure he gets from watching kids of all ages get excited about music like he did when he was young makes the long days worth it.
"Sometimes you get, not tired of it, but tired physically and mentally," he says. "But I like to be busy, though. It does get tiring, but it's not tiresome. I'd like to differentiate the two."
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>>Full name: Joey Erik Roy
>>Birthday: May 26, 1986
>>Favourite food:"I like food. Favourite food? Food."
>>Favourite book: Les Colories by Alexandre Jardin
>>Favourite music: New Brunswick Youth Orchestra
>>Favourite place you've visited so far: Croatia or Labrador
>>Favourite movie: The Life Aquatic
>>Favourite movie snack: Popcorn
>>Do you prefer phone or email: Likes both equally
>>Trait you most admire in another person: Confidence and a sense of humour
>>The person you'd most like to meet, living or dead: José Antonio Abreu, the founder of Sistema
SOURCE: Daily Gleaner