Portrait video Herman Rieken

'As a boy, I used to go to a drum band. I always took out my sticks when I walked over because I wanted people who saw me to know I was going to drum.'

'I'm Herman Rieken. Since 2002, I have been solo percussionist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

I went to the Amsterdam University of the Arts studying under the orchestra's previous class of percussionists and timpanists. When you take classes from them you stand a big chance of playing in the orchestra sometimes when they need more percussionists than they employ.

The first time that happened to me was when I was twenty. That was already in 1981. What happens is that you play along once and then they'll ask you again and again and again and again.

But the problem with this orchestra is that people never leave. So I was a substitute from 1981 to 2002. I already played a lot in the orchestra. Finally, in 2002 two percussionists retired. And then I was allowed to join the permanent members of the orchestra. That was wonderful, of course. I'd always dreamed of that.

I've been playing percussion since I was five years old. How did it start? My aunt was the leader of a drum band. When I used to go to that drum band I had a bag with my drum sticks in it and a score or something. I always took out my sticks when I walked over because I wanted people who saw me to know I was going to drum. I don't do that anymore, but when I cycle to the Concertgebouw I recall that sometimes, I have to admit. I still want them to see: "That's the guy from the Concertgebouw Orchestra".

If I have to seriously practice something on a certain instrument or a certain set-up of instruments I go to the Concertgebouw.

In front of me are a number of percussion instruments that aren't commonplace. So, no drums, no cymbals, but the more extraordinary instruments. You can't buy this. What I did is, I managed to get hold of a bag of stones, drilled holes in them, a string through them and hung them up on a piece of wood.

And then you have the instrument the composer stipulates. And to give another weird example: bones. This is the deceased timpanist of our orchestra. Just kidding. I got them at the butcher's. It was a cow once. We had to play on it with sticks. I discovered that they're also great for Latin American music.

Playing percussion in a band or an orchestra or wherever is rhythm. On the one hand it's a base, especially when you're a drummer in a band you're the rhythmic engine of the unit. But especially in a symphony orchestra you often emphasize the climaxes of the music. The music builds up to a climax. When it gets to that point, the cymbals strike. The entire orchestra is working for you, I like to think... and when it gets to that point, it's your turn.

If I'm not occupied with the orchestra, I've been doing a lot of yoga lately. I'm sixty years old now. It's becoming more and more important to do some maintenance on my body. But as it happens, my partner is a yoga teacher. Since recently, we even have our own yoga studio at home.'