Kerronicle (www.my.highschooljournalism.org) has issued the following report from Tiffany Witherbee:

Dressed in their best, Jonathon T., Edgar H., Jerry C. and Giang L. stood on stage holding their classical string instruments. After performing renditions of Mozart and Bach, they strung their cellos to METALLICA’s 'Fade To Black'. The young crowd listened in excitement.

"They were so awesome," Alan K. remembers. His group of seventh grade orchestra members enthusiastically agreed, ignoring the numerous other performances of Alief Orchestra Day.

After seeing them perform in the seventh grade, Alan is now thrilled to be a part of the group.

"It’s an honor," Alan, the newest member of KERRTALICA, said. "They were like a rock group.”

Four years ago, Edgar approached Orchestra teacher Marty Koran with music from APOCALYPTICA, a Swedish band playing rock music on cellos. Koran, who had introduced her concert orchestra class to the band days before, approved and helped develop the band from her top four cellists.

"[I agreed] because it was cool," Koran said. "We [had] a lot of cello players, we could get the music and I just always liked alternative stuff on string instruments, whether it’s the fiddle or jazz or rock.”

Though an offshoot of Cambiada Orchestra, Kerrtalica is not an official class; all members are recognized as Cambiada Orchestra students. In addition to Cambiada coursework, members learn Metallica covers and perform additional numbers at concerts. Currently, Kerrtalica has learned eight songs, taking about one month on each.

“It takes a long time to learn the songs and we don't have a lot of time to practice,” Edgar said. “We only get so much time in class to do it and we can't get together outside of class too often. It’s a lot of work but it’s worth it because it’s been fun.”

With little time to learn harder music, cellists were chosen by skill level. Even with each member at the top of their class, the music has proven a challenge.

“The music is very, very difficult,” Koran said. “It sounds neat when it's played but it's hard. The first cellist goes way, way up high on the finger board and reads in treble clef instead of bass clef and the other parts have really intricate rhythms. It's pretty difficult. Plus each cellist has their very own parts; they can't depend on the person next to them to do the same thing.”

Since his involvement in Kerrtalica, Edgar has learned to appreciate rock music, integrating it into his own favorites.

"It's surprising that it's actually well written," Edgar said. "[In] most music these days the instrument casing is really simple, but a lot of heavy metal and rock songs have pretty complex written music. I was pretty surprised to find that out.”

While Alan does not normally listen to rock music, he was honored by the offer accepted the position in Kerrtalica after Jonathan graduated last year. Help from senior Kerrtalica members calmed Alan’s nerves for his first performance with the group in October.

"[Edgar and Jerry are] both great leaders," Alan said. "Honestly, I’m not that great as a cello player, I could stand to improve a lot, and Jerry and Edgar are always there to help. Like at the region, the music was hard, and one day Edgar and I stayed after until four. He personally taught me how to do that angle and all the high-level stuff. I've learned a lot from Edgar and Jerry.”

The only Alief organization of its kind, Kerrtalica members get the unique experience of playing music that is "out of the ordinary" while honing their musical skills.

"It's a different kind of music, a different kind of sound," Edgar said. "It's not every day that you get formally classical instruments and play metal and it's been fun practicing it and performing it.”