In the spirit of the Rangers song, he says that “engineering met him by accident.” Eventually, Marek Scholler found his way into the field, became interested in thermomechanics, which he now does as a freelancer and still collaborates with his alma mater. In addition, he has an unmissable hobby, which has long since grown into a second profession: as a bandleader, he leads the eighteen-member Brno big band New Time Orchestra.
A look at Mark Scholler's website, aptly named Heatman.cz, reveals that he is a specialist in the field of CDF, or Computational Fluid Dynamics. “It is about computer simulations of flow and heat transfer for various applications,” explains Scholler, adding with a smile that he originally chose to study at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of BUT (Brno University of Technology) because he did not want to spend all his days at a computer in his future job.
But that shouldn't tempt him to study thermomechanics, a field that deals with the acquisition, transformation and transport of energy and the efficiency of its use, in his third year. “I enjoy the fact that it's a fairly abstract field, you don't have anything tangible in thermomechanics. I was interested in that even back then,” he says.
“I've played in similar bands before. I saw how things could be done differently, better, but my efforts to change things always came to nothing. So I figured that rather than persuade anyone, I'd do it my own way,” Scholler says of the time when he started the band.
When he started out as a bandleader, he was helped by the same thing that made his transition from employment to business easier a few years later: contacts. “If you have to start something on your own, you can't start from scratch. It's good to build contacts with people who can help you with your idea – whether you're talking about starting a business or maybe a band,” Scholler believes.
We don't want to make art production for a limited spectrum of listeners. Rather, we want to be mainstream and accessible in the best sense of the word.
We return to thermomechanics, which Marek Scholler likes so much. He also named the agency under which the orchestra plays as HEAT art. Above all, he constantly stresses the importance of the energy transfer between the band and the audience.
In addition to swing hits, the New Time Orchestra's repertoire also includes arrangements of pop, jazz, funk and rock. “We don't want to do art production for a limited spectrum of listeners. Rather, we want to be mainstream and accessible in the best sense of the word. This type of orchestra, just from the way it is built, is destined to play energetic music. We have four trumpets, four trombones, five saxophones and a rhythm section. I try to put energetic things into the repertoire, where it is possible to use the power of the orchestra and build up the composition. Even the singer Hanka Holišová, who often performs with us, is a very energetic personality and is able to sell our compositions very well,” explains Scholler, who plays around two dozen performances with the orchestra every year.