The Inspiring Story of Jacob Rock: From Nonverbal Autism to Co-Writing a Symphony

Stories about nonverbal autistic teens rarely galvanize the public imagination. But when one such youth has made the transition in a few short years from having a limited ability to communicate to having co-written a symphony, people are going to take notice, and be touched.

That’s the case with Jacob Rock, a 19-year-old from Eagle Rock, Calif. who had the vision for — and was fully involved in the execution of — “Unforgettable Sunrise,” a 70-minute symphonic piece that premieres Saturday night at Glendale’s Alex Theatre. A video report on Rock and his collaborator on the symphony, Rob Laufer, by SoCal public television station KQED has proved so popular, a TikTok excerpt has registered 1.8 million views this week, along with 272,000 likes and 2,200 comments, many of them from viewers with autistic family members. (Watch the video that’s gone viral, below.)

The Collaboration Behind “Unforgettable Sunrise”

Laufer wrote and arranged the score for “Unforgettable Sunrise” based on very detailed notes Rock wrote out describing the instrumentation, mood, and even timing of the piece he had in his head, down to the seconds each passage should last. Every bit of the symphony was, in Rock’s mind, meant to express to the outside world what it has been like to be an autistic person who has struggled to let family members and the world understand what is going on in his head. (Some educators had believed he suffered from a low IQ, although a neurologist confirmed what his parents had long believed, that he was highly intelligent.) Among the kind of instructions that Jacob gave Laufer about orchestrating his vision: “Some glimmers of panic remain in the section, in the form of sudden bursts of martial rhythm and harp, because life never settles in my situation.”

A Local Celebrity in the L.A. Musical Community

Jacob Rock has been a bit of a local celebrity already in a certain segment of the L.A. musical community. His father, Paul Rock, who works in the film industry, is the founder of the Wild Honey charity, which raises money for autism causes by holding annual benefits at the Alex where well-known or cult singer-songwriters front a large band that recreates the work of artists like the Beatles, the Band, the Beach Boys, Big Star or Buffalo Springfield. Jacob often comes out with his father at the beginning of these shows to help music fans understand just what these benefits are accomplishing.

Paul Rock on Jacob’s Unique Story and “Unforgettable Sunrise”

In advance of Saturday’s show (find tickets here), which will have 54 musicians from USC playing the symphony, Haber Tusba talked with Paul Rock about Jacob’s unique story and what to expect from “Unforgettable Sunrise” (which will be filmed professionally, for the benefit of those who’ve taken an interest not just locally but globally).

When did you get the idea that Jacob had ideas for a symphony that could be translatable in a collaboration with a musician like Rob?

Paul Rock: Well, he first said he had the symphony in his head about six months into COVID, in 2020. That’s when he started typing really well. He’d been practicing typing for seven years but never really totally got fluent until COVID, when I was doing school with him every day, and we were just typing nonstop all the time. Six months later, he dropped the bomb about the symphony in his head, and then proceeded to describe it. He’d been working on it, apparently for years, in his brain. What he typed out was detailed in terms of the instruments, the mood, the textures, the pacing, and the feelings. He would tie all his feelings in with each instrument; you know, violins would be happy or horns would be sad. It all would relate to his journey of going from being completely miserable, without being able to communicate, and also in a lot of physical pain, to be able to communicate everything by typing. So that’s his sunrise. We got to the point where I said, “This is pretty amazing. I should find someone to collaborate and turn it into notes.” Of course, the first person I would turn to would be Rob, because, one, we’ve been working together since 1994 — he’s the main person (putting together and arranging for the musicians) at Wild Honey and he’s very intuitive. He loves Jake, and he’s got his own studio, and he’s got all his gear, so he was very well-equipped to do it. He was a little hesitant to take it on because it just seemed really daunting to him to try to match the words to music in a way Jacob would be happy with. But by the end of 2020, Rob was on board. Then it was slow at first because Rob was just sort of feeling it out, and Jacob would reject things early on and say, “No, that’s not my symphony” or “Change this or change that.” But by the middle of the collaboration, they were pretty much on exactly the same page, and Jake was convinced from that point that Rob was reading his mind. By the end Rob would create two minutes of music, send it to Jake, get his notes, and then keep going, and Jake would be approving every couple of minutes of music. Both parties grew extremely close by the end. Jacob claims to have been reading Rob’s mind, as well.

The Style of the Music and Jacob’s Influences

Haber Tusba: What is the style of the music? The excerpts you have posted from rehearsals sound very complex and very much in a modern classical vein.

Paul Rock: Rob has done our (Wild Honey) charts for years but didn’t know if he was up to doing this, on that level. But he totally was, enough to get real classical people interested in helping us. It’s very complex because it goes heavily into 20th-century classical stuff like Philip Glass and Stravinsky. And then there’s a lot of rhythm and a whole Brian Wilson “Pet Sounds” influence as well. “Smile” is Jake’s favorite. And I think (Frank) Zappa is in there, also. But since Jacob was a child, he loved (the Beach Boys’ “Smile” song) “Cabinessence.” He used to dance around to that song when he was 18 months.

Jacob’s Experience Watching the Symphony Come to Life

Haber Tusba: You take Jacob to a lot of concerts… like Neil Young’s solo show, recently. He is a tremendous music fan. But sometimes you have said he becomes agitated and can’t stay — that has happened at Wild Honey benefits. Do you think he will be fine, watching his symphony come to life at the Alex, or is that always unpredictable with someone with his condition?

Paul Rock: You know, we never know until it happens, but two big factors with him are: How much sleep did he get the night before? And does he have any gastrointestinal issues at that moment? And those are the two things that can keep him from being able to sit through something. But if all the ducks are in line in terms of his body, then he’ll definitely sit there and be incredibly joyful. Because he’s been to two rehearsals so far and sat for three hours. I think it’s a little different this time because it’s his music, and he’s willing to put aside his distress to tough it through, to stay. Like, the first rehearsal, he only had one hour of sleep the night before, and he was incredibly vocal throughout the whole thing. The musicians were like, “What’s going on?” — as he was doing his (nonverbal) vocalizations. But he was much calmer in the second one because he had slept the night before. So, his brain and his body are always at war in some way. And that’s actually in the description of the symphony”. You know, there’s stuff where it’s relating that conflict that he has. So it’s a beautiful thing in that respect. Because if anybody wants to experience his inner life in a real visceral level, this is the way to do it. Because there’s a lot of joy and there’s a lot of distress, so it makes for good conflict, which makes for good music.

Jacob’s Remarkable Reading and Writing Abilities

Haber Tusba: Jacob types out some fairly advanced, adult-like thoughts about music and film, with great spelling, and considerable emotion. How did he learn to read and write so well, even though he can’t speak, and lacks certain skills most of us take for granted?

Paul Rock: You can put a couple paragraphs in front of him and ask him questions,…