Traditional Filipino Music

Characteristics:
1. Ethnic
a. Kulintang – An ensemble composed of a set of eight gongs of
graduated sizes arranged in a row.
- Includes gandingan (a set of suspended gongs), agung (a
tubular drum), and a babandil (a small gong)
b. Gangsa – An ensemble played according to the different
tribes (Kalinga, Ifugao, Bontoc) of the Cordillera.
- A smooth-surfaced gong with a narrow rim.
2. Hispanic
a. Rondalla – An ensemble of stringed instruments with a pick
such as guitar, laud, octavina, piccolo, and bajo de uñas.
- Originated in Spain but became most popular in Philippine folk
music after it was introduced in the 19th century.
- Serves as accompaniment of the sarsuwela.
b. Sarsuwela – A combination of melodrama.
- Introduced by the Spaniards.
- Songs and dances.
3. Filipino
a. Kundiman – An art song that speaks about the love of a man
for a woman.
 - Usually written in ¾ time signature and usually in a minor key
then shifts to the major key which gives the listener a light and
happy mood at the end of the song.
b. Balitao – An old Visayan folk song and dance where a man
and woman engage in a debate by means of a song.
- The lyrics are usually humorous and spontaneously performed.
c. Musikong Bumbong/Bamboo music – A band that uses
improvised instruments made of bamboo.
- Includes piccolo, tuba, clarinets, flutes, and saxophones made of
bamboo.
- Played at festivals.

Classification of Filipino
Instruments:
1. Aerophones – Instuments that are blown (made of wood or bamboo)
2. Idiophones – Instruments that are struck.
3. Chordophones – Instruments that are plucked.

Traditional Filipino Music

Instruments:
1. Kudlung – A two-stringed lute made of wood.
2. Kudyapi – A two-stringed boat-shaped lute.
 3. Serongagandi – Decorated bamboo tube; closed by a node at both
ends
4. Saludoy – Tube made of bamboo with five strings cut from the tube.
5. Afiw – A brass instrument horizontally held by the tongue in front of
the opened mouth.
6. Balingbing – Bamboo buzzer.

Contemporary Philippine
Music (New Music/ Modern Music)
This pertains to compositions that have adopted elements of 20th-century
Western music as well as the latest trends and musical styles in the
entertainment industry and in the musical world.

Famous Filipino Composers:

1.Antonio Jesus Molina – December 26, 1894 – January 29, 1980
- A conductor
- A concert soloist, composer, and conductor in Hanoi, Vietnam.
- He taught harmony, composition, music history, and violoncello at the
UP conservatory of music.
- The first Filipino composer who was invited to perform at the
Malacañan palace.
- He led the first Philippine performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.
Presented by Knox and Central Church Choirs in 1947 as the first
performance of Mozart’s opera, Don Giovanni.
- He was remembered as the conductor of the first televised choral
concert which featured the Centro Escolar University Conservatory
Chorus.
2. Alfredo Santos Buenaventura – October 14, 1929
- In grade school, he became a member of a band that marched the
town.
- During pre-war era, he was one of the sopranos of the Quezon City
Tiples de Sto. Dominga Church where they were given firs-class
musical training. He also wrote his first composition which was a danza.
- In 1960, he was the organist at the Manila Cathedral.
- Affiliated with the League of Filipino Composers
- Received numerous outstanding awards in the music industry. Republic
Cultural Heritage Awards (won 2x)
- Based his compositions on epics, legends, and local heros.
- Used folk and tribal songs as themes as well as indigenous musical
instruments for his compositions.
- His works consist of cantatas, chamber music, concertos, ballets, dance
dramas, fugues, preludes, and symphonies.
- Composed more than 50 religious songs and hymns.
- His compositions were made for special occasions like the 16th
Centenary of St. Augustine, 400TH Year of the Augustinian Recollect
Mass, and the Philippine Music Festival.
- His works have been played or performed in internation virtuosos and
religious presentations.
3. Lucrecia Roces Kasilag – August 31, 1917 – August 16, 2008
- Earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at the Philippine Women’s
University and a degree in teaching at St. Scholastica’s College.
- Went to Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York where she
studied theory with Allen McHose, and composition with Wayne Barlow.
- A faculty member of the UP Conservatory of Music.
- Became the Dean of the Philippine Women’s University College of
Music and Fine Arts from 1953-1977.
- Known for being instrumental to the development of Philippine music
and culture.
- Acknowledged for incorporating traditional music in her work.
- Founded Bayanihan Folks Arts Center for research and theatrical
presentations and became closely involved with Bayanihan Philippine
Dance company.
- 250 compositions in different genres, namely, chamber music, dance,
electronic music, organ/piano music, sacred, operetta, orchestral
music, theater, and vocal.
4. Dr. Ramon Pagayon Santos – Born on Pasig, Rizal on February 25,
1941.
- All his family, except his father, were members of the Pasig Artists
Guild.
- In elementary, he had formal music lessons with her grandmother,
Josefa Andrada Pagayon, and a few violin lessons with another
teacher.
- Graduated valedictorian at Pasig Catholic School in Elementary and
completed high school in San Jose Seminary where he joined a choir.
- Studied at the UP Conservatory of Music, major in Composition and
Conducting.
- Amazed with avant-garde music of Varese (association of sounds-
sirens, percussions, and chimes) and Jose Maceda’s Ugma Ugma.
- 1966 International Music Symposium held in Manila where all the
avant-garde people came and presented their works.
- Became a Fulbright-Hays travel grantee and graduated with distinction
a Master in Music degree major in xomposition.
- Studied in the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1969 where
he studied composition and took contemporary music.
- He became the assistant teacher from 1969 to 1972, and assistant
conductor of the University Chorus.
- When he returned to the Philippines in 1972, he was appointed
Assistant Professor in Composition at the UP College of Music.
- Became its chairman of composition and conducting department.
- A conductor of the Ateneo de Manila University Glee Club.
- Chairman of the Graduate-committee of the UP College of Music
- Professor/lecturer at PWU
- Guest-lecturer of the Philippine Educators’ Theater Arts.
- Dean of the UP College of Music in the laste 80s to the early 90s.
- National Artist of the Philippines for Music in 2015.
- Currently a University Professor Emeritus of the Composition and
Theory Department of the University of the Philippines College of
Music.
5. Ryan Cayabyab – May 4, 1954
- His mother was an opera singer who died when Ryan was only 6. His
father sustained him and his 3 siblings.
- Took up Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in the
University of the Philippines, Diliman.
- In college, he had to join former Senator Salvador Laurel as an
accompanist for the Development Bank of the Philippines Choral
Ensemble to sustain his studies. The senator presented Ryan a
scholarship that allowed him to change his course and pursue music.
- Graduated form the UP College of Music earning a degree in Bachelor
of Music, Major in composition.
- Became a professor of the Department of Composition and Music
Theory in UP Diliman for about two decades.
- Director of the defunct San Miguel Foundation for the Performing
Arts
- Resident judge of the Philippine Idol in 2006, Mr. C.
- A versatile musician, composer, and arranger, whose works include
theater musicals, choral pieces, pop music, and even commercial
recordings and musical scorings.
- Cayabyab Singers, a group of seven young adult singers similar to the
Smokey Mountain.
- Executive director of the Philpop MusicFest Foundation Inc., the society
behind the Philippine Popular Music Festival. A songwriting competition
exclusively for amateurs and professionals that encourage Filipinos to
safeguard our own musical identity.
- His works range from commissioned full-length ballets, theater musicals,
choral pieces, a Mass set to unaccompanied chorus, orchestral pieces,
to commercial recordings of popular music, film scores and television
specials.
- “One”, a series of albums.
Other composers:
1. Nicanor Abelardo – Composer of the UP Offical Anthem “UP Naming
Mahal”
2. Ramon Tapales – First Dean of the UP College of Music when it was
raised to university status.
3. Antonio Buenaventura – Composed music based on the folk songs of
various ethnic groups.
4. Eliseo Pajaro – Received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award twice.
5. Rosendo Santos – Was listed in the New Groves Dictionary of Music
and Musicians.