A rousing yuletide treat from two children's ensembles

Celebrating the yuletide season is incomplete without hearing fine music-making by children. Ordinarily, a children’s choir is heard, singing carols with such a cherubic charm, so unaffected and pure.

Rather than hearing angelic voices sing songs in celebration of the yuletide season, habitués, mall strollers, and shoppers alike were treated to fine instrumental ensembles playing done by toddlers and elementary students at the lobby of Shagri- La Mall on the eve of the start of simbang gabi or pre-dawn Mass.

These talented children are preschoolers from the Philippine Montessori Center (PMC) and elementary pupils from the Temple Hill International School (THIS). They rendered separate sets of programs consisting of light classics, Philippine folk songs, Western as well as Philippine Christmas songs.

Aptly titled “Mga Munting Musiko” (Little Musicians), the program is a unique treat for the holiday season. Merrily, the sound of a percussion orchestra brought in the festive ambience of the holidays as the children performed on different melodic and percussion instruments such as the marimba, xylophone, angklung, glockenspiel, Gamelan chimes, and others, backed-up by the piano.

Both groups have performed in the best halls in Manila, and had wonderful stints abroad performing as ambassadors of goodwill for the country. They are the products of an educational philosophy observed in their schools that incorporates music in the curriculum as a pedagogical tool for learning, keeping abreast with the finding that children who are exposed early to fine music perform better academically and are emotionally more stable.

At rehearsal time before the designated official time set at 6 p.m., people started to file in. All seats were taken and they did not mind standing as they watched. People also lined-up along the foyer of all the floors to get a good glimpse of the children playing. They applauded after a well-rendered number, and when performance time came, the applause that greeted each rendition was deafening.

Offenbach’s “Can-Can” from Orpheus in the Underworld was such a rousing starter. It simply was unbelievable for toddlers aged four to six to play in excellent coordination, etching a buoyant symphonic web of sound, on an earthy, vaudeville beat. Next came a throbbing waltz from Severn’s La Brunette. Unerringly, the kids played beyond their years, convincing the listeners of their well-honed talent for ensemble playing as they played almost with minimal instruction and without a conductor standing before them. Teacher Lois Malaki-Espinosa, the music director and arranger, just sat on the side to cue instructions, with the rest of the teaching staff supervising downstage.

Practically left on their own, the children played in perfect rhythm, and showed eloquent command of their instruments as some of them exchanged places and played on other instruments, not missing or souring any notes. Phrasing was at its keenest in Ding Dong Merrily on High, a traditional French carol, as they etched the long-descending familiar melodic phrase of the song. The Gamelan chimes provided arresting tonal color as an alternative to the glockenspiel and the marimba instruments in etching the catchy melody of the piece.

Festivity all the more marked the performance with the pulsating beat of the balitaw in Velez’s Sa Kabukiran, rendered by the anklung ensemble (An anklung is a native Indonesian instrument made of bamboo). The piece was rendered complete with the cadenza or a solo showpiece well-executed by the marimba at the end.

Mika Ley, a pupil of Dena Fernandez, who is the school’s marimba teacher, opened this part with two marimba solo pieces. She impressed the audience with the ease she displayed in playing Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca, and Brahms ’Hungarian Dance No. 5, two familiar pieces that require agile fingers and lightness of touch. Many graduates of the Philippine Montessori Center plan to continue on with their music literacy education in addition to their academics.

The ensemble wowed the audience with Rossini’s William Tell Overture, that earned long applause at the end with teacher Reggie Yumul collaborating on the piano. The high point of their playing was Francis Dandan’s ditty Pasko na Sinta Ko, which was rendered by the anklung ensemble together with the glockenspiel. Jose Benjamin Jejomar J. Angeles played the first part of the song, and surprised the audience when he turned his back to direct the ensemble, cueing all the instruments like a professional conductor. The ensemble played the entire piece, doing the catchy and haunting false cadence that led to the coda at the end with such genteel touch I thought the children would fail to provide, but which they handsomely rendered.    “He is not only a keen musician but also excels in his academic subjects especially mathematics,” quipped Mrs. Illuminada Woellhaf, founder of both schools. She further said that the precocious boy is the grandson of Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, whose proud parents are Pepito Angeles and Nancy Binay. At the Concert at the Park, the day before this Shangri-La Mall performance, she said he wowed the audience with his combined talents of being a performer and conductor rolled into one.

These talented youngsters makeup THIS are Mariana Bella J. Ablan, Denise Gabrielle A. Arroyo, Nurul R. Awang, Santiago Belmonte, Sebastian Belmonte, Thea Bernardez, Luis Castro, Nikolai de Pio, Dan Gomez, Juliana Gomez, Iñigo Rafael M. Herrera, Mikaela Natasha Janele C. Ley, Martina Lopez, Sarah Gabrielle S. Meehan, Seamus Morrison, Nuriell Geremiah O. Ng, Rebekah Oh, Kaitlin Renee D. Rosales, Anton Santiago, and Hans Tan.

On the other hand, the PMC Instrumental Ensemble is composed of Maria Eliana B. Angeles, Kaira M. Balcos, Jilian Triana G. Bautista, Natalia Angela G. Capistrano, Florencio Jose Fianza III, Maria Emilia Caterina S. Fianza, Lia E. Nanca, Olivia Francesca A. Oben, Vincent Philip N. Paragas, Gabriel H. Payumo, Mariana Sabrina G. Po, Romano Santino T. Puno, Isabela Severin O. Reyes, Luis Augusto A. Syquia, and Marcus Christian C. Tan. The music teachers are Grace Tura-Crodua, Lois M. Espinosa, Ester Lee Paragas, Cecile Salcedo, Lois N. Ventura, and Ma. Catherine S, Zulueta.

Moving these youngsters beyond their academic lessons to provide them with a creative opportunity to share their musical talents individually and collectively is for sure an admirable way of providing wholistic education at an early stage. Their performance added color to the otherwise bleak atmosphere that pervades this year’s celebration of the yuletide season brought about by the economic crunch. To paraphrase the late imminent historian, Fr. Horacio de la Cota, S. J., in the midst of economic hardship, music truly serves as a precious gem!