Trina Belamide’s trilogy

The title of the book by Trina Belamide initially got me confused. Trilogy. Of course, for our generation, trilogy means “Star Wars,” “Lord of the Rings,” even “Bridget Jones.” So is Trina’s book, maybe three books in one? Maybe it is the first of three books? Or a book divided into three sections?

The answer is none of the above. Trilogy in this case is short for Trina and Anthology. Hence it is Trilogy, sub-titled “The Songs of Trina Belamide.”

Trina is a popular songwriter and producer. Think Now That I have You by The CompanY or You’ve Made Me Stronger by Breaking My Heart by Regine Velasquez, Shine also by Regine and originally by Ima Castro or the World Youth Day song, Tell the World of His Love, for the visit of Pope John Paul II to the Philippines. Those are all Trina’s.

Recently, she added book author and publisher to her credentials. She wrote Trilogy, a gorgeous coffee-table book loaded with recollections, photographs, souvenirs and tales of how she navigated and succeeded in the music industry.

She tells her story, puts down the songs’ melodies like those “fake” books of old, complete with QR codes to listen to the recorded versions and most importantly, she tells of how the songs came to be written.

 

The latter for me is most important. Technology has drastically changed the music industry but the process of songwriting remains the same. An idea, an experienced emotion, a funny anecdote, a memory, those and others can lead to songs that can then turn into hits. And Trina shares how she does it.

I like it that Trina chose to tell her story. Maybe this will encourage a young girl to take her piano lessons seriously like Trina did. She may not grow up to be a Taylor Swift but she can become another Trina Belamide.

She advises to treasure your friendships. They can lead to industry connections like what happened to Trina with Moy Ortiz of The CompanY. He got Trina her first recording break, a song titled This Little Child in Joey Albert’s Christmas album.

Take advantage of opportunities to learn like joining glee clubs, workshops and songwriting contests to improve your craft. Winning that World Youth Day competition not only led to global renown but also paid a cool one million pesos.

And most of all, know that while having a day job does help, songwriters can and do earn a living with music like Trina does. Mechanical royalties, performance royalties, streams, downloads, etc., can add up to a good sum.

She lays out everything in the book including her “business” of providing songs for weddings and other special occasions. Did you know that she wrote a song for the wedding of Claudine Barretto and Raymart Santiago?

Now, I was a bit disappointed by the fact that Trilogy costs a whopping P2,800. That is more than a day’s wages. This should not really be a surprise given the number of color pages, the music sheets and the lovely illustrations it contains. But then this is the kind of book that should be read by as many people as possible and not only by those who can afford that prize.

Good that I got my answer not long after. Yes, Trilogy will soon be available at a lower and therefore more accessible price. Let us all hope that this will happen soon. While waiting for that, pray that you can bum a copy from a friend so you can start learning those invaluable lessons that Trina’s story tells. Go get that songwriting career going.