11 0 4

My former student, Miki, in her response to this post, wondered how my son's band, 11 0 4, sounded during their first stint at the Podium. In my response, I promised her I'd post somethng as soon as I can get hold of something. My daughters took some videos and although the quality may not be that great, maybe these can do for now. View it here, here and hereHope you like it.

A Christmas full of music

I think my son has come a long way. This christmas has been full of shows we had to watch as his chamber orchestra goes touring in malls for the holiday season. I only got to see the one they did at the Robinson's Place and I was even late as I had to come all the way from Tanay. My friends and I were looking at a 1 hectare property which looked promising for an investment. However, it was too far and very mountainous that we had to abandon the plans of purchasing it.






Anyway, I was told by the wife that the best show they had was the one performed at the MOA. It was so good that people even asked my son to have a picture taken with them right after the show. He is currently the concert master and does the solos on violin.








As a sample of how the orchestra sounds, here is one of their performances at the Philamlife Auditorium last year. He was not yet the concert master then so you'll find him sitting next to the principal violinist. Enjoy!






On Christmas day, the whole family had to rush to the Podium as his band, 11 O 4, had to perform their first gig. The all male band is composed four singers and accompanied by a piano, a guitar and my son on violin. It was a real treat as these kids belted out songs from a repertoire of Christmas tunes and some pop songs. I couldn't believe my son could be very good as he performed the solo of Kenny Loggins' Whenever I call you friend. I've never seen him practice at home. The arrangements were very well executed and they harmonize pretty well considering that they are just a newly formed band. If these kids play their cards right, I think they'll go places.



As my way of greeting each and everyone a very Merry Christmas, here's the ensemble once more in their rendition of a christmas medley.

Pearl Anniversary

Once again, I had been remiss with blogging and visiting my favorite blogs. I apologize. You see, we just celebrated our thirteeth anniversary. No, not my wedding, silly. I'm not that old! I am talking about my school.

Yes, we just celebrated our pearl anniversary and what a celebration! It is by far one of the happiest celebrations we ever had. Everybody worked to make this one a success. We truly functioned as one cohesive community. With the guidance and supervision of the ever supportive president of the organization we fondly call Broden, the school was alive and showed much bravado. Thanks to the present president of the student council and her minions, the activities went well without any hitch but full of glitz.

We have a lot to thank for. As a young community, we have gone through a lot. The buildings, for one, is a clear manifestation of progress. From the initial main campus sprung several more buildings that grew like mushrooms that our graduates could not recognize the whole campus anymore.

Going back to the activities, one of the highlights was a concert given by the faculty of both the grade school and the high School. I took part in the latter where I played with a band that came into being as a result of the festivities. I never imagined I will be playing with a former student who is now a co-teacher of mine. Here are some pictures I think I can share. All pictures appearing here were taken by Bro. Ceci. Thanks Bro!




Me on bass



Me trying Ryan's guitar for size


Not Ray Charles but Ralph
The Band

Rob Borja singing Run

Rocker Chris Kee

Ryan and his gizmo


Jeff Menil belting out a song

choochoowa

Con Brio

The family just got back from the Philamlife Auditorium where my son, Mickey, played violin in the DLSU chamber ensemble's concert entitled "Con Brio" under the baton of Maestro German M. de Ramos, Jr. The orchestra played a solid array of tunes from classical to the more contemporary pieces. This is the second year my son has been playing for the group and we have seen all the major concerts they have had so far and I can say they are getting better and better.

The concert started with a prayer sang beautifully by Ms. Reynabel Becquero and accopanied on the piano by Ms. Chenie Chua. This was followed by the Pambansang Awit and the DLSU Alma Mater.

A guitar performance by Ms. Milette Zamora followed immediately where she played Gaspar Sanz' "Suite Española". Thereafter, the conductor led the orchestra in playing their repertoire as follows:

"Zarathustra" by R. Strauss
"Barber of Seville Overture" by A. Rossini
"Suites - Trepak, Mirlitons, Valse de Fleurs" by P. Tchaikovsky
"Nimrod" by Edward Elgar
"Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika" by Ryan Cayabyab as arranged by German de Ramos, Jr.

After a 10-minute intermission, the group played a medley of Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Phantom of the Opera" arranged by Calvin Cluster; G. Bizet's "Toreador" and John Williams Symphonic Marches as transcribed by German de Ramos, Jr.

The audience was so pleased that they requested for more to which the players gladly acceded to and played a Christmas medley.

It must've been prophetic of me but even before we got married, I already told my wife that I am going to have a son who will play the violin. I did not know where that came from but I said that with sureness albeit the fact that my favorite instrument is the cello and I play the guitar (so I guess I never influenced him). When my first born turned out to be a girl, I thought I was a little off the mark. But then, my first born did not get a liking for the violin. She played the piano for a time but did not push it through and stopped right after her first recital.

When Mickey was in Grade three, he told me he wanted to learn to play the instrument. While it did not come as a surprise as we never discussed anything to that effect (I am not one to dictate on my children) and so I gave him the go signal. A few months and he was asking me to buy him his own violin as he was just borrowing the violin provided by the school. I did not accede immediately thinking it would be a lot of money wasted if he suddenly lost interest with the novelty of playing a musical instrument. But then the interest persisted prompting me to buy him a 1/4 size violin. He complained that it was too small and did not sound good. So, when we heard news that my niece was coming home from the States, we thought she could buy one for Mickey and she did!

How I wish you were there with us and shared a night of wonderful music. I'm only too glad that his best friends from high school went out of their way to watch. And so did his "ninang" Marissa and her family who have been part of the family eversince that they have seen him grow.

And so tonight, there he was, in complete regalia in his tuxedo, seated in front, unconsciously fulfilling his father's dream of becoming a musician. The saying that the son is the perfection of the father must be true.

happy days are here again!

Sheesh, I have been meaning to update my blog at least twice a week but have not done so because of other pressing matters. Anyway, I think I should post something light this time around. Several happy occasions have happened to the family since July 28th, my sister-in-law's birthday. Allow me to save these wonderful memories here. These, more in chronological order than by importance, were:

On July 28, my son Mickey, played a violin solo in his new found chamber group, the DLSU Chamber Orchestra. One thing about my son is that he seems to know what he likes and I have always been proud of that. First, he is not from DLSU but from another University affiliated to it. Nevertheless, he auditioned for the chamber and got accepted. Most of his friends from high school joined the Pop Orchestra but he didn't. He wanted chamber music more, I guess, so he opted to be alone. Much to our surprise, not only was he accepted, he was already given a stint in its concert featuring members doing solo performances. I can see my wife beaming with pride as he stepped onstage, clad with suit and tie and violin in hand. He didn't seem to be nervous and I wonder how come I would have been jittery had it been I up that stage at that age?

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The following Sunday, we celebrated my sister-in-law's birthday at Indang, Cavite. We went to Balay Indang, a resort house with either Thai or Indonesian theme. The inclement weather never dampened my children's spirits as they went swimming just the same. We had a wonderful time indulging on the sumptuous food the place has to offer. Me and my wife also indulged ourselves with a simple massage.

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On August 19, my eldest daughter and her group successfully defended their thesis. They were actually pining for a nomination for best thesis but were three points shy. At any rate, me and my wife are about to graduate our first child in October. Now, ain't that neat? One thing about my daughter is that she is soooo organized! I accidentally found her schedule posted on her table where her activities by the hour are all lined up with each task highlighted if it has been done. Her whole college life had been well-planned and you could see clearly where she was at the moment in her schooling as she maps out her courses. i wonder where she got that. Certainly not from me!

Coalition of the willing

Last night, Don, Trudy's husband, took me downtown to a club called Richard's on Richards to see a band called "Coalition of the Willing" led by drummer Bobby Previte. Knowing Don to be a music afficionado, (he had introduced me to bands I never even thought existed and ended up liking) I knew it would be an awesome experience. And it was!

As planned, he picked me up early so that we can chat while waiting for the show. Well, we were a bit too early although Jenny, his daughter, and friend Max, were already there. We chatted for a long while as the show started late.

Then, the band's guitarist, Charlie Hunter a well-known guitarist, started tuning his guitar, ran a few chords and scales. After several minutes the band finally got up the stage and started playing non-stop for almost two solid hours! Bobby was phenomenal. You can feel every beat he made with those drums. So were the others. Hunter was effortless. I never saw him look at the frets of his guitar. He knew the guitar so well he doesn't need to look. Keyboardist Marco Benevento, and saxophonist Skerik, were more than a pleasure to watch and listen to. I really had a wonderful time.