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New Music Composers

Preprint · October 2018

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.18378.90569

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Almighty C. Tabuena
Philippine Normal University
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New Music Composers

Posted on October 31, 2018 by Almighty Tabuena

Introduction
According to National Artist for Music, Ramon Santos, PhD, “contemporary music in the
Philippines refers to compositions that have adopted ideas and elements from 20th-century
art music in the west, as well as the latest trends and musical styles in the entertainment
industry”.

The modern Filipino repertoire consists of musical pieces that have been written in
20th-century idioms that have evolved out of such stylistic movements as impressionism,
expressionism, neo-classicism, as well as avant-garde and new music. New music is
compositions that are improvisational works such as the early compositions of Dr. Ramon
Santos, Radyasyon, and Quadrasyon; Josefino “Chino” Toledo’s Samut-Sari, Pintigan and
Terminal Lamentations, and Jonathan Baes’ Wala Banwa.

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Objectives:

 Distinguish certain musical pieces and styles.

 Describe distinctive musical elements of new music.
 Identify notable new music composers.
 Enumerate sample music compositions of new music composers.

Learning Competencies

The Learner:

1. describes characteristics of new music; and

2. gives a brief biography of selected Contemporary Philippine composer/s.

New Music Composers

When we are talking about the term “new music,” it’s not literally means as “modern
music;” it is the use of new styles and techniques in music incorporating various music, such
as ethnic and electronic music, and other forms of music. New music composers have
different approaches in composing music but are not limited to the usual or common
methods.

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October 2018

Music Terminologies:

1. Ethnomusicology. The term ethnomusicology is said to have been

first coined by Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος (ethnos,
“nation”) and μουσική (mousike, “music”), it is often defined
as the anthropology or ethnography of music, or as musical anthropology
(Seeger, 1983). It is the study of music from the cultural and social
aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical
and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material,
cognitive, biological, and other dimensions or contexts of musical
behavior, instead of only its isolated sound component.
2. Avant-garde Music. Avant-garde music is music that is considered to
be at the forefront of experimentation or innovation in its field, with
the term “avant-garde” implying a critique of existing aesthetic
conventions, rejection of the status quo in favor of unique or original
elements, and the idea of deliberately challenging or alienating
audiences. Avant-garde music may be distinguished from experimental
music by the way it adopts an extreme position within a certain tradition,
whereas “experimental music” lies outside tradition (Nicholls, 1990).

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October 2018

Kasilag was instrumental in developing Philippine music and culture. She founded the
Bayanihan Folks Arts Center for research and theatrical presentations and was closely
involved with the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company (Beltran-Gonzalez, 1984). She is
credited for having written more than 200 musical compositions, ranging from folksongs to
opera to orchestral works, and was composing up to the year before she died, at age 90. She
is particularly known for incorporating indigenous Filipino instruments into orchestral
productions.

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October 2018

Francisco Feliciano marked his music identity as “Finding the Filipino Spirit in Music;” as
stipulated in the book of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), Orden of National
Artists (2016); as he said:

“I would like my music to be sung by the people of the mountains, of the seas,
of the people in the streets.”

Music Terminology:

1. Band or Brass Band. A brass band is a musical ensemble generally

consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion
section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in
certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but may more correctly
termed military bands, concert bands, or “brass and reed” bands.

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October 2018

Ramon Santos is considered as the “Master Composer and Advocate of Filipino Music,” as
stipulated in the book of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), Orden of National
Artists (2016); as he said:

“My works have been strongly influenced by Asian performance techniques, the
functionality of Asian Music and the artistic holism of ritual and other
traditional practices.”

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1. Composers of experimental New Music in the Philippines include Jose Maceda,

Lucrecia Kasilag, Ramon Santos, and Francisco Feliciano. They retained the Filipino
spirit by incorporating traditional music forms as well as indigenous rhythms and
instruments in their compositions.
2. Avant-garde music may be distinguished from experimental music by the way it
adopts an extreme position within a certain tradition, whereas “experimental
music” lies outside tradition (Nicholls, 1990).

Bibliography

Beltran-Gonzalez, Michaela (1984). Filipino women in nation building: a compilation.

Quezon City: Phoenix Pub. House.

Borromeo, M. D. (2016). Ramon P. Santos. Orden ng mga Pambansang Alagad ng Sining

(Orden of National Artists). Cultural Center of the Philippines.

CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art Vol. VI: Philippine music. Manila: Cultural Center of the
Philippines.

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October 2018

Nicholls, D. (1990). American experimental music, 1890–1940. Cambridge [England] and

New York: Cambridge University Press: 318.

Samson, H. (1976). Contemporary Filipino composers. Quezon City: Manlapaz Publishing

Company.

Seeger, A. (1983). Why suyá sing. London: Oxford University Press. pp. xiii-xvii.

Sunico, R. M. (2015). Horizons grade 10 learner’s materials, music and arts appreciation for
young Filipinos. Quezon City: Tawid Publications.

Tan, A. Q. (2016). Francisco F. Feliciano. Orden ng mga Pambansang Alagad ng Sining

(Orden of National Artists). Cultural Center of the Philippines.

To cite this article (APA Style 7th Edition) - from Music Classroom Guide: Asian
and Contemporary Music:

Tabuena, A. C. (2018, October 31). New music composers. Music Classroom Guide:
Asian and Contemporary Music.
https://actmusicguide.wordpress.com/2018/10/31/new-music-composers/

Instruction to cite this article (APA Style 7th Edition) - from ResearchGate:

Replace the link (from the suggested citation above) with the DOI specified in the
article (located below the article title).

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