Traditional Philippine Musical Instruments PDF

Traditional Philippine Musical Instruments R E S E A R C H A N D C O M P I L E D B Y: RICARDO SALANAP JR. [PHILIPPINES]  Introduction The Philippines is a 7,100-island archipelago with 77 provinces and 16 regions, with Luzon, Visayan, and Mindanao islands as main grou...

Traditional Philippine Musical Instruments R E S E A R C H A N D C O M P I L E D B Y: RICARDO SALANAP JR. [PHILIPPINES]  Introduction The Philippines is a 7,100-island archipelago with 77 provinces and 16 regions, with Luzon, Visayan, and Mindanao islands as main groups. The population is divided into Christian, indigenous, and Muslim groups based on religion. Christian groups are concentrated in Luzon and Visayan lowlands, while indigenous religions are found in northern Luzon's uplands, Mindanao, and Palawan. Although the Philippines is geographically located in the East, its music has been heavily influenced by the West as a result of 333 years of Spanish rule and 45 years of American dominance. The music of cities is heavily influenced by Spanish and American music. When discussing Philippine music, three major divisions emerge: (1) an old Asian-influenced music known as indigenous; (2) religious and secular music influenced by Spanish and European forms; and (3) classical, semi-classical, and popular music inspired by American/European forms.  Introduction “Music instruments, used for dance, labor, and entertainment, have evolved over time. They are classified into idiophones, aerophones, chordophones, and membranophones, following the Hornbostel-Sachs classification in modern musicological studies. “ CORAZON CANAVE-DIOQUINO Philippine Music Instruments  Chordophones are stringed instruments made of bamboo or wood, including zithers, lutes, and bowed strings. Philippine zithers have resonating CHORDOPHONES bodies made of bamboo tubes or half tubes with parallel strings. They are found in Northern Luzon, Mindanao, and Palawan. Polychordal zithers have multiple strings around the tube, while parallel strung zithers have two strings on one side.  Bandurria The Philippine harp bandurria is a 14-string bandurria with 16 frets and a shorter neck than the 12-string bandurria. It most likely evolved in the Philippines between 1521 and 1898. The Filipino bandurria (also banduriya) is part of the rondalla orchestra of plucked string instruments. It is tuned one step lower than the Spanish version, from low to high: F# B E A D G. Filipino bandurrias have been made from coconuts, as well as banjoleles with banjo bodies and goatskin soundboards.  Laud Traditionally the laúd is used by folk string musical groups, such as Spanish or Filipino rondalla string ensembles, together with the guitar and the bandurria. Like the bandurria, it is tuned in fourths, but its range is one octave lower.  Octavina The Octavina is a traditional Filipino instrument played in an ensemble called a Rondalla together with the Bandurria, Laud, and Double Bass. Faglung / Fuglung Fagalung A two-stringed, lute-like instruments of the B’laan It has a wooden boat-shaped instrument with geometric designs on bands around its neck and body with an airhole located in its back. The head of the instrument is carved in a shape of a bird with horse hair ornamentation.  Kudyapi The kutiyapi, or kudyapi, is a Philippine two-stringed, fretted boat-lute. It is four to six feet long with nine frets made of hardened beeswax. The instrument is carved out of solid soft wood such as that from the jackfruit tree. Common to all kudyapi instruments, a constant drone is played with one string while the other, an octave above the drone, plays the melody with a kabit or rattan pluck (commonly made from plastic nowadays). This feature, which is also common to other related Southeast Asian "boat lutes", also known as "crocodile lutes", are native to the region.  Kudlung The Kudlong is a two-stringed lute that is boat-shaped with wooden tightening rods and frets made of beeswax. One string plays a drone and the other string plays a melody. The body is also carved to represent a mythical animal with two heads of either the naga (or serpent) or crocodile or the sarimanok. Kudlong is distributed among the southern Mindanao groups – the Tiboli, Bilaan, Manobo, Ata, Bagobo, Mansaka, and Mandaya. Among the Ata people of Southern Mindanao, the long-neck kudlung is usually played by a man who dances with the instrument as he follows the foot-steps of a woman playing and dancing with a polycordal zither called saluray.  Kolitong The kolitong is a bamboo polychordal tube zither from Bontok, Kalinga, Philippines with six strings that run parallel to its tube body. The strings are numbered from one to six, from lowest to highest pitch. The body acts as the instrument's resonator. The body may be a whole tube or a half tube.  Takumbo The kolitong is a bamboo polychordal tube zither from Bontok, Kalinga, Philippines with six strings that run parallel to its tube body. The strings are numbered from one to six, from lowest to highest pitch. The body acts as the instrument's resonator. The body may be a whole tube or a half tube.  Gitgit The gitgit or the three-stringed indigenous violin of the Hanunoo-Mangyan is not only an instrument that plays during the interludes of an ambahan poem. It also serves as a vessel for some of the ambahan scripts. The ambahan is often engraved in handy items such as lime, betel nut, and tobacco containers, bolo sheaths, and the gitgit.  Philippine bamboo aerophones include various types of flutes, pan-pipes, and reed pipes. The most widespread and numerous are the flutes which are mostly end-blown with the air stream AEROPHONES directed into the open end of the tube. The lip valley notch flute, so called because of its mouthpiece which is obliquely cut and curved at a slant to follow the contour of the player’s lips, is found in northern and southern Philippines.  Saggeypo Saggeypo it is a bamboo pipe that is closed on one end by a node with the open end held against the lower lip of the player as he blows directly across the top. The pipe can be played individually by one person or in ensembles of three or more.  Palendag The palendag, also known as the Pulalu (Manobo and Mansaka), Palandag (Bagobo), Pulala (Bukidnon), and Lumundeg (Banuwaen), is a type of Philippine bamboo flute, the largest of which is used by the Maguindanaon; a smaller version is known as the Hulakteb (Bukidnon). Because of the way one must shape one's lips against its tip to make a sound, it is considered the most difficult of the three bamboo flutes (the others being the tumpong and the suling) to use. The lower end of the mouthpiece is cut diagonally to accommodate the lower lip, and the second diagonal cut is made for the blowing edge. Tongali / Kaleleng A nose flute with a long and narrow internal diameter. It is played with the extreme forward edge of the right or left nostril and produce notes in a range of two and a half octaves.  Tulali This is a bamboo flute with three holes and a mouth opening (pagoma) that is similar to that of a panpipe.  Tumpong A lip-valley flute like the palendag, the tumpong makes a sound when players blow through a bamboo reed placed on top of the instrument and the air stream produced is passed over an airhole atop the instrument.  Sahunay Sahunay - is a bamboo flute, leaving six holes for the fingers and trumpet. made of coconut leaf. It is about 50 cm long and 3 cm in diameter. This is. a bamboo flute of the Tausugs in Sulu.  Tambuli Tambuli is an indigenous Filipino instrument fashioned from the Carabao horn which produces long, melodious sounds. It was used in ancient times prior to the coming of Christianity to summon villagers to the barangay elders' meeting or to warn the society of danger like fire or pirates.  Diw-Diw-As 5 nodes of bamboo of varying length are tied in a row with a rattan string. It is played by blowing across the open holes. Materials: bamboo.  Paldong It is an open, single end-blown flute. The lower end of the flute has three fingerholes. The instrument is made from bamboo with its upper edge cut away obliquely from the backside and slightly from the front-side. The paldong is open at both ends, with a total of four fingerholes: three in front, and one at the back.  Idiophones are instruments that produce sound from wood or metal, and can be struck, scraped, plucked, shaken, or rubbed. In the Philippines, there are metal and wooden idiophones, with IDIOPHONES metal idiophones being divided into flat gongs and bossed gongs. Flat gongs made of bronze, brass, or iron are found in northern regions like Isneg, Tingguian, Kalinga, Bontok, Ibaloi, Kankanai, Gaddang, Ifugao, and Ilonggot.  Agung The agung is a set of two wide-rimmed, vertically suspended gongs used by the Maguindanao, Maranao, Sama-Bajau and Tausug people of the Philippines as a supportive instrument in kulintang ensembles. Agung-A Tamlang The Agung a Tamlang is a type of Philippine slit drum made of hollowed out bamboo in imitation of the real agung. Pitch is determined by the length and depth of the slit. The agung a tamlang is used as practice for the real agung: players either use either one agung a tamlang (hold it with one hand and using the other to strike it with a beater) or using two agung a tamlangs where the other agung is held with one’s feet.  Patatag / Pateteg Patatag derived its name from “pateteg“, an Ilocano term for one of the indigenous musical instruments in the Philippines, the bamboo xylophone. Patatag is also known as patteteg among the Kalinga people. The group of bamboo blades is meant to sound like a xylophone and is played by striking the blades with bamboo sticks. It has six blades in graduated sizes, played separately by six players. Ringing and dampened tones are very important in the interlock method to create the resultant melody.  Gambang / Gambang Kayu A gambang, properly called a gambang kayu ('wooden gambang') is a xylophone-like instrument used in Indonesian gamelan and kulintang ensembles. It has wooden bars (wilah) in contrast to the metallic ones of the more typical metallophones in a gamelan. A largely obsolete instrument, the gambang gangsa, is a similar instrument made with metal bars.  Gandingan The instrument is usually described as four, large, shallow-bossed, thin-rimmed gongs, vertically hung, either from a strong support such as a tree limb or housed in a strong wooden framed stand.  Kagul Philippine bamboo scraper The kagul is a type of Philippine bamboo scraper gong/slit drum of the Maguindanaon and Visayans with a jagged edge on one side, played with two beaters, one scraping the jagged edge and the other one making a beat. Kubing / Subing / Ulibaw Made of bamboo; Made of bamboo; the instrument is held horizontally with the bamboo tongue in front of the opened mouth. The left end is hit by the thumb of the right hand. This makes the bamboo tongue vibrate which causes a sound.  Kalagong Kalagong is a wind instrument which also provides bass and sometimes the melody for select musical pieces. Bamboo poles each representing a note are held together by a wooden frame and are played when two paddles made of rubber slippers are struck on each of the hollow bamboo tubes.  Kulintang The kulintang, is a row of from five to 11 brass and bronze gongs graduated in pitch. The number of gongs depends on the ethnic group. Kalanduyan plays the kulintang with eight tuned, knobbed gongs. The gongs are played with two sticks of soft wood.  Sarunay A metallophone of eight tuned knobbed metal plates strung together and suspended over a frame. The saronay is usually played as a practice instrument, particularly by children, before moving on to the knobbed gongs, the kulintang.  Tongatong A tongatong is a percussion instrument made of various lengths of bamboo, which is found in the Kalinga province of the Philippines. It is played by hitting it against the earth. Traditionally, the tongatong is used by the people of Kalinga to communicate with spirits, particularly as part of healing rituals. Kulintang A Kayo The kulintang a kayo (literally, “wooden kulintang”) is a Philippine xylophone of the Maguindanaon people with eight tuned slabs strung horizontally atop a padded wooden antangan (rack).  Bungkaka A bungkaka, also known as the bamboo buzzer is a percussion instrument (idiophone) made out of bamboo common in numerous indigenous tribes around the Philippines such as the Ifugao, Kalinga, and Ibaloi.  Gangsa The gangsa is a two-octave metallophone with ten rectangular- shaped keys (don) suspended by rope and posts over tuned tube resonators (tiying or bumbung). The keys of this gangsa are made from bronze (krawang).  Kalutang A pair of percussion bars which are struck against each other at specific angles to produce a pitch. These sticks are a part of an entire ensemble of kalutang which when playing together produce melodies. The instrument is cut from the kwatingan tree which grows in Marinduque.  Tanggunggu Set of eight small gongs made of iron, usually hanging on a rest of rope. The lower right gong is played as an ostinato while the melody is played on the other gongs, around the ostinato  Membranophones are single and double- headed drums found in the Philippines, shaped like cones, cylindrical, goblets, or barrels. They are made from animal skins and Membranophones can be beaten with sticks or palms. Drums are rarely used alone, except to announce long distances, and are often played with other instruments, especially gongs, to form ensembles.  Dabakan The dabakan is a single-headed Philippine drum, primarily used as a supportive instrument in the kulintang ensemble. Among the five main kulintang instruments, it is the only non-gong element of the Maguindanao ensemble.  Gambal The gambal or the gadang are war drums that are played to boost the warrior's esteem and get them ready for battle. It is made of hollowed out tree trunks and deerskin for drumheads. It is not played alone but accompanied by gongs. It is played by hands or by striking a wooden stick on the drumhead.  Tambul A percussion instrument consisting of a hollow shell or cylinder with a drumhead stretched over one or both ends that is beaten with the hands or with a stick.  Libit Libit a conical drum with a deer or goat skin head used by the Ifugao and played with a gong during harvest time under the rice granary.  Solibao A solibao is a conical tenor drum played by the Bontoc and Ibaloi people of the Philippines. It is played with the palms of both hands. It usually appears as part of an ensemble along with the kimbal, pinsak, kalsa and palas. RESOURCES: PHILIPPINE MUSIC INSTRUMENTS, BY CORAZON CANAVE-DIOQUINO PUBLISHED: https://ncca.gov.ph/about-ncca-3/subcommissions/subcommission-on-the-arts-sca/music/philippine-music-instruments/ TOWARD AN INVENTORY OF PHILIPPINE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS BY E. ARSENIO MANUEL PUBLISHED: https://www.asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-14-1-1976/manuel-philippine-musical-instruments.pdf Santos, R.P. “The Ethnic Tradition,” CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art, volume VI: Philippine Music. Manila: Cultural Center of the Philippines, 1994. Traditional Philippine Musical Instruments R I C A R D O S A L A N A P J R.