“The Feeling”

Revin Xavier L. Ignacio

I miss the feeling of being in love

How romantic movies come alive

These treasured moments I always have.

Each passing day is full of glee

In each moment, for happiness I strive

I miss the feeling of being in love.

I can’t ever imagine myself ought to flee

In the deep wells of sweet sorrows I dive

These treasured moments I always have.

The memories of you and me,

Has led the feeling not to perish, but to live

I miss the feeling of being in lov

How little things remind me of thee

As I count it all, it was more than five

These treasured moments I always have.

‘til then, I’ll let things go as they are meant to be

Like how bees would go to and from their hive

I miss the feeling of being in love

These treasured moments I always have.

Teaching Visual Arts by Kim “Kubong” Laranjo

Sir Kim “Kubong” Laranjo is a resident artist of Tam-awan Artists Village. He started serious painting only in 2018 and teaches pastel arts in Tam-awan because of the demand of schools.

According to Sir Kim, what he would do is to get the main contents of the visual arts. He first defined Art – “as a highly diverse range of human activities which includes creating visual, auditory, etc.”

He said, “Art is everything including the lifestyle and way of life. We don’t enforce one art to someone because it is cultivated by the person, a gift he / she fosters.” He also pointed out that art is developed, like Pablo Picasso who discovered a new art movement called cubism he discovered this in the later part of his life.

He gave a backgrounder on art that becomes an expression now these days before it started as realism to reflect what people sees. However, Kim said, we needed to apply emotional value aside from creative aspect of the art in order to gain market.

He defined visual arts which refers to forms that expresses their message, meaning and emotion through visual means. In gallery, tangible arts can’t be touched.

He cited examples including BenCab, the bulol that recently famed because of its staggering price and of course Leonarda da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. On his part, Kim said that he uses line Arts in his most of his work. Example is his signature ‘sun’ that is patterned to snailsignature. He said, “Sun represents hope, fire means determination.” These labels or symbolism could have universality and used by artists.

At this point of his presentation Sir Kim provided a lecture on the basics of Arts.

1. Decorative Art- which is concerned with design and decoration for displays. This are chiefly prized for their utility, rather than for their purely aesthetic qualities. Ex: ceramics, glassware, metalware, jewelry, like: artisan’s fare (Madekito). This also included accessories as costume it aims to attract or present a visual palette.

2. Commercial Arts/ AdvertisingThis are for branding, logos, graphic design, and illustrations Ex: Shoppee, BSU logo and others

3. Fine Arts- this refers to an art form practiced mainly for its aesthetic value and its beauty rather than its functional value. This captures the mantra “Art for art’s sake”. He said both motivations apply in these contemporary times, “Arts is for developing for high pitched voice. She said, the students she is coaching in the Glee Club undergoes warm up first before singing. Its important to identify the vocal levels of each singer and develop from therein. In coaching, Maam Leizl said, “the power of voice is controlled where the voice is on the person’s comfort zone.” the soul, art is for the money (for profit)” – this includes celebrity.

According to Sir Kim, it is a challenge for artists to make their artwork authentic. On his own works, he goes with fine arts as rooted in drawing and designbased he do in his painting, printmaking, and sculpture. Sir Kim, showed sample his paintings.

Teaching Music: Beautiful Singing by Prof

The voices could be located in the following vocal tract- a.) Chest voice- this comes from the proper utilization of sound and vibration in the chest- accordingly certain notes and pitch are dedicated on this voice to improve singing. The next is, b.) Head voice – this unique source of voice channel is felt through the vibration in skull. Then the c.) Head voice for ladies and d.) Falsetto for boys – a ‘fake’ voice, usually high pitched.

Liezl B. Villagracia

Our fifth speaker is Professor Liezl Villagracia, a native from Siargao, Island, Surigao del Norte but she married and lived here in Benguet for many years. She finished Bachelor of Music Education at Colegio de la Inmaculada Conception, took her MA in Teaching Music at Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University. She has a double MA in Education and a Doctorate Holder of Philosophy. Currently teaching at the BSU College of Teacher Education, and the Adviser now Director of the BSUGlee Club for 18 years. She brought singing and music into our ears and trained our youth into

Prof Villagracia is now an officer of the Association of Culture and Arts Educators of the Philippines, Member of Philippine Choral Directors Association, has Attended choral trainings under the baton of Maestro Mark Anthony Carpio of the Philippine Madrigal Singers (MADZ). She has a strong linkage with DR. BIENVENIDO CONSTANTINO Jr.former UB Voices Conductor and now, he’s a well-known choral arranger and conductor around the country and Asia and the president of ACAEP. She is also a composer and a singer by heart.

Maam Liezl started her topic with the proper demonstration of breathing in singing. She said, “Produce and sing a resonant and powerful voice comes from good breathing.” Maam Liezl gave a proper demonstration of breathing and what type of voice are produce in these different parts of the vocal apparatus. She said, “We need to produce and sing a resonant and powerful voice.”

The audience were engaged in simple breathing exercise. The onsite participants stood and follow after maam Leizl. Singing is engaging with the body exercises as an important tool to improve the voice.

The proper breathing exercises includes inhale, exhale and relaxing of shoulder and watching the movement of the stomach. “Your real power comes from below; don’t push or pull up” Maam Leizl quoted Cheryl Porter.

In singing, Maam Leizl pointed out that everyone should have a teachable heart and willingness to start from the comfortable voice before moving and allows the participants to follow their voice categories and consistently work this out. The participants had loads of laughter and lots of singing that filled the venue. Finally, after many practices and voice takes, the participants were asked to listen carefully to the accompanying piano as Maam Leizl led them in the singing of Benguet State University hym. The lecture ended with a singing demonstration by Maam Leizl having her rendition of the song “From this moment.”

Teaching Performing Arts by Wreigh Jann

C. Tamayo

At this point of her lecture, Maam Leizl emphasized that the real power of voice comes from bewlow. She said, “Upuan mu yung mataas na nota. Otherwise, Ipit if you are titling but when you sit on it and pick up from below, you can reach the target and reach the high notes. Maam Leizl demonstrated this with her body, bowing low to reach power while lifting the body on the other hand is for low notes.

The 1B and 3Ps. Professor Leizl shared to the audience the three salient way to improve singing, as it commands healthy lifestyle, food intake and consciousness in body habits.

a.) Breathing is done through guided inhaling and exhaling. Breathe deeply and evenly when singing. It is advised to use your abdomen for breathing, not your chest. Practice breathing deeply and avoid common breathing mistakes.

b.) Posture is done by keeping your backbones straight. If you know the Diaphragmatic laughter it strengthens your stomach. The contraction of muscles, if you will feel pain, it’s a good sign that your abdomen is being exercised. The Laughter yoga is also suggested to strengthen the diaphragm.

c.) Practicing- Sing from your chest not from your throat. Sing from your heart not from your head. Express it and don’t think of exterior things. In singing, you can feel the emotion if you feel and relate to the good singer. Develop your chest voice first before head voice. Restrictions in food, sweets, spicy, ice cream, bagoong.

d.) Preparation- Warmup before singing. Stay hydrated. Through vocalization 90% voice development and 10 5 singing. Avoid smoking, try not to yell. Avoid large amount of alcohol, caffein.

At this point, the onsite participants were invited in the stage for a demonstration of singing in chorale. The choir practice started with /La/la/la/la/ la/la… The high pitched participants and low-pitched were grouped separately and they were asked to demonstrate the 1B and 3Ps. The participants were guided to sing and follow through maam Leizl’s example. They were challenged to listen carefully and do it being aware of the voice being produced and doing the proper breathing exercise.

The next exercise is for the participants to sing “May ipis sa ilalim ng pinto, Nakita ni Papa patay…” This exercise want it to be homegrown and culturally appropriate. To quote, “Our goal is to bridge the old performing acts to the new generation.”

Further, the discussion also included the element of Music. He asked the audience to be grouped in 5 members and showed the presentation of “Limang dipang taong nagtutulakan”. In this 5 -minute workshop, the participants were giving lines to interpret in the song. They were challenged to take roles and act on it with the accompanying music. The participants presented and tried out their characters, some were shy, some were gaining confidence and shared laughter’s while doing the presentation.

The last speaker is Sir Wreigh Jann Tamayo- a visual and performing artists from Baguio City. He started with a warm-up exercise and asked the audience to follow after him. A couple of steps were taught as warm-up activity to the participants and a music played in for them to join in a Tiktok dance challenge.

Sir Tamayo lectured on the different categorization of Performing Arts. The first is – Theater- a full regalia of singing, acting, drama, costume, script and all. He also discussed the tableaux where he asked volunteers from the participants to come up front. He gave a ‘scenario’ for them to act and the rest of the audience will guess the scene they are portraying. The volunteers showed an example of a tableaux from a common scene in the city- “ jeepney rush” where five people are rushing to have a seat in the jeepney. He also noted that theater presentation in contemporary times usually have limited time, stage auditions and performances in television for instance are limited to 3 to five minutes only. Therefore, Sir Tamayo advised that the most important theatre performer should take carefully is to make the Intro and the Outro a showcase of high energy performance.

In this point, Sir Tamayo showed to the participants sample theatre presentation and performances he codirected. The samples included a Festival Performance of an Elementary School in Baguio City. Another example he presented is an official entry of the Cordillera Baguio J Crayonz during the Pilipinas Got Talent Competition. Sir Tamayo introduced their pioneer work on Modern Cultural Dances that they sought to popularize. This form of performance is a mixture of traditional dances with modern twists. He also shared their initiatives to support traditional to be known and generate audience from local and global scene.

In terms of his advocacy to revive appreciation to cultural dances, Sir Tamayo shared the rigorous process he and his team went through to gain support from the community. He said, they needed to secure proper documentation process and had joined dialogues with elders and community culture bearers just to inform them first of all the symbols and dance steps they are allowed to carry in their modern interpretation. He said, “they are the most important authority we need to seek.” As according to him, they are representing the Cordillera therefore, they

Sir Tamayo, gave further instructions to the group and had another take. This time, a full production, he taught them several steps for Intro and Outro. After few minutes of practice, the participants had the full production with their poses and characters.

The last point in Sir Tamayo’s talk dwelled on the importance of Dance which has these elements- BASTE/ BEAST. He shared the different Elements of Dance, including how to efficiently maximize all the parts of the Body (What we move), to communicate emotions and feelings. The next is the Action- this is conscious dramatization and role-play performers need to master. They work toward channeling their energy towards completing their act and complementing others. Then the Energy (How we move)this is a calculated and synchronize execution of when the energy is being distributed in the action. Another is Time, this is an important aspect for which, performances are curated depending on how to sustain the attention of the audience and capture their desire to continue watching. Finally, the Space is where the performer act into, accordingly, Tamayo shared that everyone has his imaginary rounded space, where hands, feet and head bounces to and maximizes to show full performance.

Further, Sir Tamayo said that in performance, action and rest time should be balanced. In Energy, he said, “May sariling bilog, ito and extension na ginagamit at useful ito para malimit ang energy.” Also called as ‘pitik’ energy should be sustained until the end.

He also shared about the importance of levels in visual performance. He said, “May nakaupo, at nakatayo. As a team, you can start from makapal and compress because it means strength for the group.”

Tamayo ended with emphasizing the goal which is to reach the gap between the modern and ethnic groups and essentially theatre has a big role to play to accommodate this.

To cap off, Sir Tamayo expressed his willingness to forge partnership for theatre workshop among the Faculty of CAH on January 2022. He said, that they are willing to share their knowledge and he could contact performers to also have a coaching on theatre.

The audience applauded Tamayo during his Awarding of Cert.

Over the past two days, the teachers, have become learners through Think Talk 3: Of Shapes, Hues, and Notes: Bringing the Arts in the Classroom. But isn’t that part of our job, to always be learning? Yesterday, we reiterated the importance of the arts in a learner’s academic journey, as well as the role that the arts play in gender and development. In Dr. Elaine Dizon’s talk, “Reading Through The Arts”, she reminded us that one does not need to be an artist per se in order to be an effective arts teacher; one just has to be creative because creativity is the currency of the 21st century.

During Mr. James Gabito’s, “Cordilleran Women in The Canvas,” we had a dynamic discussion of how Cordilleran women are represented in visual arts. Through Ms. Karen O. Laking’s talk, “Reading ‘Alembong’: Putting The Picture Into Words”, we saw an application of sorts of how one reads a piece of visual art, with a touch of feminist and queer reading.

Part of gender and development through the arts is letting artists from marginalized identities express themselves through the arts. Today, we broadened our knowledge when it comes to being teachers of the arts. We started with Mr. Kim Laranjo’s talk “Teaching Visual Arts”, where he presented different forms of visual arts. He likewise underscored the artist’s need to develop their own style, as well as to continue building their portfolio. Visual art, he said, is a fundamental component of the human experience reflecting the world and the time in which we live. And as teachers, we need to be creative in all facets of the instructional behavior.

We then transitioned from discussing visual arts to performing arts, first with Ms. Liezel Villagracia’s talk on “Teaching Music: Beautiful Singing.” The CAH Choir appears to be in the making. Our series of learning experiences ended with Mr. Wreigh Jann Tamayo’s talk on “Teaching Performing Arts.” He underscored the importance of evolving the way we represent images in theatre, to innovate and update what were once familiar.

There’s a way to bridge our heritage with our modern sensibilities without discarding the sanctity of tradition. We also put our bodies into motion with our little performance, so apart from the CAH Choir, is the CAH Dance Troupe also in the works? We found ourselves tip-toeing outside our comfort zones, and, in doing so, I’d like to believe that we had a better appreciation of what it takes to be an artist: that artistry is not innate, that it takes discipline and practice and dedication to hone one’s craft.

Most of us might not be artists per se, but hopefully these past two days taught us two pay forward the value, beauty, and humanity of the arts as we bring the arts in the classroom.