Excerpt from the BMI Ethnography of Dulag’s Karatong Festival

“Dulag, Leyte: Presenting Identity through Bamboo Musical Instruments” By Roan May D.G. Opiso

KARATONG FESTIVAL

Karatong Festival is the annual fiesta of Dulag, Leyte. It highlights the Waray bamboo percussion karatong, which in ancient times was used by the Dulagnons as an alarm when an impending danger or calamity would threaten their town (Cagara, interview, 19 October 2019).

Mr. Orlando Cagara, Secretary to the Sanggunian Bayan of Dulag, shared that Dulag’s previous festivals used to be heavily patterned after the Sinulog of the neighboring province of Cebu. In 2019, however, the Dulag local government unit (LGU), under Honorable Mayor Mildred Joy Que, decided to impart their own identity in their festival. At the same time, they wanted an all-bamboo music featured in their festivity. Hence, they elected to develop the karatong and other bamboo musical instruments.

Why Bamboo?

Upon developing the new concept for their festival, the Dulag LGU looked into the resources of their land. Dulag, according to Cagara, is generally a flat land, and though they do not have a forest, the town has six to seven species of bamboo. They have pattong, tangnan, kawayan, bagakay, among others.

BAMBOO INSTRUMENTS

In preparation for the Karatong Festival, the Dulag LGU invited Prof. Jocelyn Guadalupe of the UP College of Music and Philippine Society of Music Educators and Mr. David Dino Guadalupe of the UP Center for Ethnomusicology to give a workshop on bamboo music. This workshop was attended by teachers of the different participating schools in the municipality and was later followed by rehearsals and further encouragement from the local government.

During the said workshop and the succeeding preparations for the festival, the schools were able to create different types of bamboo instruments. Additionally, the bamboo instrument makers named their creations based on their Leyte/Samar heritage, congruent with their aim of highlighting the Dulag identity in their festivities. Hence, the following instruments came to being.

Halo or Bayawak

The halo or bayawak is a set of three (3) long bamboo tubes laid in a row. Its name came from the Waray word halo, meaning bayawak in Filipino or monitor lizard in English, because its length is similar to that of the said animal.

The instrument is made from the bolo bamboo, which is locally known as kayali. The instrument is played by striking the holes at the end of the bamboo using a rubber mallet. (Some players improvised using a rubber slipper). Each bamboo tube of the halo has its own note. The longer the length of tube, the lower the pitch. At the same time, the shorter the tube, the higher the pitch.

The halo has different sizes and each one is tuned to itself; meaning, a halo is not necessarily tuned the same way as other halos. Played in an ensemble, its function is comparable to that of the tenor drum of a marching band.

In creating the halo, Romeo and Paul of San Jose National High School first took the measurements of a bamboo pole. They then hollowed out the inside, and used a pitch pipe to get the pitch of each tube. Paul started with the lower ‘do’ before going up to the highest note. Mr. Go, another teacher from their school, made the decorative design of the instrument.

Karatong

As part of an ensemble, the karatong has a function similar to that of the snare drum of a marching band. Though it has been a traditional instrument in Dulag, the instrument makers in the workshop made innovations on its design to suit their needs. For example, they came up with a karatong version which has a handle on one end so that it can be held by one hand and beaten with a bamboo stick by the other hand. This style makes it convenient for the drummer to dance and to play the instrument at the same time. Another style of the karatong has the instrument placed on a stand, which is then strapped to the player. This set-up allows the instrumentalist to simultaneously dance and play the instruments using two sticks. A third version is a set of karatong grouped in three’s and placed in a frame.

Like the functional innovations made on the instrument, the decorative design of the karatong also varies depending on the maker. In San Jose, for example, some of their karatong were styled like a fish.

Karatoktok

The Dulagnons who attended the bamboo music instrument seminar also made a bamboo lyre or xylophone which they called karatoktok. It is played using a bamboo stick as a mallet. Like the halo, the karatoktok is also made from kayali.

The karatoktok in San Jose NHS was tuned by Paul and used the notes of the song “Si Filemon” which they performed in the festival.

Other Instruments

Aside from the halo, karatong, and karatoktok, the instrument makers also made other different bamboo instruments. They have another bamboo xylophone similar to a gabbang, and a huge bamboo clapper. The bamboo clapper though was used more as a prop than an instrument.

They also have a smaller version of halo called by Romeo as munting sawa. These shorter bamboo tubes are grouped together (one version has at least 8 tubes) in one row and set vertically in a frame, unlike the halo which is laid down horizontally. The munting sawa was acquired after the Karatong Festival and is reserved to be played in future activities.

A.    Content Standards

1. Recognize the musical symbols and demonstrate understanding of concepts pertaining to rhythm
2. Demonstrate understanding of the uses and meaning of musical terms in form
3. Demonstrate understanding of variations of sound density in music (lightness and heaviness) as applied to vocal and instrumental music

B.    Performance Standards

1. Perform with a conductor a speech chorus in simple time signatures

a. With a choral ensemble

b. With an instrumental ensemble

1. Create and perform a song with appropriate musicality
2. Participate in a group performance to demonstrate vocal and instrumental sounds

C.    Learning Competencies/Objectives

1. Identify aurally and visually different instruments in bamboo group/ensemble including local indigenous ensembles
2. Describe how music contributes to the performance of the musical production
3. Explore ways of producing sounds on a variety of sources similar to instruments being studied
4. Improvise simple rhythmic/melodic accompaniments to selected music from the Visayas
5. Evaluate music and music performances applying knowledge of musical elements and style
6. Create a variety of sounds emanating from the environment using available sound sources
7. Recognize rhythmic patterns using quarter note and eighth note in simple time signatures
8. Create different rhythmic patterns and ostinato using notes and rests in quadruple meter.
9. Recognize the design or structure of simple musical forms:

a. Unitary (one section)

b. Strophic (same tune with 2 or more sections and 2 or more verses)

A.Rhythm – rhythmic patterns using triplets in meter in 4

B. Form – structure of musical sound: Strophic

C. Timbre – vocal and instrumental sounds

1. 1. Speech choir
   2. Karatong (bamboo slit drum) ensemble

A.    References

1. Print Materials

1. BMI ethnography of Dulag’s Karatong Festival
2. BMI documentation pictures of the instruments used in the karatong ensemble

2. Audio-Video Materials

BMI documentation videos of Dulag 75th Anniversary Celebrations of MacArthur Landing featuring:

1. Labiranan Festival of the 2019 Karatong Festival by San Jose National High School, Dulag, Leyte

http://tiny.cc/BMI-Dulag-Karatong

1. “Commitment to Peace” speech choir presentation by the Youth of Dulag

http://tiny.cc/BMI-Dulag-Choir

3. Music Scores

“Si Felimon”

B.    Other Learning Materials

1. Classroom percussion instruments
2. Other found objects (canisters, plastic containers for drums, small bottles with beans as shakers)

A.  Reviewing the previous lesson or presenting the new lesson

1. Show a picture of a
2. Have the students watch and listen to a rendition of “Si Felimon” excerpt by the San Jose National High School karatong performers.
3. Tell them of the background of the song and the story behind the presentation

(story of a fishing village that was able to fight off spirits that threatened their fisherfolk through the power of the patron saint and the music of the karatong).

B.    Establishing the purpose of the lesson

Tell the students that after a review of rhythm in the First Quarter, they will now integrate their rhythmic learning with form and timbre by composing their own rhythmic patterns accompanying the song.

C.    Presenting examples/instances of the new lesson

1. Listen and Imitate: Have the students listen to the karatong rhythm and imitate
2. Present the notation after successful clapping of the

D.    Discussing new concepts and practicing new skills #1

1. Let the students sing the song following the notation and lyrics of the
2. Divide the class into three with one group tapping the beat on their laps, another group clapping the rhythm/words of the song, and another group singing the song.
3. Using listening for rhythm and tonal patterns, have the students describe the structure of the phrases/lines of the song (verses with 4 lines following aabc).
4. Introduce the term STROPHIC as the term that describes the form of the song where the tone and rhythm are repeated in each verse of the

E.    Discussing new concepts and practicing new skills #2

1. Let the students watch the video and look at the instruments used once
2. Show pictures of the instruments as
3. Find equivalent instruments in the classroom for low percussion sounds (drum), middle percussion (canisters), and high percussion (shakers).
4. Guide the students in composing 4 lines of 8-beat ostinato in 4/4 using classroom percussion instruments applying the phrase pattern of the song: Rhythmic notation may be used as a review.

F.   Developing mastery (leads for formative assessment)

Let the students practice their composed ostinato to accompany the song.

G.    Finding practical applications of concepts and skills in daily living

Have the students watch a speech choir use various rhythms in their speech choir rendition.

Prompt: How can you use rhythm and form in your daily speech to communicate

effectively?

H.    Making generalization and abstraction about the lesson

1. Using shapes, represent the form of each line of the song. Example circle for a, triangle for b, square for c.
2. Conclude by saying that form in music is similar to shapes. Using lines, one can draw different shapes. Similarly, using tones and rhythms played on instruments, one can make various forms of

I.     Additional activities for application or remediation

1. Beat competence: Students with limited beat competence can be asked to move to the beat using bigger movements such as stepping to the beat while singing the song.
2. Tonal competence: Students with limited singing ability can tone match

simple one to two tones with a classmate/teacher.

A. How many learners earned 80% in the evaluation? How many learners require additional activities for remediation?

B. Did the remedial lesson work? How many learners have caught up with the lesson? How many learners continue to require remediation?

C. Which of my teaching strategies worked well? Why did this work?

D. What difficulties can my principal or supervisor help me solve?

E. What innovation or localized materials did I use/discover that I wish to share with other teachers?