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 muntin 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. Demonstrate understanding of the musical characteristics of representative music from the Visayas
2. Demonstrate understanding and application of musical skills related to selected Philippine festivals

B. Performance Standards

1. Performselected vocal and instrumental music of the Visayas in appropriate style
2. Performsongs and dances from selected Philippine festivals

C. Learning Competencies/Objectives

1. Describehow music contributes to the performance of the musical production
2. Explore ways of producing sounds on a variety of sources similar toinstruments being studied
3. Improvise simple rhythmic/melodic accompaniments to selected music fromthe Visayas
4. Evaluate music and music performances applying knowledge of musical elements and style

Karatong (Bamboo Slit Drum) Instrumental Ensemble and Festival from the Visayas

A. References

1. Print Materials

a. BMI ethnography of Dulag’s Karatong Festival

b. 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:

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

 http://tiny.cc/BMI-Dulag-Karatong

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

 http://tiny.cc/BMI-Dulag-Choir

B. Other Learning Materials

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

A. Reviewing the previous lesson or presenting the new lesson

1. Show a picture of MacArthur Landing and ask the students what they remember from the picture.
2. Showa map of Leyte and point out the location of Hill 120 in
3. Let the students watch a clip of the speech choir during the 75thMacArthur Landing Commemoration at Hill
4. Show a video/picture of the recent Yolanda / Typhoon Haiyan destruction of  Tell the students that the people of Leyte, Dulagnons in particular, have used music and art to cope with both man-made and natural disasters.

B. Establishing the purpose of the lesson

1. Show a picture of the karatong bamboo slit
2. Tell them that they will see through the lesson how the bamboo slit drum was a symbol of Dulagnons’ way of coping through storytelling, playing, singing, and
3. Tell the students that they can also apply these ways of expressing in found

C. Presenting examples/instances of the new lesson

1. Let the students watch the video of San Jose National High School’sLabiranan Festival, winner of the 2019 Karatong
2. Before showing the video, ask the students to watch out for the story of the presentation, the types of bamboo instruments, the musical patterns, and the movement used during each segment of the

D. Discussing new concepts and practicing new skills # 1

1. Divide the class into groups of 15 per
2. Give the students ten minutes to discuss how the elements of production(story, movement, music, instrumentation) were integral to the success of the
3. Using climate change mitigation as a theme, have the students brainstorma two-minute dance drama presentation integrating story, music, dance presented using found objects and classroom
4. Assign task leaders for each aspect of production which may include story convener, narrator, and actors; music or soundscape conductor/facilitator, and performers; movement choreographer, and dancers).

E. Discussing new concepts and practicing new skills # 2

Conduct a workshop on the following topics:

1. Mind mapping
2. Introductory script writing for the story
3. Found object improvisation for the music
4. Improvised movement for the dance drama

F. Developing mastery (leads to formative assessment)

1. Conduct a supervised practice and feedback sessions using the following steps:a. Have the students practice theirb. Record each full run and watch out for particular difficultc. Using distributed practice, identify difficult parts and practice in isolation
2. Have each group present their two-minute short presentation on climate change mitigation using their own story, dance, music and instrumentation of found objects/classroom
3. Discuss how each performance was able to meet the objective ofintegrating ideas in story, dance, and music in one integrated

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

Prompt: How can we express ideas through sound in everyday life?

H. Making generalization and abstraction about the lesson

Prompt: Music and arts have always been used by societies to express their daily life, triumphs, and struggles. How can I use music and art to help me as a present-day Filipino high school student in my daily life struggles and triumphs?

I. Additional activities for application or remediation

Use differentiated Instruction: Students who have a hard time in performance may be involved in other tasks such as recording the rehearsals for feedback using cell phone recorders if available.

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 which I wish to share with other teachers?