Indigenous Music - Philippine Culture

Other idiophones of the South include the gabbang or bamboo xylophone of the Tausog of
Sulu, and the edel or log drum, a plank idiophone made of molave wood suspended and beaten with sticks
and used by the Tabakaolo, Bilaan and Manobo.
Probably the most important and best known membranophones of the North are the two
conical drums of the Ibaloi – the sulibao and the kimbal. The sulibao has a higher pitch than the kimbal and
is played with a padded stick. Usually, however, these instruments are joined by two other pairs of
idiophones in the sulibao ensemble, namely, the kalsa and the pinsak, which are two flat gongs, and the
palas which are two short iron bard handled by a single player. Similar types of drums exist in the South
such as the dabakan of the Maguindanao and the dadabuan of the Maranao. In addition to these conical
drums, cylindrical types of drums are exemplified by the tambul of the Maguindanao and the gimbal of the
Tagbanua.
Like the instruments, vocal music expresses and transmits in a concrete and vivid manner a
great variety of the thoughts, beliefs, customs, lifestyles, temperament and way of life of the indigenous
peoples. Singing is a main component of life among them. There will be songs and singers, singing solo or in
leader-chorus style with or without accompaniment, with or without the benefit of words (the latter includes
whistling, a highly developed musical from among the Maguindanao of Mindanao).
Solo and leader-chorus singing is done in the North, notably in such groups s the Bontoc,
Ibaloi, Kalinga and Negrito. In the South, on the other hand, while unaccompanied singing seems to be the
predilection of a majority of the indigenous groups, a kind of singing done with instrumental accompaniment
is practiced among certain groups, like the Tausog, who sing with their gabbang (bamboo xylophone) and/or
biola.
Both types of singing – the leader-chorus and singing with instrument – may be found in the
Central Philippine groups such as the Mangyan and Tagbanua, where often singing is done with the flute
(Tagbanua), the guitar or violin (Mangyan), either solo or as a group with a soloist-leader.
One may be observe a highly divergent and seemingly endless variety of styles and traditions
of singing in the northern, central and southern Philippine indigenous communities. For example, the Kalinga
of the North generally sing in short phrases frequently broken by rests or stops; the Maguindanao of the
south sing in long melismatic phrases; the Mangyan sing mostly in a monotone with turns at the end of
phrases.
Viewed as a whole, certain patterns and
characteristics of singing emerge among these groups. First,
improvisation seems to be the rule in song creation. In fact
the quality of the song and the singer if often measured by
his/her ability to improvise fluently and creatively. Second,
there is generally a low and limited range of notes (more or
less an octave) and within this range, a great number of
uncertain pitches, speech-like sounds, slides, shakes,
tremolos or trills are often added to bring about some
flexibility and richness in the singing despite the narrow
range. Third, melodic ornamentations such as the glissandos,
slides and tremolos are not only accessory but principal
elements in music because they may even determine the
structure of a song. Fourth, since everyone is a singer, there
is a greater variety of voice quality due to differences in age,
sex or cultural factors (e.g. the Manobo sing in a more
relaxed manner and with more embellishments than the
Tiruray). Fifth, a wide variety of scales may be observed. The
scale, however, is, often treated as a flexible structure upon
which equally important elements are embedded to adorn the
scale and render it less obvious. Sixth, while decrescendos
and crescendos (gradual decrease and increase in volume,
respectively) and up and down movements may be noted in
the singing styles of some groups especially in the South, a
syllabic chant-like monotone singing prevails in
many groups. Chanting utilizes the vocal range of a singer
which is most consistent with his natural speech melody. This is the reason why sometimes it is difficult to
discern whether a particular enunciation is sung or uttered. Seventh, there are no exact time elements that