Q: How long have you been making music?

A: For as long as I can remember. My father used to have this phonograph and he always put on his Ray Conniff and James Last vinyls when we were very young and it kind of became our form of entertainment, more than the television set did. He also sent me to one of my uncles to learn solfeggio which I skipped most of the time. All my mother’s brothers are musicians, by the way.

Q: Did you think that you will make a living out of music?

A: No, I did not. I hated music at first. I think because when I was a small boy, I’d rather play out in the sun instead of attending the lessons my uncle was giving. I was into sports until my teen-age days. As a matter of fact, I love the game of basketball, that I play the sport almost everyday. But height is not one of my God given gifts (I’m only 5 ft. 5 inches tall, or short as the case may be) so I thought of another field which I can be good at without having to be very tall. And in music, especially playing the piano, you don't have to be over 4 feet to play the ivories. You just have to sit on a chair and do your thing and "let your fingers do the walking".

Q: How much do you love music?

A: I love music very much that I gave my life for it. I had to give up many things just to be able to have the time needed to learn it and put it into your system whether you learn it from someone else or you learn it on your own. I gave up a very good course in a very prestigious school in Manila because I felt I did not belong there and it’s not the kind of life I wanted to be in. I gave up playing basketball, my first love, because I did not want to put my fingers on the risk, making my friends stage a boycott on me. Yep, they did not want to talk to me.

Q: Did you learn to play the piano when you were very young, because most pianist I know did?

A: No. The only time I went for a formal piano lesson is when I was already 19. But I did have tons of experience being in the choir, working with our top local artists and international figures as well, including Placido Domingo of the Three Tenors’ fame. All the pieces they were teaching us are very tough ones and it certainly gave us a great amount of challenge and a sense of accomplishment when we have finally sang the correct harmony. Practically three-fourths of my life was spent with the L.P.B.C. and perhaps the best years of my life was concertizing & touring with them. We were given incentives in the form of free school tuition fees, exemptions from subjects like Practical Arts, Physical Education and Citizen’s Armed Training. But of course we spent those times practicing otherwise, performing. We (the members) grew up to be friends and developed a special kind of brotherhood that you cannot learn in any subject that they teach in school. I thought it was a very nice experience that I brought my two younger brothers Regie & Eric in. Regie eventually left but in college, he joined the school band playing the flute and also got a scholarship on his way through. He’s now working in the national bank. We had the chance to meet the First Family, His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin, hundreds of foreign dignitaries, and prominent people in the Philippine society. We even sang for Pope John Paul II. Had I not been a member, there was absolutely no chance I could have met any one of them.

Q: How many hours do you spend practicing?

A: Well, I don’t have a piano right now but in two weeks time, I’m gonna have one. In one hotel in Sarawak, I used to practice for five hours every night in the coffeehouse when all the staff have gone home. I did mostly Hanon scales & arpeggios. It really helped me a lot with my fingerings.

Q: Who was, or were your influences?

A: Well, like I said, Ray Conniff’s arrangements and James Last’s orchestrations will be the first ones in line. But as I grew up hearing many types of artists on the radio and my exposure to church music in the choir, my liking to a specific genre of music also grew. It went from the 60’s type of music I was constantly hearing in our living room to classical form echoing from the choirloft ( W.A. Mozart eventually became my favourite in the course of learning the choruses in Magic Flute & Requiem especially when I got to know his short prolific life which ended in poverty.) My first introduction to solo piano playing is from this guy named Joselito Pascual. He’s featured on the weekly show "Uncle Bob & Friends" and he has this incredible list of songs inside his head and I told myself that if and when I am able to play the piano, I’d do it the same way; by heart and by the thousands. Then a friend introduced a copy of David Benoit’s "Stages" album to me and from then on, I fell in love with piano music. Then I went to collect Oscar Peterson’s CDs and the list goes on…

Q: Do you have any favourite piece?

A: My guests have always asked me that question. I like all of the songs because they are all distinct from everyone else. But if you ask me to name one with a special meaning, I ‘d say it’s"Bohemian Rhapsody" written by Freddie Mercury.

Q: Why is that?

A: Well, when I was in third year in high school, we have a small rock band playing the likes of the Beatles’ "Twist & Shout" where I played rhythm guitar and "Ruby Tuesday" by the Rolling Stones, where I played the recorder in place of the flute, the band from the 4^th year class would play "Bohemian Rhapsody" and I sang one of the parts, I thought I wanted to learn the piano part and I think I had the most difficult time then and I never stopped until I learned that song on my own with the help of just an old cassette player, that’s why I will never forget that particular piece of music and I play it each time a guest would ask what my favourite is.

Q: What’s the greatest thing you like about your work?

A: I think it’s the immediate response that I get from the audience. Very few times in life that you get noticed or acknowledged by your boss or your colleague for something you did in your workplace but in my humble case, the guests, especially if they are good listeners or if they have a knowledge of what I’m doing up there on stage, will show their contentment by applauding, and probably ask for more numbers.

Back to Main

Build Your Free Home PageVisit other great pages on:Arts & Literature>Arts & LiteratureClassical Music>Classical MusicComposersComposers