Rondalla plans by NUS group

14 members of the NUS Rondalla, led by their conductor, Joseph Peters, recently returned after a week-long tour of the Philippines.

A rondalla is an ensemble comprising of Filipino, Spanish, and classical plucked string instruments of different sizes. The NUS Rondalla has been in existence since 1981, and first toured the Philippines in 1984.

The highlight of their tour was a performance on the national television programme, "Parco Park Presents".

"Filipino rondallas only play Filipino music. They found what we played to be different, and really enjoyed it, " said Low Mei Ling, who has been an ensemble member for the past 4 years.

Among the pieces played were the theme from the SBC serial, Samui Women, a medley of ABBA songs, and Indonesiam folk songs.

The pieces were arranged by members of the NUS Rondalla, in particular Hsu Hsai Ping, a biochemist at the university, and Low, a final-year accountancy student at the Nayang Technological Institute.

Their next project is to set up a basic rondalla instructors course, to be conducted by Peters, and intended for music yeachers and those who want to set up rondallas.

According to Peters, rondalla instruments are good for providing msuci in a sing-along session as they blend nicely with voices. Thus, rondallas are useful activities to have in community centres and schools.

The NUS Rondalla has also made a tape called "Introducing the Rondalla". "We just took a slice of our repertoire and recorded it," said Peters.

The views and opinions expressed on this web site are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of The Centre for the Arts. This webpage is last updated on the 17th June 2002. Content by NUS Rondalla.