Anything could be achieved through sheer gut and determination given the opportunity and capability.
This was proven by a budding local choral group which took a leap in the world of music and gained international recognition.
The Cordillera Regional Science High School (CRSHS) Glee Club was established in June 2017, shared the group’s conductor Jayson Manuel Osong, and in two-years time, it conquered the 8th Bali International Choir Festival (BICF) held in Bali, Indonesia from July 23-27, 2019 bagging three gold medals, two in the folklore category and one in the teenagers category.
The BICF was initially established as an international stage for local choirs but has blossomed into an event for choirs all around the globe. It has a mission to develop choirs in Indonesia and worldwide.
The CRSHS Glee Club was among the 15 entries in the Teenagers Category and 17 in the Folklore Category from Indonesia and various countries.
For the Folklore Category, the group qualified for the elimination round or the so called Choir Competition earning them a Level 4 gold medal. They joined the Choir Championship Folklore Category with a total score of 80.65 points winning them another gold medal.
In the championship round, together with other qualifiers they competed with other entries which already had international championship titles with the same standards like the BICF.
For the teenagers category, they qualified in the Choir Competition Category earning them a gold medal (Level 1).
There are actually many chorale groups that perform better, the CRSHS’s edge is the determination to venture and join a competition outside the country, Osong said. The CRSHS is the first Cordillera high school chorale group to join internationally.
Joining the competition was not an easy feat for the glee club, according to Osong.
They came to know about the Indonesian choir festival through a featured choral from Bandung Choral Society in Indonesia, who together with the CRSHS glee club joined last year a choral festival at the University of Urdaneta City in Pangasinan.
The local choir was offered an invitation to the BICF November last year. They had to pass some requirements including a video documentation of their performances before the approval of their application. They were then asked to submit advance copies of three song pieces for each of the two categories which underwent evaluation based on the level of difficulty. They could not proceed with rehearsals unless these were approved.
Osong was fortunate to have friends from the field of music whom he consulted. One voluntarily helped in the musical arrangement of “Ahi Bakle,” an Ifugao harvest song, for free musical scoring performed in the folklore category. The other piece was entitled “Vochong”, a Kalinga bodong song piece while a foreign piece was an Indonesian lullaby song called “Soleram.”
Song pieces for the teenagers category were entitled, “Abendlied,” “Kalejs Kala Debesis” and “Bumala Ka Ay Buwan.”
Osong presented to the parents the plans and what is expected of the students’ participation such as the trainings and more so, financial implications which entails a huge amount for the attire for the performances, air fare, hotel accommodations and other needs. Fortunately, he got the blessing of CRSHS former school principal Daniel Peredo and support of most of the parents’ of student participants to join the BICF.
The registration fee was about P60,000.00 for both categories while plane tickets and accommodations were estimated to reach P1.2 million. Determined to show their talents, the foreseen expenses did not hamper their enthusiasm to join.
To raise funds to augment their expenses, they held concerts last February 23 and March 16, which at the same time became exposure and training.
The training formally started January 2019. Rehearsals were done for an hour and a half daily after class hours and even during weekends.
Trainings were not only on singing but was holistic from the singing of the song and voice refinement to stage presentation and choreography including hair and make-up.
Experts were invited to assess areas for improvement including how the conductor directed the group.
Last June, they were trained in theater arts on their proper movements and how to conquer the stage. Only after the steps were taught then choreography followed suit to synchronize the movements with the beat of the song to come up with an authentic interpretation of the performance, Osong shared.
The glee club had 36 members belonging to grades 8 to 12 of CRSHS except for two– one from San Jose High School and one from Benguet National High School.
Rianodon Wakit, a Grade 12 student, is proud that with all the tiring moments and difficulties they had gone through, it was worth competing not only for CRSHS but for the country.
Wakit has good words for their conductor. “We have a leader who showed the way. He let us learn what we should learn. He is a leader who gives all the best he can because he has confidence in the group,” he said.
These young talented Cordilleras had proven their worth in the international arena even without monetary reward. **JDP/SCA-PIA-CAR, Benguet
