Dream Orchestra in Iloilo City

Getting closer to a dream orchestra in Iloilo City

ILOILO CITY – Inspired by stories that her grandfather was once a conductor of a local orchestra and that school orchestra competitions drew huge crowds in Iloilo decades ago, a 36-year-old Filipina, born in Manila but who grew up in Canada, has set her mind on forming an orchestra in Iloilo City.

Finding nothing to start with, Melissa Lopez-Exmundo opened classes in violin, teaching children from three years old and up, hoping to build a base for a chamber orchestra she dreams of.

Exmundo is among those who reversed the migration of professionals to North America and elsewhere. In 1998, she decided to stay in Jaro district and teach because she was amazed by the talent she was able to coax from her young students, who are now saying they want to be musicians playing in an orchestra.

In a country where beauty parlors and movie theaters overwhelmingly outnumber concert and music halls, Exmundo’s effort caused naysayers to shake their heads, probably until they saw her students straining their bows to get the right sound from their violins.

“I missed watching opera and playing in orchestra (in Europe and Canada). Sometimes I am invited to play in Manila. But if I create opportunities here, I could enjoy it too,” she said.

In other countries, the way to join an orchestra is to take lessons and audition to join the orchestra. What Exmundo did was unusual. She gave group lessons to train children in orchestra playing. If they are serious about their music, they can audition for an orchestra later.

Melissa taught violin at the University of San Agustin and Central Philippine University. She also taught French at the University of the Philippines-Visayas campus and West Visayas State University. But she wasn’t happy with the results of her violin classes because many of her adult students were taking lessons mainly for academic credits and less for the love of music.

‘Twinkle Twinkle’

“The problem with adults is that they have an expectation of what they should sound like, and if they don’t get results, they give up sooner. Their arms are not that supple. Adult students are more busy and hard on themselves. Kids are more resilient and they don’t mind playing ‘Twinkle Twinkle,’” she said.

Exmundo started giving private violin lessons in June 2002. “I had no name, just a private class and all by word of mouth,” she said.

Classes

Her class of seven students grew to 20 and later an average of 25 to 30 per module. Since then, more than 50 students have attended her class, some of them on a continuing basis. Others have started coming, brought by their parents who heard about Exmundo or have seen her students perform in a recital. She didn’t turn them away even if her classes were already big because many of the children showed promise even at the tender age of three or four, which is about the same age she started to play a violin.

Exmundo and her family migrated to Canada when she was two years old. She remembered playing with pseudo violin when she was three. She had a Hungarian violin teacher until she was six years old and she continued to take private lessons. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a bachelor’s degree in Music Performance.

In Toronto she played in and coached youth orchestra and ensembles. She went to Prague in 1993 and stayed for a year to take private lessons in violin under Professor Ivan Strauss.

She went to Japan to teach English and in preparing for her trip she took lessons on teaching English as a second language. The experience helped her prepare for violin teaching years later.

Even if she was not trained in music education, she reads up on strategies in teaching music and designs modules that combine the Suzuki method and the conservatory way of learning music. Each module ends with a performance, which is the most-awaited part by students and their parents.

source: Philippine Daily Inquirer