Over 26 aspiring singer-songwriters were able to enhance their musical potential at the staging of the PhilPop Bootcamp 2019 this past 24-27 September 2019 at Purok Marcela and Oldwood beach resorts in Lingayen, Pangasinan.
PhilPop Executive Director Dinah Remolacio said that the PhilPop Bootcamp was born out of the need to give more regional songwriters an opportunity to be part of the country’s premier songwriting competition.
“We noticed that most of the PhilPop winners from 2012 to 2016 were from Metro Manila. There’s nothing wrong with that. But we also wanted to diversify PhilPop as music from the country’s provincial regions has their own distinct flavor and characteristics,” said Remolacio.” We felt compelled to strengthen and empower these regional songwriters by giving them a platform for their music and to use education as an instrument to create more songs that can add to the treasure trove of Original Pilipino Music.”
Many of the 26 participants hailed from Northern and Southern Luzon provinces. The four-day songwriting bootcamp also the some of the country's most iconic songwriters and sought-after young artists as its mentors – led by its master, Maestro Ryan Cayabyab.
“On the first day alone, we were already impressed with some of our Fellows. I can imagine we will discover more of these promising talented songwriters that we’re looking for,” said Cayabyab. “ We will train them, share with them everything we know and provide them with the tools they need so that hopefully they leave the workshop with renewed and inspired lives to create new songs for the country,”
Cayabyab expressed his excitement as he kicked off the Bootcamp with an enlightening talk on Why Do We Write Songs. As the top leader of its pool of mentors, the National Artist for Music and Ramon Magsaysay Awardee led a Dream Team of coaches that includes iconic musical personalities who gave insightful talks, such as:
Jim Paredes (Enhancing Your Creativity: Inspiring your Music Journey),
Noel Cabangon (Songwriting Exercises and Lyric Writing for Advocacies)
Trina Belamide (How Do We Start a Song?, Copyright and Basic Music Publishing)
Gary Granada (Lyric Writing)
Jungee Marcelo (Writing Melody and Lyrics)
This team of legends also worked side-by-side with indefatigable arranger Marlon Barnuevo (Music Arrangement) as well as previous PhilPop winners Davey Langit, who together with the inseparable tandem of Thyro Alfaro & Yumi Lacsamana and twins Miguel and Paolo Guico – frontmen of the acoustic sensations Ben&Ben – covered the topic, My Approach to Songwriting as they all shared their wealth of experience and tried-and-tested techniques to the mesmerized Fellows.
Several bootcamp mentors have seen a lot of potential on participants and cited critiquing as a very critical factor to better songwriting. It allows coaches to give their inputs on the Fellows' individual compositions.
“The Bootcamp is very output-oriented. We get to critique songs written by the Fellows that they could submit to PhilPop next year. Having us coaches critique their songs will give them the advantage of further improving and enhancing their work,” said Belamide.
“There are many factors that come into consideration when writing a song that in the context of PhilPop, can be considered as competition-worthy. More than just a marriage of melody and lyrics, there is also the arrangement, the story the composers are trying to tell and the message and emotions they want to convey,” added Langit.
“They just need a little more push but this is why we have these workshops—to make them realize that songwriting is not something they can do out of sheer impulse. There are also certain considerations as they also need to be conscious of the lyrics, the melody, and the rhythm. But many of them were able to present well during the exercises and I personally thought that collaborating with their group mates will go a long way in enhancing their skills,” Cabangon noted.
Some of the 26 Fellows shared their sentiments on how did the bootcamp went on for them.
“I expected the Bootcamp to teach me a lot but it actually taught me more than I expected it would. It went beyond the basics and helped me arrange my thoughts so it became clearer to me to understand why I’m doing this,” noted budding tunesmith Stephanie Lavoie.
“I will definitely write more songs after this Bootcamp. It’s very heartening to see the willingness and the excitement to learn on the part of my fellow campers and their openness to absorb anything that’s discussed here,” said Pauline Lauron, an alumna of the groundbreaking Elements Music Camp who currently works as a freelance back-up singer and once became part of a record label as a Junior Artist and Repertoire.
“More than anything, I also found it very inspiring to be in the company of my fellow songwriters and at the same time be encouraged by my accomplished coaches,” said musician Christian “Ian” Dumaplin.
Also making its presence during this week-long training sessions was Journalist Tina Arceo-Dumlao of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and author of the book, “Himig at Titik: A Tribute to Songwriters” who enlightened the mostly millennial participants of the Bootcamp with some valuable history lessons as she talked about The Story of OPM.
Other topics covered during the Bootcamp include Digital Music Streaming and Music Video Production.
Author: slickmaster | © 2019 The SlickMaster's Files
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