PHILIPPINE MEDLEY - an experience in guitar ensemble music
Lately, I took the time to record Maestro Jose Valdez' composition, Philippine Medley. The back story here is that we were preparing for my daughter's 18th birthday party (also known as a debut) which is a big deal for Filipinos. I was so stressed out from all the daily preparation so to relieve my stress, I fell back on playing the guitar every night to study a bit of this 20-page piece until I was able to record all parts within almost a month. In the end, I was able to put it all together in one video and even created this blog to recount my journey. This work is a string of various Philippine traditional music arranged for four guitars. I considered it a pipe dream to play it the minute I saw the arrangement because not only was it long (about 20 pages), it also required advanced guitar skills. Of course there's that minor detail wherein I needed three other guitar players to play it :-) With no luck in finding others who can help, I decided to designate myself the task...