II. Short Response.
Guide question. What are the similarities and differences in the musical forms and
characteristics of traditional and contemporary Philippine music? Cite an example and
expand your answer.
Music’s purpose is to express modulate emotion. However, music also has different
types of genres. Traditional and contemporary Philippine music have a few similarities and
differences. First, traditional and contemporary Philippine music differs in dialects. Traditional
Philippine music uses different dialects in our country, while contemporary Philippine music
mostly features the Filipino language. The Philippines has more than 120 dialects spoken across
the regions. For traditional Philippine music, "Sarung Banggi" by Nora Aunor is written in a
Bicolano dialect. In contrast, "Paubaya" by Moira Dela Torre, a piece of contemporary
Philippine music, uses Filipino dialect. Second, traditional and contemporary Philippine music
differs in instruments. Traditional Philippine music utilizes our traditional instruments such as
saludoy, balingbing, serongagandi, kudlung, kudyapi, and afiw. On the contrary, contemporary
Philippine music, mostly utilizes guitar, piano, drums, violin, and many more. For similarities,
both traditional and contemporary Philippine music divulges emotions and describes people in
everyday life. In conclusion, traditional and contemporary Philippine music differs in dialects
and instruments used. But both are similar in portraying the emotion and life of every Filipino.
Aside from loving contemporary Philippine music, we should embrace our traditional
Philippine music because it is our history, present, and will always be the growing future.
