Author: Ramon P. Santos
Publisher: The University of the Philippines Press
Format: Book
Price: PhP 800.00 or USD 25.00

Tunugan : Four Essays on Filipino Music is intended to fill in a void in critical writing on Philippine musical literature - reflective and analytical discussions of important markers in contemporary Filipino musical life. The four essays that comprise the book are intended to address professional musicians, scholars, and advanced students in musicology, composition, theory, art studies, and the social sciences, offering a composite insight into aspects of systematic, historical, and ethnomusicology. In the context of modern semiotics, the author applied these methodologies in an attempt to expose the semantic domain and musical meaning of three specimens selected from the broad cross-section of Filipino expressive repertoires - the classical composition in the music of Nicanor Abelardo, the oral tradition in the Ibaloi bâ’diw and the Maranao bayok, and the "avant-garde"/modern creations in the works of José M. Maceda. On the other hand, the essay on the UP Conservatory of Music partly fulfills the historical dimension in these studies, although its main purpose is to argue for the institution's role in laying the groundwork for the formulation and adoption of a nationalist ideology in Filipino art music at the turn of the century, at the same time having a direct bearing on the first three topics in terms of classicism, tradition, creativity, and music scholarship.

The ultimate goal of this book, however, is to encourage Filipino music scholars and composers to explore the wide spectrum of Filipino musical expression and its institutional agencies, and seek a level of enlightenment, understanding, and creativity in their poeticm ideological, philosophical, as well as social and cultural realms.