With a swift wave of the music teacher’s right hand, 10-year-old Ryan John Perez got hold of his bajo sexto, and took his position onstage with 25 other children to play and sing “Pearly Shells.”
Ryan later showed off his talent with the drums, ukulele, beat box and cowbell. He did not miss a single beat.
The Grade 5 pupil of Talamban Elementary School can play eight instruments, including the bongo, octavina and guitar, a result of his musical training as one of the scholars of Nestor Archival, an engineer.
“Sir Nestor sends the children to school. In turn, they are required to learn how to play instruments, sing and dance every weekend during school days and summer,” said music teacher Ciriaco “Tatay Aks” Gumban, 58.
The children and young adults, aged 10 to 20, are Archival’s neighbors in Barangay Talamban in Cebu City. Their parents cannot afford to send them to school.
NA Scholars
They are collectively known as NA Scholars. They train at Archival’s House Close to Nature, considered one of the city’s ecological attractions for showcasing environment-friendly ways to build and maintain a house.
Children who want to join the group should have a general average of 85 percent and are willing to learn to play any musical instrument.
During school days, Gumban said the scholars train on Saturdays and Sundays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are the children’s choir in two parish churches.
The children are taught punctuality. They log in, using a biometric time and attendance system installed at the house’s main entrance.
Helpful values
“I have learned discipline and respect, which are very helpful values in school when studying my lessons and mingling with teachers and classmates,” said Clyde Limbano, 14, a third-year student of Talamban National High School.
Limbano is eighth in his class and plays the banduria, octavina, guitar, bajo, conga, drums and cowbell.
“I started training when I was 12. I did not know how to play any instrument. I learned everything here with the discipline of Tatay Aks and the generosity of Sir [Archival]. The other scholars also teach me how to play other instruments,” he said.
It’s daily training during summer, Limbano said. The children can even sleep in the tree house and are served meals.
“We are very blessed here. If you study and train hard, you will be given rewards. When we ask something, we have to work for it,” Limbano said.
Naksy Ann Mingo, 13, said the group had performed in different venues, including the Cebu International Convention Center, Ayala FGU Center and neighboring towns and barangays. “We don’t go to these places often. That is why we are happy when we play there,” said Mingo, who started training two years ago. She plays the octavina and banduria.
Claire Gumban, 21, the music teacher’s daughter, said the children, if willing to learn, could play any musical instrument.
“These children do not have musical background, but they go out of the gates, knowledgeable about proper vocalization. They know how to read musical notes. It makes me happy that my father helped them learn,” she said.
Why do the children have to learn music? “I play the guitar and I once asked my son to learn how to play the piano, but we never got to the stage where we played professionally. I guess this is a way of making that dream real,” said Archival. Cris Evert B. Lato