Training on Benguet music instruments, dances, chants held in Bakun

May 28, 2017 Community Billboard

Last May 3 to 5, 2017 some school heads and teachers who attended the Division Training on How to Play All Benguet traditional musical instruments, dances & chants reechoed what they had learned in that said training. They said that Bakun is the second district to conduct such seminar because it is required that each district in Benguet has to conduct the same training. According to them, it is an order that as Benguet people, all teachers, school heads and students should know how to play all the Benguet traditional musical instruments, dances and some chants because these are among the identities of Benguet people. Apart from that, it is within the content of the new curriculum today, particularly in Araling Panlipunan and MAPEH, and now the so called contextualization and indigenization of instructions.
During the first day of the three-day training, three schools division supervisors were present to monitor the conduct of the training. They attended the opening program and saw that there are some willing elders present and the hall is filled closely with many hyper participants eager to see and participate in every activity. They gave some information, instructions, encouragement and danced the tayaw and sadong before they ate their lunch then left.
In length of three-day training, each participant learned many things. But they did not master how to play each instrument and how to dance the bendian and binukaw which are merely the Ibaloy and Karao’s way. They also heard samples of old chants such as the da-ing, diklaw, lakkugey and day-eng. The three-day training ended but the participants were not satisfied. They were frustrated. Antonio B. Lantaen / ABN