Buhay banda - Part 2 (Mapua High)

Continuing the tale of my musical journey....

Elementary school ended and I tuned out of my music playing. I got too busy with other things, i.e. chasing girls, something most boys that age would do. Which reminds me of my M.U. story, but that will be another blog post.

First year was almost uneventful, if not for that M.U. sidestory. I was actually busy studying. But things started becoming interesting on my second year, when during one of the school programs, a band was introduced - the Convergence Band.

The Convergence was a rock band which consisted of 4th year students (Bro Jeff's friends and classmates). Founded by the ever-funny Sir James Pecaña, this group set the stage for rock hopefuls in the school. I still remember their rendition of Salamat and Envelope Ideas by the Dawn that really opened up my eyes to band music.

I was a year away from 3rd year and the dreaded CAT training. I wanted to get closer to the band and I knew the members were all in the school's rondalla so I thought, hey 2 birds in 1! I joined the Rondalla group and got excused from CAT. This time though, I took up guitars instead of the customary octavina. My first guitar was a black Php800 dreadnought Lumanog that Mama bought from Sta. Mesa.

Back at home, Bro Jeff also got his own guitar - an electric guitar from Raon - and Papa bought Sis Jean a Casio keyboard. Mama had a piano instructor coming by every now and then to teach Jean, and I did sit in on the sessions.

The rondalla practices were great, we were taught some classics like Labamba, Stand By Me, and kundimans like O' Ilaw (sa gabing madilim). But the breaktimes were even better. That's when the Band would jam. And I particularly enjoyed that Bohemian Raphsody jamming one saturday morning, even though I only managed to join in on the first stanza of the song (the rest were too tough for me back then).

Convergence became popular in school and they really started the band craze. But they were also graduating that year... Lucky for me I became one of the de facto replacements (being a saling pusa during practices), and I was to be part of the 2nd batch of rock idols to take the stage of Mapua High.

Excited and enthused, I convinced Papa to buy me my first electric guitar for my birthday (a Php2,500 snakeskin-designed Fender stratocaster copy from Raon, see pic). I remember carrying that guitar on a sling bag where ever I go. I was getting ready to become a rock star.

But then, we left Manila that summer. I never got back to Mapua. And so fame was put on hold.

To be continued: Bringing the music to Nagcarlan