Discovered!

Have you ever felt drawn to a group of spectators with their necks craning just to get a glimpse of the brave wannabe singer trying to show his or her vocal wares to the public? It is very interesting to note that most wannabes are bereft of all inhibition. Is it attention that they want? Is it adulation then? Or do they just want to show off what they can do?

I bet you they are waiting for someone to discover them and bring them to the big time!

That is exactly how I felt when at the age of 15 I frequented this music store in Platerias Street in Quiapo. I was just fresh from high school, and coming from a moderately economically disadvantaged family (my father was a government employee), I would spend my summers either languishing in the province (which I would later enjoy anyway), or spend a boring summer in the city.

I only needed 50 centavos to travel from UP Village to and from Quiapo. Add 20 centavos for a tricycle ride to and from the house. To save a little I would walk to the bus stop under the hot searing sun. I also had enough to buy me a bottle of cosmos (15 centavos na, Coke was 20 centavos) and turon (5 centavos).

Several days in the week I would go to Rhapsody Music House to try out the music pieces for free. My favorite was Rhapsody in Blue. It cost 14 pesos at that time but was definitely unaffordable to me so I kept on going back to the store until I finally memorized Gershwin’s piano masterpiece.

Why was I going to this store as much as three days a week? I was hoping the store would hire me as a demonstrator of sorts – to play and try out the music pieces for mothers buying pieces for their children. I even had the temerity to ask the sales clerk, a nice elderly woman who treated me like a nephew, if the store could hire me. But truthfully it was because I was hoping that someone would discover me.

Discover me? For what? Anything, really, I didn’t know then. Maybe as a pianist in a restaurant? I was no good at the pop organ. I remember most restaurants had Yamaha Organs as their main entertainment fare. I was no Eric Dimson or Rely Coloma.

I was hoping someone would discover me so I could have a summer job. My family needed additional income and I thought I could do some work to help my father. You see, my mother died when I was six years and for a time I knew how it was to eat rice without a viand. Have you tasted fried green papaya dipped in sugar? How about tomatoes cooked with alamang (shrimp fry). Together with rice, that was lunch for me during better days. I never complained. Looking back I think it was part of my formation process.

One day, while trying out new pieces and memorizing Rhapsody in Blue, a long lost cousin stepped into the store and recognizing me, excitedly reported that a bank choral group was looking for a pianist-accompanist since the erstwhile pianist got married and was migrating to the US. I went home so very happy that day and I told my dad what had transpired.

A few days later I auditioned and got the job. That was how I started. I was hoping someone would discover me. Someone did! Since then, I never got tired of discovering young Filipino musical talents. I know how it feels to be in the wings and glide onto the stage. It is a wonderful feeling.

(Many of those I had discovered were students from the music school that my wife Emmy, and I put up. Most of them were discovered through auditions. Ryan Cayabyab the Music Studio gave them the necessary training they need. For information regarding voice and piano lessons, call 8443330 or 8432874. Enrolment is ongoing the for Music and Movement course for children ages 4 to 7 years. Classes begin in November.)