Handed Down - Nevada Arts Council

1997–1998
Filipino Rondalla Music:
Lyn Perry, Gloria Fosgate and Katrina Opena
Lyn Perry organized and directed a rondalla orchestra
for seven years in the Philippines, and she missed
the music when she moved to Las Vegas in 1985. So
in 1994, with three students, she started the Las Vegas
Rondalla Orchestra, which has since grown to 12
members, ranging in age from 8 to 60. The rondalla
is a Filipino string orchestra which developed after the
introduction of the Spanish guitar to the Philippine
Islands. Local musicians and artisans developed several
other related guitar-like instruments, and Spanish friars
provided instruction so that eventually there was a large
population of trained amateur players. From this pool
evolved the modern-day rondalla group. According to
Lyn, the popularity of rondalla music had faded for
awhile, but is now being revived in schools, and she
learned to play the instruments when she studied for a
music teaching degree.
In addition to the guitar, her group uses two uniquely
Filipino instruments, the bandurria and octavina. The
octavina looks much like a small guitar, with a shorter
neck, and the bandurria looks rather like a mandolin,
with a pear-shaped body. Unlike the guitar, however,
both instruments have 14 strings, grouped in six sets
(three sets of three strings, two sets of two, and a single
string), and tuned in intervals of fourths. All the instruments
are played with a pick. A tremendous range of
music is played by rondalla groups, from traditional Filipino
tunes to western classics such as Bach to Broadway
show tunes and dance music.
Lyn Perry, Gloria Fosgate and Katrina Opena
During this apprenticeship Lyn worked with two
members of her group more intensively, to help them
advance faster—Gloria Fosgate, whose son was one of
the original orchestra members, and Katrina Opena,
a twelve-year-old who has been playing since she was
nine. Gloria also played music when she was growing
up in the Philippines, and as she attended rehearsals
with her son she realized that she’d like to start playing
again, too, so she took up the bandurria. Katrina
plays the octavina, which is tuned one octave lower than
the bandurria, but shares the melody with it. As Lyn
explains, “There should be two playing, because the
rondalla music, the melody goes from the bandurria to
the octavina, goes back to the bandurria. It goes from
one instrument to another, just like a choir. If it is only
the bandurria then it’s not a complete music, you will
only be hearing one half of it, like that, but if there is
the octavina then that completes it.”
As far as Lyn knows, hers is the only rondalla group
in Nevada, and she struggles with little money and only
volunteer time to keep it going. But parents like Gloria
who want their American-born children to know music
of their heritage, and who miss it themselves, give Lyn
the incentive to pursue her talent and her dream.
Lyn Perry (third from left) with the Las Vegas
Rondalla Orchestra.
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