DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 28 November) – A total of 84 artists, most of them members of the Davao Suzuki Children’s Orchestra, will entertain spectators with a quiet yet soulful rendition of Christmas songs during a one-night musical performance slated on December 8.
Joan Mae Soco-Bantayan, Tuburan Institute, Inc. resource mobilization officer, said the musical dubbed “Duyog Kasadya: A Tuburan Institute Christmas Musical Offering” will be held at the Mapua Malayan Colleges in Mindanao here.
She said the event will feature Davao Suzuki Children’s Orchestra, a 54-member group which debuted last July 2023, and other choir members.
Bantayan said the Tuburan Institute, the only Steiner/Waldorf school in Mindanao, hopes to offer a different kind of music to Dabawenyos “amid the Christmas rush characterized by loud music.”
“If you look at the music scene in Davao, you’ll notice the scarcity of orchestra groups. The objective of Duyog Kasadya is (to offer an alternative) because our holidays are typically characterized by noise. If we play music, it gets too loud, and it has become ingrained in our culture,” she said.
Bantayan added that the goal of Duyog Kasadya is to offer Dabawenyos a different experience as the artists are set to serenade their audience with “good old Christmas songs,” including in Cebuano.
“We hope to invite the people of Davao who have an appreciation for art and music. We need to encourage this type of appreciation within our community,” she said.
Bantayan said the Tuburan Institute targets around 600 people to watch the event.
Last Saturday, the school conducted its annual Tuburan Advent Fair 2023 at its campus at Purok 8, Sitio New Loon in Barangay Tugbok Proper, Tugbok District, in preparation for Christmas.
She said the fair featured 40 exhibitors, most of them homegrown enterprises such as plant-based food products, plants, eco-friendly knitted crafts, toys, and books.
Several activities such as shadow play, puppet show, and pottery for the children and kids at heart were conducted during the fair.
Other activities included animal encounter, a warm cup of music, mad science, face painting, mime show interactive, mangga goes live, Kalingawan sa Kawayan, and paint your own bag.
According to its website, the Steiner/Waldorf school adopts “learning-by-doing approach through engaging the head, heart and hand.”
“What’s typical in Steiner/Waldorf schools is that teachers create learning environments that will light a fire in the child and draw out what’s already inside them. At Tuburan, too, this is done by surrounding children with age-appropriate, positive, enjoyable, loving atmosphere and activities that fully engage their minds, hearts and bodies,” it said.
It added that the “children practice form-drawing, painting, storytelling, singing, games, crafts, going on nature walks, and so on” and learn to “play different musical instruments, gardening, handcrafting and more.”
“In short, art, movement and music are used to teach arithmetic, science, language and all other subjects,” it said. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)