SOMETHING FINALLY WENT RIGHT
[Insight into Speech of Maria Antonina "Tonette" Mendoza-Oblena during the AKBAY Fundraising Dinner]
Honest to reveal "Hindi ko naman po gusto sanang sumali sa AKBAY. Ang gusto ko po talagang salihan ay Bungang Himig". Aware her forte is piano playing not singing, hence, the pretext why she was not invited by her favored choir.
Happenstance, she was requested by Kuya Ray to do piano accompaniment for the AKBAY Performing Group at St. Joseph's College of Quezon City, her grade school alma mater.
To say the rest is history, Tonette's experience in AKBAY was not much the realization of a dream but an interest which would linger and evolve meaningfully.
Excitement filled her exposure to non-classical pieces, being a Conservatory of Music student attached to Bach and Mozart since age four. Above confidence, she went to the choir practice not knowing she was to play a keyboard unfamiliar to her piano-playing hands. Wrong notes and inability to jibe marked her initiation. Awed by the high quality of voices she heard and embarrassed by her inability to deliver, it challenged her destiny.
Enhanced in musicality, Tonette became pianist and singer for the choir much more than she bargained for. A far cry from the ritual of "scales and arpeggios" and rote of difficult piano pieces she had to singly contend with to perfect the craft.
Music and worship not the sole essence of AKBAY. Tonette found it gratifying to try things out of her comfort zone e.g. "eat fishballs and isaw or drink straight from a softdrink bottle". This also meant happiness in caroling, singing in birthdays, weddings or wakes and out of town trips. She was privy to love affairs in the choir and wondered why she alone did not have a boyfriend in her circle of friends.
Reality check as Tonette accomplished a career in law not by choice but her father's aspiration. To say that she turned her back on AKBAY was not the case. As Department of Foreign Affairs career minister, she not only performed her official functions in countries of assignment but acted as choir director armed with teachings from her homeland church.
In this decade of AKBAY's revival, Tonette understands the need to professionalize the choir and appreciates the work of music trainers. Being a music graduate, she knows the tedious training of the course and hopes the parish and public acknowledge and respect the profession.
Honest to reveal "Hindi ko naman po gusto sanang sumali sa AKBAY. Ang gusto ko po talagang salihan ay Bungang Himig". Aware her forte is piano playing not singing, hence, the pretext why she was not invited by her favored choir.
Happenstance, she was requested by Kuya Ray to do piano accompaniment for the AKBAY Performing Group at St. Joseph's College of Quezon City, her grade school alma mater.
To say the rest is history, Tonette's experience in AKBAY was not much the realization of a dream but an interest which would linger and evolve meaningfully.
Excitement filled her exposure to non-classical pieces, being a Conservatory of Music student attached to Bach and Mozart since age four. Above confidence, she went to the choir practice not knowing she was to play a keyboard unfamiliar to her piano-playing hands. Wrong notes and inability to jibe marked her initiation. Awed by the high quality of voices she heard and embarrassed by her inability to deliver, it challenged her destiny.
Enhanced in musicality, Tonette became pianist and singer for the choir much more than she bargained for. A far cry from the ritual of "scales and arpeggios" and rote of difficult piano pieces she had to singly contend with to perfect the craft.
Music and worship not the sole essence of AKBAY. Tonette found it gratifying to try things out of her comfort zone e.g. "eat fishballs and isaw or drink straight from a softdrink bottle". This also meant happiness in caroling, singing in birthdays, weddings or wakes and out of town trips. She was privy to love affairs in the choir and wondered why she alone did not have a boyfriend in her circle of friends.
Reality check as Tonette accomplished a career in law not by choice but her father's aspiration. To say that she turned her back on AKBAY was not the case. As Department of Foreign Affairs career minister, she not only performed her official functions in countries of assignment but acted as choir director armed with teachings from her homeland church.
In this decade of AKBAY's revival, Tonette understands the need to professionalize the choir and appreciates the work of music trainers. Being a music graduate, she knows the tedious training of the course and hopes the parish and public acknowledge and respect the profession.
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