20 ALBUMS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

I've loved many, many albums in my life. But there are a few notable ones that set me off in new directions. So here are 20 albums that changed my life .............

1. Chubby Checker - Lets Do The Twist - I was in kindergarten when a balikbayan cousin brought this home. Having spent my early childhood listening to classical music on DZFE, this tuned me in to popular music.

2. The Monkees - Yes, I was a fan of the Monkees. For better or worse, it was a part of my childhood. I never owned the album, but memorized all the songs from watching their show religiously every week. 

3. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin: I was in grade 5, and had been listening to garden variety pop music until then. One day, a classmate let me hear this and it blew me away. Until then, I thought of rock and roll in terms of its being twangy, exhuberant, and naughty, in the tradition of Checker, Berry, and Presley. But Led Zep turned rock and roll into rock: heavy, huge, metallic, but bluesy.  I never actually owned the album, but the music still reverberates in my brain.  

4. Jesus Christ Superstar: I was grade 6 when my family was invited to a listening party of a then controversial new album at a Holy Week church gathering. Thankfully, the "liberal" protestant group assembled reveled in the potent combination of an alternative secular point of view of a biblical story, musical theatre, and rock music. The divide between of traditional religious and worldly secular music was completely erased from my mind. 

5. Chicago Transit Authority: Almost simultaneously with Led Zeppelin, I obtained a counterfeit copy of this album in Taiwan (in all its translucent red vinyl glory). The hard driving rhythm section led by Terry Kath rocked, the brass section added a "jazzy" spice, and the vaguely political content of some songs was in tune with the radical 1970s. And I sang the more "pop" tunes regularly in high school programs, 

6. Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Tarkus: The album was an unlikely blending of the complexity, sophistication, and virtuosity of classical music, with the forcefulness and aggression of rock. It opened my mind to every other style of rock beyond three-chord blues and the classic song form. Still my favorite prog-rock album. 

7 & 8. Juan Dela Cruz Band - Himig Natin & AnakBayan - Pagbabalik ng Kwago: I was 4th year high school. After a sprinkling of earlier attempts at Filipino-language rock, "Himig Natin" broke through and proved to everyone that the future of rock in the Philippines was in original Filipino songs. Thanks to this album, I was the first in my school to write a term paper on what was to become Pinoy Rock. "Pagbabalik ng Kwago" came out almost at the same time. While it was more musically sophisticated than "Himig Natin", it unfortuantely remained rather obscure. But it confirmed in my mind the virtuosity and immortality of Edmund Fortuno. 

9 & 10. Chick Corea and Return To Forever - Light As A Feather &  Chuck Mangione - Friends and Love: Strangely, I first heard these albums on what was a rock station, DZRJ circa 1974. It ushered me into a world of jazz that I embraced throughout my college days.

11. Music of Mindanao - UP Department of Music Research: I grew up tagging along with my mother, a music professor at the U.P. College of Music. It was in the school's "Wednesday Music Sessions" in the late 60's that I first heard the intricate and driving music of "ethnic" Mindanao. This double-album, culled from field recordings by National Artist Jose Maceda is my permanent reminder of a proud musical culture that pre-dates centuries of Western colonial rule. 

12. Miles Davis - Porgy and Bess: Good friend Jane Po let me hear this just before I was accepted into the UP Jazz Lab Band. Miles’ trumpet and Gil Evans arrangements showed me that acoustic big band jazz could be edgy, angular, and cool all at the same time. 

13. Oregon - Out of the Woods: Another album lent to me by Jane Po. The odd combination of American Folk, South Asian, Jazz, and Avant-Garde musics was the predecessor of what became the "New Age" genre. But in hindsight, none of the New Age music proponents (spearheaded by William Ackerman and his Windham Hill label) came close. 

14. The Pat Metheny Group - The Pat Metheny Group: A student lent me this while I was working in Baguio in the early 80's. I would listen to a cassette dub of this on my then brand new Walkman as the bus was negotiating Kennon Road, and it would make the mountains come alive. Again, the music brought together two contending worlds, the etherial, atmospheric, northern European ECM recording aesthetic, and the Mid-Western American provincial melodies and harmonies of Metheny and Mays' music.

15. Police - Outlandos d'Amour: Another student gave me a copy of this in 1980. After spending half of my college life devoted to jazz, this ushered me back into popular rock, which had turned its back on bombastic posturing of metal, glam, and prog, and replaced it with spunky, quirky, edgy lightness of punk, reggae, and pop. 

16. Laurie Anderson - Mr Heartbreak: I hadn't figured out how the avant-garde music I played in college from the likes of National Artists Jose Maceda and Ramon Santos could be applied to the margins of popular music…… until I heard this album.  Anderson's calm and reassuring voice, disruptive and disturbing poetry/lyrics, and otherworldly synthetic sounds sent me in so many directions simultaneously. Because of this, to this day very little I hear from today's music surprises me anymore.  

17. Sunday In The Park With George - Original Cast: I'm not a big fan of the musical theater. Although I had heard about the genius of Steven Sondheim from West Side Story and A Little Night Music, I never paid that much attention. This album finally got my attention in a big way. 

18. Steve Reich - Tehilim: My first brush with minimalism was with Philip Glass, who I didn't like at all because all of the basic motifs sounded too much like the piano ostinato of Chicago's "Color My World:. But Steve Reich's pulsating motifs, rhythmic phase manipulations, and dense polyphonic textures attracted me immediately. If you listen closely, it has permanently infected my approach to techno and electronica. 

19. Mariz - Mariz: By the mid 80's I felt female-ingénue OPM had become too lame, with the triple threat of songbirds Jaime Rivera, Joey Albert, and Regine Velasquez ruling the airwaves. But from the moment I heard "Kasalanan Ba" on the radio, the brassy, vibrant songs and arrangements in the whole album restored my faith in local pop music. I even wrote a glowing review that made its way to a local broadsheet. Its a pity that it stayed only briefly on the charts, the producer immigrated to the USA, Mariz got more involved in showbiz and never recorded another album with the same spunk and energy, and hardly anyone remembers it anymore. But it kept me listening OPM until a few years later when I heard ……. 

20. Eraserheads - Candelaria Jam: Not an album in the strict sense. But from the moment my then-student Raimund Marasigan let me hear this crudely recorded cassette compilation of witty, clever, phenomenological songs from his then unheralded band in 1990, my life was never the same. It  set me on a path towards an unexpected but magical career in commercial record production. 

MAY KAUNTING KARAPATAN NA AKONG MAGPUNA AT MAGPINTAS

My last essay contained pet peeves about small-event PA systems. This follow-up features my first experience of actually setting up and running a PA system. It was my tennis club’s Christmas party, with about 70 or so people attending. The venue was my village clubhouse, a 30m x 30m x 5m room with a mix of concrete, glass, wood, and fabric surfaces. 

My aging knees and back necessitated packing up and loading all the gear into my car the day before to avoid fatigue, soreness, and injury. The party was scheduled for 6pm. I arrived to set up at 1:30pm together with the caterer and decorations group. The tennis club ballboys were already there, and helped me carry the gear from the car to the room. First task was to put down equipment where they would sit. Speakers in front of the small stage and dance floor, and control equipment in the back. This was followed by laying down cables and wires between equipment. While I had more than enough signal cables, I didn’t have enough AC extension cords to plug in everything. One 40m #12 royal cord reel, one 10m #14 reel, and a couple of 5m #16 extensions was not enough. I needed to borrow one more 10m #16 extension from the venue electrician. Next time I’ll have to get a couple for 10m extensions to avoid having to borrow anything. 

The entire system was composed of three parts. First was control center. It pivots around my 20-year old Behringer Eurorack MX 802A mixer. Not the quietest, but it gets the job done. My small rack has four units bolted in. It starts with a pair of Sennheiser EW300 G4 wireless receivers I got during the pandemic for online teaching. Under that is a DBX 266xs compressor, also acquired for online teaching because the audio snob in me felt the Zoom compressor wasn’t good enough. Next is a Behringer DEQ2496 digital signal processor. This has among other things, a real time analyzer, graphic and parametric eq’s, and a host of other processing goodies. I  got this recently at a closeout sale for its Auto-EQ system, which sends pink noise to the speakers, measures it, then automatically adjusts the graphic equalizer to achieve flat frequency response. While this is a standard practice for large sound reinforcement systems, I have yet to encounter this in a small party setup. A Behringer CX-2310 active crossover sits unused in the bottom of the rack because I got it for an earlier incarnation of my setup. For effects, I used my Alesis Microverb II which date back with me to the 1980s. The music source was my old MacBook Pro. Finally, a 5G wireless internet modem was there to provide online access to Spotify playlists and YouTube music. 

The second part was on stage. This begins with a pair of Shure Beta57a mics with Sennheiser SKP100 plug-on transmitters. I chose these out of my mic collection because it has a nice clear top end, and controlled proximity effect. I also put together a karaoke podium made up of an online iPad connected to a YouTube karaoke channel and an OnStage DB-2150 usb direct injection box. This was for karaoke singers, and dancers to wanted to follow YouTube choreography. 

The third part were speakers. I chose a pair of Mackie Thump210 active speakers for two reasons. 1) The larger and more powerful 12” version from this same model line sounded a bit muddy. 2) It was just below the weight limit that I could carry, given my aging knees and back. With everything plugged into AC, the system powered up without problems. I then ran the RTA-AutoEQ on the DSP to even out the frequency response, and did a minor touch up with parametric EQ to taste. 

One of the main issues I’ve had with other PA systems is that they are often too loud. To ascertain what my system was really putting out, I used a sound level meter at the controller position in the back of the room to constantly measure loudness. And to make sure it stayed within sane levels, I set the program compressor to stay below a 90dBc ceiling. At certain points of the program, the partygoers got quite loud while cheering, jeering, and laughing. It was tempting to increase the loudness just to remain above the crowd noise. But I resisted because I thought  it might just result in endless escalation. So I stayed within my preset loudness ceiling, anyway these were merely momentary outbursts which returned to normal crowd levels quickly, and both MC and music levels remained audible and were not drowned out for long. 

I ran into only two problems. First involved the MC. She complained she could not hear herself, and began shouting into the mic. This was understandable because the “stage” area was behind the speakers, and I didn’t have stage monitors. I set it up this way to avoid feedback. But it turns out the system was rather forgiving for two main reasons. First, my mics were supercardioids, which have a relatively narrow polar pattern and reject anything that’s not right smack in front of it. Second, the speakers were set about 2 meters high, which it higher than anyone in the party. So I identified a zone where she could roam in between and slightly ahead, but not directly in front of the speakers. Problem solved. The second problem was with the reverb unit that was to be used for one number only. I had it on a pre-fader send and an efx return in the mixer. It was very tricky finding the point where one could hear the effect but below feedback. And when I inadvertently left it on after that number, a persistent hum lingered. It took about half a minute (which is an eternity when something like this happens) for me to spot the problem. I don’t know if the problem was in the way the reverb was hooked up,  or set up, or whether the unit itself is malfunctioning. Whatever, I’ll have to experiment with this at home to find a permanent solution. 

The formal program ended at 11pm, and although some people stayed to chill and drink, I started packing up shortly after. A number of members kept coming to me asking them if they could help, but packing up involves its own set of skills and procedures. So I just thanked them  and said I’d call when everything was ready for carrying to my car. One member though is a photo/video supplier, and he more or less knew the process. His help cut disassembly time in half. With everything packed into their bags and cases, the ballboys helped carry stuff back to the car. I was tired and sleepy when I got home, and put off unloading everything for the next day. 

Going forward, I have absolutely no plans of making this a career or business. My knees and back can't take it, and I have no desire to deal with fussy clients. This will strictly be for family and close friends, and only if they will provide roadies. I wanted to prove to myself that clean, clear PA system sound is attainable with the right equipment, approach, and technique. One gig does not make me an expert. But at the very least, as they say in Filipino, may kaunting karapatan na akong magpuna at magpintas. 

BASTA TUMUNOG: Small PA System Nightmares

I’m not an expert in PA systems, having dwelt more in the seclusion of recording studios. But I’ve read a lot and observed masters at work enough to know when things are not going right. In my experience, some of the worst sound systems I’ve heard are in small parties and school programs. I avoid complaining so as not to offend the hosts/organizers, but I have my limits. So here are three examples of the type of nightmares I’ve had to put up with this past year. 

At a Christmas party of about 70 people, one of the attendees  volunteered his sound system. He is apparently a hardcore karaoke enthusiast, and he brought stuff accumulated over the years. The system was composed of a local all-in-one karaoke mixer/amp/effects unit, unbalanced RCA and 1/4” plugs all around, 2-way karaoke speakers with dead tweeters, one home subwoofer, and a pair of fake Sennheiser E-series mics. There was a lack of high frequencies from the start, and the hosts ended up having to shout into the mics just to be understood. The sound became progressively more distorted as the night wore on, no doubt because the poor underpowered amp’s descent into thermal distress. Placement of components was limited because of short cables. Mixing position was on the improvised stage facing the audience, so the operator could not hear the front-of-house. The party was fun in spite of the “ngongo” sound system though. Apparently nobody cared except me. But who was I to complain? The owner is one of the nicest people I know, and the party got it for free. 

A few weeks ago, I attended a small program in school, and while the school-owned equipment was decent, the way it was set up was weird. Two 2-way karaoke speakers about the size of a pair of bookshelf home speakers, placed side by side with the podium on the floor. What were they thinking? Was the audience composed of ants? On top of the speakers was a small karaoke mixer/amp, with the front panel controls facing the audience. Every time levels had to be adjusted, the operator had to kneel in front of the audience to twiddle with dials. The coup de grace was the four-channel no-name wireless mic receiver, placed on top of the amplifier, most probably blocking all the ventilation holes of the amplifier, and with all its LED displays brightly facing the audience. But I did not intervene no matter how senseless it all seemed, because I was just part of the audience and not an organizer. Again, no one else seemed to care except my wife and I. All of this was a pity because the speeches and musical intermission number were wonderful and meaningful. 

Lastly, I always cringe during kid’s birthday parties in fast-food restaurants. These are usually held in relatively small rooms with a capacity of about 50 people, in which a oldskool karaoke machine used to suffice. But in a recent party of a grand-nephew, the house system was composed of Raon counterfeit components, with speakers big enough to fill a conference hall. The restaurant had no technician, so the system is was turned on by one of the crew members. At first the system was so loud that one of my grand-nephews left the room weeping. His parents asked that the crew put the volume down. But even with the loudness reduced, the sound was so distorted that the child stayed out, and I ended up sitting as far away and as off-axis from the speakers as possible. In Filipino culture, noise is an indication of celebration. The noisier, the more fun people are having. This is fine if all the sound were person-made voices. But a sound system distorting badly is a different story. This is evident during party parlor games. The host ends up raising the loudness of the sound system to stay above the screaming and yelling of the partygoers. Thank heavens these parties only last a couple of hours before people are herded out to make way for the next one. 

I would call all three basta tumunog systems. The first involves an enthusiast whose equipment has serious limits which cannot cope with the demands of a sustained public event in anything bigger than a living room. The second involves a venue with slightly better equipment, but is set up by people who simply don’t know any better, and/or don’t take the trouble to learn. The third subscribes to the idea that noise is a sign of celebration, and those working the venue need it to project an image of a place where fun reigns.

Professionals actually have a better term for PA systems. They call it sound reinforcement. My computer defines reinforcement as "strengthen or support (an object or substance), especially with additional material"*. I interpret to mean the original sound is strengthened so the audience/attendees can hear what's going on clearly. But instead of clarifying the proceedings, small-event PA systems usually either fail miserably at intelligibility, and/or bludgeon people’s senses with extreme loudness and distortion. I’m not the first, and most probably won’t be the last to complain about this. I guess I’ll just have to figure out an inoffensive way of telling whoever operates sound systems that their sound sucks. That, or find a way to make a teachable moment out of it.

*Apple Dictionary Version 2.3.0 (294)

PLAYING DRUMS FOR THE UPCS

I’ve played drums for the UP Cherubim and Seraphim for almost fifty years. In the past, the “band” for their pop songs included all acoustic instruments: an acoustic piano, upright acoustic bass, acoustic drums, and occasionally an acoustic guitar. All these were played with no sound reinforcement, which was fine since most of the venues they performed in were medium-sized recital halls and auditoria. But recent circumstances have forced a shift to electric instruments. Firstly, it’s almost impossible to find a venue on campus with a decent acoustic piano. And unless it’s the CCP or a real “classical” concert hall, off-campus venues are no better off. So we've been increasingly forced to use electronic keyboards. Second, most good young pop musicians use electric basses and guitars, and are quite adept in navigating the complexities not only the analog side of their equipment, but the digital side as well. Third, most pop music nowadays is electric/electronic anyway, so going electric/electronic has made the wider variety of sounds in pop music available to the band.

But the drums was another story. On the one hand, I could have chosen to use my recently acquired e-drum kit. It’s very easy to control the loudness of e-drums. All it takes is pressing/twisting the volume control. This is important because children’s voices are rather vulnerable without multi-mic, megawatt sound reinforcement, something the Cherubim does not use or have access to. Also, like their keyboard or guitar counterparts, e-drums also have a boatload of sounds available at the touch of a button. On the other hand, while much of RECORDED popular music uses electronic/sampled/virtual drums, acoustic drum kits are still ubiquitous for LIVE popular music. First, in unamplified situations, acoustic drums have a much wider dynamic range, greater articulation and nuance, and more timbral complexity than e-drums. Also, because a drum kit is composed of so many fascinating parts, it simply looks cool on stage and naturally attracts more curiosity.

So for this Saturday’s concert, I chose to play an un-amplified acoustic kit. While I still maintain the original Pearl Thunderking drum set acquired for playing in the Cherubim back in 1975 (albeit with countless modifications and upgrades), tonight’s “franken-kit” is composed of my newer collection of small drums and quiet cymbals. 

I’ve always had fun playing pops drums for the UPCS. Playing with the current electrified and youthful band promises to make it even more fun.

Pearl Midtown bass drum 16”, 

Pearl CMS-1410 “Competition” marching snare/floortom 14"

Pearl Decade Maple tom 10”

Pearl Omar Hakim Signature snare 13”

K Zildjian Flat Ride 20”

A Zildjian Thin Crash 16”

A Zildjian Splash 12”

Sabian AA Mini China 12”

Zildjian EFX #1 10” hihat bottom

A Zildjian Armand Splash 10” hihat top

Stagg DH Mini-China 8”

SOUNDSCAPES OF U.P. DILIMAN

In 2012, I was awarded a post-doctoral grant by the University of the Philippines Diliman Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Development to record soundscapes of the UP Diliman campus. The following are selections from those recordings. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, two batches of incoming fresh people have yet to set foot in the UP Diliman Campus. While they have seen pictures, and watched videos, they have yet to hear the sounds of both the daily and ceremonial life of the campus. I hope this collection of soundscape recordings can, in its own small way, add to their impression of what life will be like when they finally get to visit. And to alumni, I know many will have fond memories of these sounds. 

Enjoy.

Robin Daniel Z. Rivera

Click here to hear the entire album on Soundcloud

https://soundcloud.com/user-575278690/sets/up-diliman-soundscapes

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1. AS Lobby - Most, if not all UP Diliman students have had at least one class in the AS, a.k.a. the old College of Arts and Sciences, a.k.a. now Palma Hall. This is because many General Education subjects are held there. If the walls of the lobby could talk....

Click the link below to hear it in Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-575278690/24-january-2013-up-diliman-as?in=user-575278690/sets/up-diliman-soundscapes

2. Ikot Jeep - The Ikot Jeepney is the primary form of intra-campus public transportation. In this recording, I boarded a random jeepney, and travelled the entire loop from Vinsons Hall and back. This particular one was rickety and unattractive. But it valiantly trudged along, and was never empty during the entire trip. My wife said she would sometimes take a ride just to de-stress. 

Click the link below to hear it in Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-575278690/28-feb-2013-up-diliman-ikot?in=user-575278690/sets/up-diliman-soundscapes

3. Area 2 - This sound walk began about 11 A.M at the Corner of Valenzuela And Apacible streets, turned left on Viola St, turns left on Balagtas St, turned left into Laurel St. (home to the row of "lutong bahay" eateries), entered the old (burned down) Shopping Center, then returned to Valenzuela corner Apacible. The quiet residential area grew more active as I turned into the row of eating places, and became even more hectic in the shopping center, specially as lunchtime was just around the corner. 

Click the link below to hear it in Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-575278690/27-feb-2013-up-diliman-area-2?in=user-575278690/sets/up-diliman-soundscapes

4. Helicopter Bayan Ko - My original plan for that day was to record the Sunday carless oval. But a Huey helicopter was hovering around the area all morning. Just as I was about to pack up because it disrupted the sound of people enjoying the carefree Sunday morning, the Carillon started playing "Ang Bayan Ko". For context, to those who survived the 1970s martial law period, the sound of the helicopter was a symbol of military oppression. On the other hand, to many nationalists, “Ang Bayan Ko” is the quintessential patriotic song. It laments about the suffering from tyranny, but is hopeful for the promise of freedom. To hear these two distinct sounds simultaneously  brought back memories of the martial law dictatorship. And that the helicopter headed out of the orbit and left the carillon to finish the song signified hope. This recording still gives me chills whenever I listen to it. 

Click the link below to hear it in Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-575278690/10-feb-2013-helicopter-bayan?in=user-575278690/sets/up-diliman-soundscapes

5. UP Naming Mahal Graduation - I recorded this from my office in the 2nd floor of the old Faculty Center building facing the Lagoon, 500 meters away from the 2013 UP Diliman General Commencement at the Amphitheater. The afternoon began with the threat of a thunderstorm, but cleared up just as the students were filing in. The singing of UP Naming Mahal at the end of graduations always brings up a deluge of emotions not only for students, but to their families, the faculty, and staff as well. The collective roar at the end released all those emotions. 

Click the link below to hear it in Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-575278690/28-april-2013-up-diliman?in=user-575278690/sets/up-diliman-soundscapes

6. UP Diliman Lantern Parade - The annual lantern parade is the most festive of UP Diliman events. Students, faculty and staff let their hair down, alumni hold impromptu reunions, and residents revel in the campus’ version of a town fiesta. This 2016 recording was made from the Eng'g tennis courts overlooking the academic oval.  from the Eng'g tennis courts overlooking the academic oval. As the title suggests, four musical ensembles passed by, and a canon of some sort fired repeatedly from the West side of the campus. (Warning, the canon on the recording can be suddenly VERY LOUD). I don’t expect it will be held this year. But when it finally happens, I can expect a huge attendance from those who missed it during the pandemic years.  

Click the link below to hear it in Soundcloud

https://soundcloud.com/user-575278690/2016-up-diliman-lantern-parade-four-ensembles-and-a-canon?in=user-575278690/sets/up-diliman-soundscapes

YIN AND YANG

 

I finally have the yin and yang of trailblazing vintage headphones. 

Sennheiser launched the HD414 in 1968, the pioneering open-air design. Mine is the last of at least three incarnations. It’s the 50th Anniversary Edition released in 1993, and which I bought from Cardinal Audio that same year. Some reviews say it can’t keep up with more aggressive contemporary headphones. But it’s so light that I sometimes forget I’m wearing it, and it sounds like you’re listening in a cool breezy outdoor field. This makes it my favorite on hot summer days when anything on my ears induces sweat. It’s almost indestructible because of the resilient lightweight plastic headband, field-replacable cables, and sponge earpads. Although it’s been out of production since the late 90s, Sennheiser still makes the cute yellow earpads because so many of the original headphones are still in use today, it fits other headphones such as the Grado SR series, and the cables are interchangeable with the current the HD600 series and the HD25 light.

On the other hand, the Koss Pro4aa is the complete opposite. I got this pair pre-owned but in mint condition just last week. Introduced in 1970, it was touted as the first high-fidelity closed stereo headphones. It is very heavy, very hard, very tight, and very inefficient. It has its fair share of haters too, who consider it excruciatingly uncomfortable. But it is articulate, detailed, and un-hyped, like a small air-tight vocal booth where even the tiniest of sounds are audible. It’s indestructible in its own way because of solid rubberized plastic earcups and steel frame.Because they are a closed design, I can listen at lower loudness levels. This makes me more conscious of distortion in the source than in the headphones themselves. Koss still actually makes them to this day, and backs them up with a lifetime warranty. 

These two models are not just quaint relics from a bygone past. They still have virtues that appeal to me, even today.  I have to be in a specific mood to put them on, but it’s always a treat listening through them, despite what the haters say.

TEACHING THROUGH VEILS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

With NCR Covid 19 Alert Levels going down every month, Metro Manila public transport is opening to an increasing number of commuters, malls are seeing an increase in shoppers, and educational eager beavers have laid down conditions for face-to-face classes in 2022. But despite a parade of vaccines and the promise of new medications, Covid-19 is still, and will be, active and lethal throughout 2022. So beyond the givens vaccination and heightened personal hygiene, how then will teachers like me protect ourselves?

When I think about how teaching changed during the pandemic, I remembered Pythagorias’ alleged acousmatic method. The root word in ancient Greek was akousmatikoi, which refers to probationary students who were separated from their teacher by a veil so they could concentrate on the lessons. It’s like listening to a musical recording in which you do not see the actual musicians or instruments in a performance. In a sense this is what we’ve been doing online since the start of the pandemic. We have been veiled from our students by our computer screens. On Zoom, and depending on the strength and bandwidth of the internet connection, teachers and students students would see and hear either a wall of low resolution moving mugshots of eachother, and in some cases complete with fake green screen backgrounds, in a desperate attempt to feign the normalcy of in-person lectures. I took this even further in consideration for those with poor internet connections by unilaterally streaming lectures on Facebook Live. So while my students could see me, I couldn’t see them. Their only channel for feedback was the chatbox. My background in radio broadcasting and studio recording made me comfortable with talking to an invisible class. It was not until the last meeting of the semester did I hold a Zoom meeting and finally get to see them talking and moving. Some students commented that my streams were helpful in controlling their expensive and/or unstable internet connection. Others missed the real-time aural and visual interactions in their other classes that held Zoom meetings. But the bridging the digital divide was my primary priority. 

This mode was not without its pitfalls. In many cases, teachers not adept with their devices fumbled and stumbled with the technologies. Some developed various anxieties appearing online, similar to performers stage fright. Likewise, students experienced their own share of technological and/or psychological issues from being glued to their screens and limited to their tiny learning spaces. Somehow, people settled into the routines of quarantine and virtual connections, and the electronic veil that separated teachers and students became the norm. In  the second school year of online education, I observe both teachers and students are more proficient, less resistant, and more creative in online teaching and learning.  

If and when face-to-face classes resume with a still-active pandemic, it will again have to be done not with a virtual, but familiar physical veil. This is what served as the first line of personal defense throughout the pandemic, the surgical face mask. The casualty here will be oral gestures and the voice. The mouth is a very expressive part of one’s face. Covering it will limit the teacher-lecturers facial expression. For example, in daily life a smile is priceless. Whenever I go shopping, it’s been difficult to show sales people your approval and/or appreciation while wearing a mask. There are transparent/translucent masks for those who need to interact with deaf lip-readers and those with disabilities. But these do not provide as much protection as regular surgical masks. This leads to the next problem. Covering the mouth and nose will limit the dynamic range of the voice and limit the movement of the lips. Another strike against a teacher. And what about students? How will they recite? How will they ask questions? How will they discuss with each other? Again, there are technological remedies for these problems. Wireless microphones and portable PA systems can amplify teacher-lecturers voices outdoors and in medium to large classrooms. Oldskool language labs, complete with plexiglass cubicles and multi-point sound systems can be pressed back into action. In schools that never had such facilities, plexiglass dividers, like those in fastfood restaurants, can be built to isolate students from each other. If all these physical barriers become a reality, recitation and discussion will still be awkward. In the absence of multi-point sound systems, one solution will be text chats via Facebook Messenger, Viber, or other messaging platforms inside the classroom during class time. All these technological remedies will be costly, and threaten to widen to gap between the haves and the have-nots. Just thinking about it makes me wonder if just staying at home and doing a zoom meeting would be better than coming to a classroom with so many physical barriers. 

It took a year for those fortunate enough to afford the needed technological infrastructure to get comfortable with online teaching and learning. And it’s taking a little longer for the economically challenged to catch up. I foresee adapting to a new face-to-face but barrier-filled classroom will take at least the same amount of time for infrastructure to be built, routines to change, and new risks to be mitigated, and people to become adept and comfortable in using it.  

I understand Pythagorias point about putting a veil between him and his akousmatikoi. There are many cases in which we intentionally limit our senses in order to experience things in certain ways. Some listeners close their eyes when they want to listen to music critically. Some viewers seek complete silence when they want to focus on a painting. and some readers will limit their peripheral vision when they want to concentrate on a page. But these are special practices, in which imagination eventually fills in the gaps of the experience. Distance-education practitioners may disagree with me, but i feel teaching is at least both intellectual and sensory. I believe the classroom is a performance venue in which the teacher appeals to all the student’s senses, and visa versa. It is a place where spoken words and texts join non-verbal gestures, such as eye-contact, facial expressions, kinesics, etc., must all be available. Intentionally limiting even just one is counterproductive. 

I am a year and a half away from retirement, and therefore may not experience the post-pandemic teaching experience in full bloom. Whatever future teacher do, I hope this experience of teaching during the pandemic makes them realize that any veil imposed on their work must immediately be recognized and overcome. While technology can provide some solutions, presence, in all its multi sensory glory, should remain the norm.