The choir icon as long-distance swimmer

7/27/2019 The choir icon as long-distance swimmer

1/4

The choir icon as long-distance swimmerByVERA Files|The Inbox Thu, Jul 11, 2013

Prof. Andrea Veneracion

By Pablo A. Tariman,VERA Files

In the 80s, National Artist for Music Andrea O. Veneracion put the Philippines in the music map

with the winning streak of the Philippine Madrigal Singers which she founded in 1963.

On the 50th year of her choir which continued to bag prizes in choral festivals around the world,

Prof. Veneracion passed away in the evening of July 9, just two days before her 86th birthday on July

11.

One of the 50th anniversary events of the Madz (as the choir is popularly known) is the Andrea

Veneracion International Choral Festival which opens at CCP August 8 to 11. The CCP has

announced twenty selected choirs from seven countries will compete in several categories namely

folk music, chamber choir and vocal ensemble.

The Andrea O. Veneracion International Choral Festival will see the fruition of the first

international choral competition in the history of the art of choral music in the country, added the

CCP.

Early in her youth, Veneracion wanted to take up medicine but upon prodding of her piano teacher,

Julio Esteban Anguita, she took up music and has since then never looked back. She was a lyric

soprano and finished a masters degree in voice at the Indiana University.

Veneracion as campus beauty in the UP Cadena de Amor celebration. (From the book A Life In one of her

recitals in the early 60s at the Philamlife Theater accompanied by Regalado Jose, music critic
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/author/vera-files/http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/author/vera-files/http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/author/vera-files/http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/http://verafiles.org/http://verafiles.org/http://verafiles.org/http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/GQABB.8.432u0LogKePsFg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NQ--/http:/media.zenfs.com/en-PH/blogs/inbox/Prof.-Andrea-Veneracion.jpghttp://verafiles.org/http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/author/vera-files/


2/4

Rodrigo Perez III of the Manila Times noted that Veneracion has a light, silvery timber. It floats out

easily and graciously Each line unfolds with a sense of musical design and at the same time with

charming naturalness. She happily avoids an excess of showmanship and interprets everything with

restraint that comes only from a proper education.

Her hitherto unknown life outside of music is revealed in her biography, "A Life Shaped By Music" by

Marjorie Evasco.

Indeed, what the music world doesnt know is that the National Artist was a champion swimmer.

Recalled another National Artist for Music Lucrecia R. Kasilag in the books introduction I was ten

years her senior and I watched her grow in terrific grace all through those years. At the Philippine

Womens University, I saw her develop her ambidextrous talents as a swimmer and a pianist when

she was in high school. Ive watched her dive and swim in the elegant form of a disciplined athlete. Iknew a good diver and swimmer when I saw one. Thus, even if I myself could not execute her moves

in the water, as a musician I intuitively felt the rhythm, harmony and grace that she knew in

performance.

The cover of the biography of National Artist Andrea Veneracion by Marjorie Evasco.

Wanting to quit swimming to devote her time to music, Veneracions swimming coach reminded her

that music and swimming were alike in many ways and that she didnt have to sacrifice her music in

order to swim.

You have to learn how to swim with the rhythm of the music in your head. Sing as you swim and get

into the rhythm, her swimming coach recounted in the Evasco book.

The pianist and aspiring soprano turned swimmer learned that in swimming as in making music, one

cannot be erratic with the rhythm of breathing because it is central to a performance. Indeed if one
http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/2Ce.JQnWckLDSIw9gu8FfA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NQ--/http:/media.zenfs.com/en-PH/blogs/inbox/The-cover-of-the-biography-of-National-Artist-Andrea-Veneracion-by-Marjorie-Evasco..jpeg


3/4

didnt know how to coordinate the rhythm of breathing with the movement of the body in water, or

with the movement of the song to ones body, the whole performance would be adversely affected.

Andys (Veneracions) championship form was a metaphor for what eventually became her unique

teaching style in choral music, extolled Evasco.

Evasco also said Veneracion taught the members of the Philippines Madrigal Singers what she

learned from swimming: that in order to do anything at all with ease and grace, the whole body must

move in rhythm with ones inner sense of music. And the secret of song was in the breathing.

Madz choirmaster successor Mark Carpio with his mentor, Prof. Veneracion.

Veneracion had a stroke in 2005 which rendered her comatose until her death.

She is survived by her husband, Dr. Felipe Veneracion and children Rafael, Chiqui, Angel, Diday,

Peachy and granddaughters Isabelle and Emmanuelle.

The National Artist will be given a last tribute and necrological service on Sunday, July 14, 2013 at 9

a.m. Before the Sunday state funeral, her remains will lie in state at the Immaculate Concepcion

Cathedral in New York, Cubao.

Mark Carpio -- who succeeded the National Artist as choirmaster of the Madrigals -- knew only too

well that the choir must grow even without its founder. We have to grow from the inside. If there is

one thing I want to share with the singers and the future singers of the Madz, it is that we should alllearn not just to think of how to give pleasure to other people with our singing, but also how to grow,

how to make ourselves grow musically in the choir.

(VERA Filesis put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin

for true.)
http://www.verafiles.org/http://www.verafiles.org/http://www.verafiles.org/http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Tt6w81xqqaplwTsNJwo7Ng--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NQ--/http:/media.zenfs.com/en-PH/blogs/inbox/Madz-choirmaster-successor-Mark-Carpio-with-his-mentor-Prof.-Veneracion..jpghttp://www.verafiles.org/


4/4

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/choir-icon-long-distance-swimmer-142655688.html#more-

id
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/choir-icon-long-distance-swimmer-142655688.html#more-idhttp://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/choir-icon-long-distance-swimmer-142655688.html#more-idhttp://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/choir-icon-long-distance-swimmer-142655688.html#more-idhttp://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/choir-icon-long-distance-swimmer-142655688.html#more-idhttp://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/choir-icon-long-distance-swimmer-142655688.html#more-id

Documents

The choir icon as long-distance swimmer