Fifty years in existence, the country’s pioneering secular children’s choir continues to make heavenly music amid viral surges, pandemic restrictions and technology limitations.

On Sept. 25 at 7 p.m., UP Cherubim and Seraphim (UPCS) Choir will celebrate its golden anniversary with an online concert via its Facebook page. Special guests include National Artist Ryan Cayabyab, who will be accompanying them on the piano while they sing his work, “Bata ang Bukas.” Meanwhile, his daughter, Krina, made a special arrangement for Cayabyab’s “Nais Ko.” Musician-composer Joey Ayala will play an octavina when they sing his composition, “Manong Pawikan.”

The repertoire includes songs created for UPCS by such prominent composers as Ramon Santos and Felipe Padilla de Leon. “Sa Mahal Kong Bayan,” a patriotic song by National Artist Lucio San Pedro, will be interpreted with paintings by Amorsolo, Luna and Hidalgo, courtesy of Vargas Museum.

US-based vocalist, concert producer and UPCS alumna Roxanne “Annie” Nepomuceno likewise made a special musical arrangement.

Filipino child’s voice

UPCS was founded in 1971 by Flora Zarco Rivera, who was a church musician, choral conductor, music educator and cofounder of the prestigious National Music Competition for Young Artists.

Inspired by listening to Taipei Children’s Choir in Taiwan, she set up the first choir, whose members came from a school instead of the Church community. As a faculty of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Music, Rivera sought help from music teachers to gather students from the Saturday extension classes of the college. Although its repertoire consists of original Filipino songs, it also includes pop music, and German, French and Spanish songs.

“My mom wanted to study the characteristics of the Filipino child’s voice,” says UPCS’ Elena Rivera Mirano. Rivera tapped San Pedro and other composers to create new music for the children’s choir, which has been the core of the UPCS repertoire.

UPCS consists mainly of students who are either part of UP Integrated School or whose parents are UP faculty, employees and alumni, and extended family members. Their musical training starts at the age of 7 or 8 years old until they graduate from high school.

“We don’t look for anything special because we train them. We want to develop our own voice as a choir. It’s important though that they can carry a tune and have a sense of rhythm. The singing of children is pure and childlike, not so much vibrato. It’s light and not so intense,” says Mirano.

Famous alumni include award-winning concert pianist Rowena Arrieta, jazz singer Lynn Sherman and Nepomuceno.

Since its inception on Sept. 21, 1971, to early 2020, more than two dozen children have gathered regularly in one of the classrooms at the UP conservatory to learn their repertoire. Since the pandemic, UPCS immediately adapted to the new medium.

Old-fashioned way

“I miss the intimacy of the old-fashioned way of singing and learning together,” says Mirano. Due to the Zoom time lag, the children can’t sing in unison.

“Beforehand, we send prerecorded audio tracks, which they listen to and learn from. The children know what to do when we meet. During our virtual rehearsals, we vocalize and go into breakout rooms—the equivalent of voice sectional rehearsals in choir practice,” explains Mirano.

The irony of the Zoom rehearsals is that their voices are muted when they sing together in order to be in sync with the guide track.

In producing their virtual concerts, each child makes a home video of his or her part in the song using a mobile phone. A team of editors, mostly UPCS alumni, handles the postproduction. Last year, the virtual concerts on the UPCS Facebook page garnered as many as 13,500 views.

Mirano adds, “The nice thing about using technology is that our alumni who live abroad can participate.”

The program will not only comprise the core UPCS but also alumni representing the different decades. Some 80 windows of the concert members—UPCS and the alumni singing together—make up the concert climax.

Today UPCS continues to receive applications for auditions.

“In isolation, the best way to keep sane is through the arts. A member wrote on our webpage blog, ‘We are blessed to be singing together even if we are apart.’ I cried when she said we should continue to sing together in this age of stress and corruption. This is what the kids are feeling. Pursigido kami. Despite the challenges, we want to give the kids this opportunity,” says Mirano. —CONTRIBUTED