SELF TAUGHT. Having mastered the guitar in his teen years, Jose Valdez now shares his knowledge with students of four schools in Manila.
FOURTH OF FIVE PARTS
When Maestro Jose Valdez was four years old, he was diagnosed with German polio, a condition that left him incapable of walking for a year.
His father, a military man who played the clarinet, gave him a guitar, an instrument that did not require the use of his legs and feet.
“God has a reason for everything that happened. If I wasn’t struck with polio, I would not have learned how to play the guitar,” said Valdez.
Valdez took an immediate liking to the stringed instrument and taught himself how to play it.
At 16, he had his first solo concert in the Girl Scouts of the Philippines Auditorium in Padre Faura, Manila.
At 18, Valdez performed at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ (CCP) Little Theatre (now called the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino) as the youngest and the first Filipino guitarist in the group.
Those years signaled the beginning of his music career.
One-on-one
Valdez wanted to study music with guitar as his major instrument but he could not find a school offering the curriculum he liked.
He did study theory orchestration at the Sta. Isabel College of Music from 1972 to 1973 but his skill was perfected from attending special studies and master classes and practicing on his own.
“I did not finish any formal degree but I already gained the reputation of being a pioneer concert guitarist, so many schools invited me to teach in their universities,” he said.
Valdez single-handedly developed a guitar curriculum when he started teaching.
He became not only a pioneer concert guitarist.
He also became a pioneer guitar teacher which eventually led the Commission on Higher Education to recognize guitar as a major instrument degree.
His love for music and his pioneering work as a guitar teacher earned Valdez a place in the 2016 roster of honorees of an advocacy campaign, The Many Faces of the Teacher (TMFT), run by Bato Balani Foundation Inc. and Diwa Learning Systems, Inc.
Valdez was among four teachers who were chosen from 12 finalists of the TMFT search. They were honored on Oct. 1 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino as part of the celebration of the Teachers Day on Oct. 5.
These days, Valdez teaches at four schools: University of the Philippines Diliman, St. Scholastica’s College Manila, St. Paul University Manila, and Philippine Women’s University Manila.
His guitar curriculum involves a one-hour, one-on-one session with the student, noting that everyone has to be taught individually.
The first half of the session is spent for instruction while the other half is for student’s self-practice.
“My goal is to draw the guitar closer to the students by inspiring them. Students will not practice because you told them to. They practice because they want to,” he said.
Uniquely Filipino
Valdez laments about the dwindling interest among the public on classical music.
“For example, when you listen to Pinoy rock song, the music has Filipino lyrics. But if you take away the lyrics, the music is not uniquely Filipino,” he said.
His goal is to once again mainstream the traditional forms such as kundiman, harana, and balitaw.
Is this still possible when pop culture has dominated the music scene?
Valdez said it is.
He makes this work by arranging popular songs such as Aiza Seguera’s Pagdating ng Panahon and Side A Band’s Forevermore for classical playing.
Acknowledging the need for a classical guitar repertoire, Valdez has written 29 books that cover a range of genres but mostly focused on Philippine classical music.
“I consider this as a legacy I am leaving behind for the classical music repertoire in the Philippines,” he said.
Lessons
Valdez works in cooperation with the CCP to organize formal training to underprivileged students with promising musical talents.
They select students from public high schools in Pasay, Manila and Paranaque cities who are provided with college scholarships.
Serving as a music teacher for 45 years taught Valdez that a person’s calling may not be in music.
But music is utilized as a stepping stone for a person to embrace his passion.
“I have had many students who are like that. They start learning guitar through me and then realize that it is not their instrument,” he said.
The maestro, at 62, has no plans of retiring or slowing down.
“I have the whole eternity to rest. I have businessmen friends who would say that when they retire they will just be playing the guitar. What about me? I might play some more (when I retire),” he said.
For a music teacher like Maestro Valdez, life’s strumming never stops.