The Washington times., 1902-01-14
FILIPINO AS
A MUSICIAN.
Technique Of the Natives
Said to Be Very Fine.
EXCEL ON STRINGED INSTRUMENTS
Interesting Letter Received From Z.
r. Gessler, Who Is Employed at
the Bureau of Printing Recently
Established by .hc United States
Government in the Philippines.

An interesting letter announcing the
safe arrival at Manila of Mr.. z. E. Cess
Ter, has just been received by his friends.
Mr.. Gessier was formerly employed as a
proofreader on The Times. and went to
the Philippines to accept a position in
the Bureau OF Printing established by
Uncle Sam at Manila. He describes at
length the musical attainments of the
Filipinos.
His Arrival at Manila.
''At this writing 1 have been a resident
of Manila for exactly two weeks" he
writes. We arrived in the harbor of
Manila on October &c. / could not begin
to tell you how I felt when we first
sighted the town. 1t was about O'Clock
in the afternoon, and the day was cloud
less. The sun shone on the buildings.
making them look as though they were
built of pure white marble The whole
city was a stretch of white as far as one
could see. with only speck of bright red
occasionally. where brick building Of
modern architecture seemed to be drop
ped in to relieve the monotony.
THE first stop we made on the voyage
to Manila was at Guam. in the Ladrone
Islands. after being out nineteen days.
When we arrived at Guam our party
chartered a native boat and went ashore
to one OF the native villages on the
coast, called Sumaye. which boasts of 500
inhabitants. One white man. an Ameri-
can. lives at Sumaye, and We had lot
of fun with him. His name is John Rob-
inson. and the fellows asked him what he
was doing so far away from his circus.
He was pretty good 'kidder himself.
and told us he was over there getting ami
mails for his menagerie.
Spanish Hotel Accomm odations.
When we got ashore at Manila every
body hustled for some place to stable. We
finally found a hotel-Metropole-for IS
a day. Mexican money. That is $3.50 in
United States currency. All prices over
here are in Mexican or Spanish coin. The
hotel, with its Spanish way of cooking
and serving, was novelty for a day or
so, but We soon grew tired OF it. Could
not stand the price very long, either. So
we found boarding house, run by
North Carolina negress. whose husband Is
q soldier here. The cooking is great, and
we are living fine. Four Of US are in one
room, but the room is as large as four
boarding house rooms in the States. We
are paying $50 a month for board and
room, Mexican money.
Prices are higher here except for
cigars and clothing. Bought three suits
of white clothes for So. 30 a suit. United
States money. Fine garments, good fit.
and made to order by a Chinaman- He
is far better than many tailors I know
in the States. These Cinnamon can
make anything after they once see 1t,
and they make it just like the original
Native Music Very Fine.
.s.r,on. Tho ,,ood tbiprS bara ic tho
music. Say, what these Filipinos don't
know about music is not worth knowing.
They all seem to be natural-born mu-
sicians. They read music like house
afire, and you cannot stick them AS
an instance / may cite that young
Filipino boy who plays the piano at our
boarding house during luncheon and din
ner hours took two sets of overtureS for
piano and violin. which | had purchased
in San Francisco. stiff arrangements OF
Mozart and Rossini, and played them at
sight / tell you it was a regular
feast of music.
The bands on the street while march
ing play their marches in concert style.
In marching they have their drums in
the front rank, usually four of them,
three small and enc bass drum. You
can see several bands out almost every
day, Tor these fl!lplnoS are DEAD STUCK
on having holidays. Nearly all are
Catholics. and the Catholic Church has
3S5 holidays a year. However, they get
them all in by doubling up on some Of
them.
Excel on Stringed Instruments.
THE Filipinos excel on the string in
struments. especially the violin. Their
mandolin and guitar combinations are
finer than silk, and you never heard any
thing like them. They are very partial to
Waldteufel and Strauss waltzes. They
also play lots of American music. Have
frequently heard John Philip Sousa's
marches, and one band seems stuck on
Roseys Handicap Their national march,
'Independencia, is very fine one"
Mr.. GessIers letter closes with extend
ing to all his friends the ~~-T~''
ments of the Christmas season. He
also informs his frienGs tuat lie H. seat
them box of the choicest Filipino cigars
with instructions to pass them around.
RICE HEIRS-AT-LAW UNITE