Answer:

RAMON P. SANTOS, PH. D.

Contemporary music in the Philippines usually refers to compositions that have adopted ideas and elements from twentieth century art music in the West, as well as the latest trends and musical styles in the entertainment industry. This brief introduction covers only the works written by the art music composers.

The modern Filipino repertoire consist of pieces that have been written in twentieth century idioms that have evolved out of such stylistic movements as impressionism, expressionism, neo-classism, as well as the so-called avant-garde and New Music. A good number of these works have utilized the standard formats of classical European music such as the concerto, the symphony, the symphonic and tone poems, cantata, etc. and may therefore be broadly categorized as neo-classic. At the same time, they have also been greatly influenced by the textural colors of Debussy’s music and the ambiguous and “dissonant” tonalities of early 20th century expressionist compositions. Moreover, the sounds of non-Western instruments have been added to the tonal fabric.