This is in relation to the story “Kasilag, nat’l artist for music, dies; 89.” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 8/18/08) My brother, Dr. Marcelino Reysio-Cruz, relayed the sad news to me.

Dean Lucrecia Kasilag’s death is an irreparable loss to Philippine music education. She was instrumental in the advance of music education in the Philippines during the years 1960-1973. Aware of music teachers’ need to update their professional skills, she gave her wholehearted support to my proposal to establish workshops at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Hundreds of teachers from distant provinces attended the three-day sessions at the CCP where they updated their knowledge about the most recent developments in choral conducting, music reading, movement and instrumental skills.

We featured the finest teachers in the field: Andrea Ofilada Veneracion generously shared insights on choral conducting; the late Sister Mamie Martell of Canada taught the latest methods of teaching to pre-school children; Flora Zarco Rivera taught them how to classify and nurture young voices; Trudl Dubsky Zipper did a memorable workshop on movement; and King Kasilag introduced the teachers to the joy of playing our own Philippine ethnic instruments.

Before I left for the United States, King honored our collaboration by commissioning a short operetta, “Delanela” which featured Philippine ethnic instruments and dances. She wrote the music and a professor from the Ateneo wrote the libretto. She asked my 9-year-old daughter, Millie, to dance the “singkil;” public school teachers sung the songs and played instruments from Southern Philippines.

King and I collaborated in the establishment of the US honor sorority Mu Phi Epsilon in the Philippines. One thing that drew us together was the fact that we were sorority sisters—I joined the sorority in Chicago, she at Eastman. When we found that we had other sorority sisters in the Philippines, including the wife of the then US Ambassador to the Philippines, we petitioned the US headquarters of the Mu Phi Epsilon to allow us to establish a sorority in the Philippines. The US sorority donated tons of music books for use in Philippine schools. King was instrumental in helping my late mother, Professor Emilia Reysio-Cruz, establish the Philippine Music Education Society in the Philippines.

Philippine music education owes Dean Lucrecia Kasilag a deep debt of gratitude.

MARY LOU REYSIO-CRUZ NAVARRO (via email)