Andy Veneracion on discipline

Sometime in 1999 I wrote about Manny Pacquiao, a young boxer who was the reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight champion. He had a bright future ahead of him but in preparing for his first title defense, he allowed himself to balloon to an unbelievable 133 lbs, or more than 20 pounds beyond the upper limit in his division. Weeks before the fight, he also decided to do a movie and get married to his girlfriend. As expected, he had trouble making the weight limit. The fight went on, but he had weakened himself too much in the attempt to comply with the weight requirement and was in no condition to wage a decent battle.

One might say that it was a lack of discipline as well as a sense of commitment that resulted in his loss of the crown. Of course, he would later recover and go on to greater heights.

About the same time, Andrea Ofilada-Veneracion, along with Edith Tiempo, Daisy Avellana, and J. Elizalde Navarro, was named National Artist. In Andy’s case it was for music.

Shortly after, Andy sent me a letter on the subject of discipline. Unfortunately, Tropical Storm “Ondoy” swept away most of my personal files, as well as manuscripts and a number of books that I had collected through the years. What remained were excerpts from her letter.

Andy noted that lack of discipline seems to be a fault in our psyche as Filipinos, not just in athletics but also in the arts. She said, “We really cannot have enough of discipline. I do think this is the answer to all our problems. The Filipinos are so talented. If we could harness our talents, coupled with discipline, we would probably be on top of the world.”

Veneracion, guiding spirit of the world-famous Madrigal Singers, related an incident in 1971 when the group first went into competitive choral singing in Arezzo, Italy, site of the oldest choral competition in the world. They had lost to the Hungarians by one point, and a riot almost ensued with the audience shouting and deriding the board of judges. Andy was quite content with the results and humbly accepted the judges’ decision. The next day, the Madrigal Singers were featured in the “Duomo” after a ceremonial Mass. After their performance, an old man with a thick beard approached Veneracion and said, “I am in the jury. You seem to be a religious person and I think you know and feel who was the real winner in the competition. You also realize the discipline you have inculcated in your singers, and you enjoy now the fruits of that discipline. If you work hard under this kind of discipline, you will get very far. My congratulations, and good luck!”

Andy said, “I have never forgotten his words of wisdom and all these years, the Madrigal Singers have adhered to this discipline at all times—three times a week rehearsals for two-and-a-half hours each time, no breaks or vacations, rain or shine, bus strikes or the like—we have worked and sang with our hearts, and seriously taken on the challenges of the music we are asked to prepare, and look where it has brought us.”

In 1997, Veneracion led the Madrigal Singers in winning the European Grand Prix Choral Competition, beating the champions of Europe to become the only Southeast Asian group to have attained this honor.

Andy Veneracion is considered one of the world’s foremost choral experts. Testimony to this distinction is her sitting on the jury of several major choral competitions all over the world and having been the vice president for Asia of the International Federation of Choral Music.

Perhaps, the most enduring and continuing contribution of Andy is when a performance of the Madrigal Singers touches the hearts of ordinary men and women as they experience what one individual has called, “the most beautiful sound on earth.”

In Veneracion’s biography “A Life Shaped by Music” by Marjorie Evasco, it is revealed that Andy was also a champion swimmer. Her swimming coach recounted in Evasco’s book that “you have to learn how to swim with the rhythm of the music in your head. Sing as you swim, and get into the rhythm.” Evasco said Veneracion taught the members of the Philippine Madrigal Singers what she learned from swimming, “that in order to do anything at all with ease and grace, the whole body must move in rhythm with one’s inner sense of music. And the secret of song was in the breathing.”

Andy passed away last July 11. She is survived by her husband Dr. Felipe Veneracion, a member of the UP Vanguards who later served in the AFP Dental Service. My thanks to Lt. Col. Ronald Alcudia, Andy’s son-in-law, who incidentally graduated as first captain from the Philippine Military Academy class 1993. Last Saturday, the family marked her 40th day.

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Two weeks ago, the PAF Flying School at Fernando Air Base marked its 53rd founding anniversary. The PAF Flying School along with the Air Force Officer Candidate School and the Basic Military Training School (for airmen), make up the most important units of the Air Education and Training Command under Maj. Gen. Edgardo Rene Samonte.

The PAF Flying School, primary source of military pilots for the Air Force, is currently headed by Lt. Col. Aristotle D. Gonzales.

With the increase in the number of air assets available for training purposes, the school hopes to graduate 80 military pilots next year. The student officers are made up of PMA graduates and products of the Officer Candidate School in roughly equal proportion.

Because of the high cost of producing pilots, the graduates now have to serve in the Air Force for a minimum of 12 years before they can leave to join commercial aviation. Previously, the requirement was a minimum service of eight years.

A bit of trivia. Fernando Air Base is also known as “the home of the dodo,” a now extinct bird that used to inhabit the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. It was a bird covered with thick plumes. It could not fly because its wings were too weak to support its body for flight. In the Air Force, all candidates for flying training were considered “dodos” since we had plumes but could not get off the ground on our own. Only after our first solo flight did we graduate from being derisively nicknamed “dodos.”