Thank you again Jen and Alex for coming in to the class to share your wonderful story, movement and musical instruments from the Phillipines. The children of Ash Class had such a wonderful experience and couldn't stop talking about it the next day. Both the story and the sounds of the instruments were so calming and mesmerizing. I could listen to them over and over again!
Here is a paragraph that Jen sent me about what they brought in to the class and the story they told. Unfortunately, I have not had much luck posting pictures on my blog, so cannot post the picture of the instruments.
The instruments they brought in are called an Agung and Sarunay.
Malong
The malong is
a traditional "tube skirt" made of hand-woven or machine-made
multi-colored cotton cloth, bearing a variety of geometric or okir designs. The
malong is akin to the sarong worn by
peoples in Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. The malong is
traditionally used as a garment by numerous tribes in the Southern Philippines and the Sulu Archipelago. There are also
other names for the ‘malong’ in other regions of the Philippines, such as Patadyong and Lewek Tedeyung.
The story:
Long, long ago there was a
beautiful village in a high mountain.
In that mountain, there
was a lake and by the lake lived many families.
It rained a lot, but the
families had special clothes to keep them dry and warm.
The people of this place
did many things, including the special duties of planting and harvesting their
food to eat.
Just before the sun went
down, the people would see a bird with big, beautiful wings. The bird would fly
across the sky.
When the people saw the
bird, they knew it was time to pack all their things,
mothers would pick up
their babies and everyone would go inside to eat, sing, dance and laugh all together…until
the moon was up and the sky was dark, everyone would fall asleep peacefully
through the night.
