This classic piece by the great Ernani Cuenco always reminds me of Lola Haide, my landlady back in the dorm in Manila in the early 2000’s. She would play the original version so beautifully on her old German piano almost every morning. It always gets me in a very good mood waking up to this song as my alarm. It is also what inspired me to study the piano. But then I moved out of the country in 2007, so I stopped playing.

I have been self-studying the piano again since the start of this year (2021). The version that I am playing is a shortened and simplified arrangement of Digna Agra Roxas. This piece is probably way above my level but I tried very hard to give it justice with my playing, having practiced more than a month to arrive at this speed. 😁

By the way, the ear cuff I’m wearing in the video thumbnail is that famous Miss Universe (Catriona Gray) ear cuff (replica bought from etsy) inspired by the Philippine flag. I have actually updated the video with a more recent one where I have incorporated the use of the sustain pedal in my practice. I’m not sure if I was doing it correctly, though. I just tried to make some notes sound legato and louder in some parts of the song. Any advice from piano experts out there is very much welcome! 🙂 Also, it’s best to listen to it with a better speaker than the mobile phone or laptop’s internal speaker. Even the iPhone earbuds already make the sound a lot better. 😉 But I do know that I really need to get an acoustic piano if I want to improve… and a teacher. Well, someday… someday.

In the meantime, I thought it’d be fun to play this piece in perfect time to commemorate the 123rd anniversary of Philippine Independence.

Thanks for watching and I do hope you enjoyed listening to this Original Pilipino Music as much as I did.