In San Francisco, California, Ronald Querian stands before a row of eight gongs, ready to play kulintang: a traditional Filipino instrument.
“The pitches of the instrument are different, the scales sound unfamiliar, and the tempos feel very fast,” he told Hawaii Public Radio. “So when a lot of people hear kulintang music for the first time, it really grabs their attention, and in some cases, it sticks to them like a bug.”
Alongside his wife, Lydia, Querian founded The House of Gongs studio in the hopes of creating a musical community united by the Filipino diaspora. They take a “learn by doing” approach to music education.
“When the students came in, my strategy was to get their hands on the instruments as fast as possible,” Querian said. “As the first…
