PHILIPPINE BAMBOO INSTRUMENTS

Abstract

Bamboo abounds in the Philippines and boasts of several hundred species. They are used in many ways, principally as a timber
substitute in building abodes. Some species are used for fishing poles, digging, or plant props. They serve as water pipes as well as
water carriers. Their outer barks, when peeled off, are woven into mats or sheets (sawali) used as walls and dividers in homes, or for baskets. Their shoots are used for food and some bamboos provide medicine. Their abundance accounts for the variety of music- making devices that have been fashioned out of it. Some of the instruments are blown; others are plucked or even struck. Thus, we have aerophones, chordophones, and idiophones.