Ang Sinina Ko’ng Bag’o

(My New Dress)

Ang Sinina Ko’ng Bag’o (My New Dress) is a Cebuano rhyme in the Visayan language that my mother grew up hearing during her childhood in Cebu, Philippines.

Speaking Visayan

Visayan is one of many languages/dialects spoken in the Philippines. Generally speaking, Filipino languages use the same phonetic rules as Spanish. When introducing this song, keep these things in mind:

Vowels

A is an ah sound like in Moana

E is an eh sound like in elephant

I is an ee sound like in feet

O is an oh sound like in open

U is an ooh sound like boo

Two vowels next to each other have a small glottal stop in between (e.g. gipaangay: gipa+angay)

Consonants

The apostrophe between letters is a glottal stop, similar to the sound that you make when you say “uh-oh!”

R is a rolled r, almost sounding like a d

T is not an aspirated sound, a mix of a t and d

Procedure

• Introduce the song as a children’s rhyme from the Philippines. Explain that the rhyme is about all the new clothes and shoes.
• Teach rhyme phrase by phrase with the below movements:

• Teach the first half of ostinato “brand new dress and shoes, brand new dress and shoes” and have students clap the rhythm before transferring to woodblocks.
• Teach the second half of ostinato “sway, twirl” and have students snap the rhythm before transferring to triangle.
• You can ask students to change the last two words (“sway, twirl”) to other action words they’d use when getting brand new clothes.
• While students are speaking the rhyme, the teacher speaks the words for the ostinato.
• Split the classroom into three groups. Two groups will play woodblock and triangle and one group will speak the rhyme with movements.
• Perform three times, so each group has a chance to speak the rhyme with movements or play each instrument.

Depending on your class and your classroom’s set of instruments, you can let your students choose which un-pitched instruments are appropriate for each ostinato.