My interest in traditional Hispanized Filipino music was a primary factor for choosing the thesis subject of Bisayan harp. It was fortunate that Dr. Trimillos possessed an original copy of a 1955 M.A. thesis from the University of San Carlos, Cebu City, titled "The Balitao and How it Mirrors Visayan Life" by Maria Colina Gutierrez. Included in the thesis was a rare photograph of a Bisayan diatonic harp taken in a performance setting of Cebuano balitaw. The balitaw is a Hispanized song and dance genre which traditionally used the diatonic harp as an acompanying instrument in the Visayas. Due to the rarity of the subject, preliminary research was done in the summer of 1990 in Cebu City, Cebu to see if Bisayan harp was a viable thesis project. I found sufficient information on harp use in the Cebu area to do extended research on this subject. I applied for and got a Fulbright scholarship for this purpose. Initial bibliographic research was done on harp history in general, and Hispanic diatonic harp, in particular, while the I attended graduate classes at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa.

Basic documentary equipment used during fieldwork was a Sony Stereo Pro-Walkman audio cassette recorder, a Pentax Super ME 35 mm camera and a JVC Vhs video camera.

During the first preliminary trip in 1990, I contacted local Cebuano scholars Resil Mojares of the University of San Carlos, Edgar Alosbaños of Colegio de San Jose Recolletos, and Sr. Merced Sanchez of St. Teresa's College. Mr. Alosbaños intoduced me to Tonyo and Pasing Bohol, retired balitaw artists of the post World War II years. They allowed me to make a video recording of a balitaw performance. Unfortunately, the presentation was without traditional harp accompaniment, substituting electric guitar and bass for the harp.

Using newspaper advertisements I located, two brothers, both harp makers and performers and a harp was purchased. The harp playing of both brothers was recorded.

While in Manila I photographed and measured an antique Ilocano harp, displayed in a museum at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). All this happened during preliminary study in 1990.

The one year Fulbright research started in August of 1991 and ended in August of 1992. I spent the first two months in and around Cebu City looking for harps and doing bibliography work at the unique Cebuano library managed by Resil Mojaras and located at the University of San Carlos. The only harp found in Cebu City was at the Casa de Gorordo, a colonial style house turned into a museum. It was obvious that I could not gather the kind of data I needed without visiting outlying rural areas. To do this I bought a small motorcycle and spent a good portion of time traveling to municipalities and barrios, mainly in southern Cebu. Cebu was, however, not the only Bisayan island visited. Through friends on the island of Bohol, immediately to the southwest of Cebu, I came in contact with a harp maker who agreed to built a harp and to allow simutaneous documentation with still and video cameras. It took the entire month November to build the harp.

During the months of February and March I went on a circular tour of several Philippine islands, first to Leyte, then to Luzon, Palawan, Panay, Negros and back again to Cebu. At this time I gathered much comparative information on both Bisayan and Ilocano harp genres. While in Manila I did bibliographic work at librarys on the campus of the University of the Philippines.

I spent the last months of research on the islands of Cebu, Bohol, Negros and Mindanao. Two weeks before leaving for the United States, I went to Cagayan, Luzon in an attempt to find out more about contemporary Ilocano harp practice for additional comparative information.