Julianna Meneses ’25
Major: Bachelor of Arts in music, minor in ethnic studies
Hometown: Moraga, California
Extracurriculars: Kilusan Pilipino, Sigma Alpha Iota
Favorite off-campus places: Little Manila Center, Filipino American National Historical Society Museum, Sam’s Cafe, MonTea Boba
In the opening moments of her original composition “Meditation on a Homecoming,” Julianna Meneses ’25 looks directly into the crowd and asks, “Do you want to go swimming in the river?”
Sharply and quickly, she draws her bow across the double bass strings. Then, Meneses responds, “Mommy, I don’t know how to swim!”
Heedless of this concern, she dives back into the performance. A video Meneses shot in the Philippines is projected across her face, instrument and the back wall. At one point, she puts down her double bass so she can dance.
Meneses, who is working toward a BA in music with a minor in ethnic studies, played “Meditation on a Homecoming” along with another original piece for her senior recital in University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music.
She wrote the piece after receiving Pacific’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship and spending two months in the Philippines, doing research, meeting scholars and producing a video of her experiences.
“Studying at Pacific has been really good for my specific research interest, which is Tinggian music and dance in Abra, Philippines,” Meneses says. “What really helped me was the small class sizes, being able to talk with my professors one-on-one.”
Meneses credits Professor Kumiko Uyeda with helping her grow ever since her first semester at Pacific. It was actually Uyeda’s class that convinced her to pursue the work she does now.
Ethnomusicology
Meneses, who has been playing double bass since the sixth grade, says that researching the history and culture of music wasn’t originally her plan. She enrolled in Pacific as a music education major, intending to teach in the Oakland and Richmond area where she had cut her teeth in the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra.
But there was another interest that also drew her to Pacific.
“I was also very interested in the Filipino community here,” Meneses says. “I really wanted to become involved or at least be around those communities because I grew up in an area where there were not that many people that looked like me. Coming here made me feel at home and helped me establish my own identity.”
During her first semester, Meneses took “Music of the World’s People” with Uyeda, where she learned that she could combine these interests through the field of ethnomusicology.
“It made me realize, ‘oh, I can study indigenous Filipino music and it can be seen as a legitimate scholarly thing.’ After that, there was no going back,” Meneses says.
Even after that class, Uyeda has helped guide Meneses as she grows as a researcher and person.
To focus her studies on ethnomusicology, Meneses switched majors to a Bachelor of Arts in music because it provides a lot of flexibility with electives. She rounded out that education with a minor in ethnic studies. Another pathway you could choose is a Bachelor of Music in music history.
Pacific’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Leading up to the summer of 2024, Meneses applied for Pacific’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. The fellowship supports faculty-mentored student research by providing a stipend, housing allowance and funds for research supplies.
With the funding in hand, Meneses set off for a busy two months in the Philippines. While there, she did archival research and even attended an international academic conference focused on traditional performing arts.
Most of her trip, around five or six weeks, was spent in the province of Abra. There, she learned more about local musical traditions through interviews and hands-on musical practice.
“I played the gongs with people,” Meneses says. “I learned about bamboo musical instruments and different singing traditions. The technique is called ‘participant observation.’ That was a big help to learning what I know now.”
While she was travelling, she also filmed what she saw: chickens in a coop, trees blowing in the wind, flowing rivers and similar scenes from nature. Then, she edited them into a video that became the basis for her piece “Meditation on a Homecoming,” writing music that mimicked its sounds and integrated folk melodies.
“I called it ‘Meditation on a Homecoming.’ Because I’ve never been to Abra before, but that is where my mother is from,” Meneses says. “So, it was a strange feeling of, ‘I’m from here because my ancestors are from here.’ But culturally, socially, I’m an outsider. It was this weird duality that I was experiencing that I wanted to express musically.”
Turning an interest into research
If you have a passion you want to turn into a field of study, Meneses says the most important thing is to build your connections, whether that’s with professors, students with similar interests or local organizations.
Professors can recommend classes or books, while local organizations host events where you can observe or participate. As you deepen your understanding, you’ll start to find areas where you can contribute yourself.
“Get comfortable with introducing yourself,” she says. “Because you’ll eventually make lots of connections with people that are interested in the same thing as you.”
This is why Meneses believes studying music at Pacific is so special. Not only does our smaller community make it easier to connect with people, but there are so many opportunities, organizations and student groups where you can join in.
These relationships even helped Meneses turn bring “Meditation on a Homecoming” to life. Professor Kathryn Schulmeister taught her improvisation techniques for the piece and connected Meneses with another musician, Joanna Mattrey, to develop its narrative.
As she nears graduation, Meneses plans to continue promoting indigenous performance.
“I plan on joining Parangal Dance Company in San Francisco,” she says. “They focus on promoting and uplifting indigenous music and dance from the Philippines. They also perform some of the more Spanish-influenced dances as well as dances associated with national Filipino identity.”
Her path to ethnomusicology hasn’t totally changed her original plans, though. Meneses still wants to give back to where she came from, working with Oakland and Richmond’s school districts.