Career Highlights:
Mark A. Galang
(Photo courtesy of Ariel Victorio)
Biography
Mark A. Galang (born 1980) is a composer, arranger, music transcriber, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, and music educator.
He is the head music teacher (piano, music theory, composition, guitar, etc.) and chief creative officer for Praxis Music Lab.
He currently records as a solo artist via Praxis Music Lab and (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic) performed in the Metro Manila live indie music scene. He’s currently a pianist/keyboardist for, TOYO, Friday Pogi Club and Juan Gustavo Blues Band, and played as a pianist/keyboardist for PULSERAº and Jose at Musika.
Mark is also a volunteer music worker at UCCP-Makati Church of Christ Disciples J.P. Rizal.
Since September 2013, he has been a graduate student, pursuing a Master of Arts major in Music Education at the Philippine Women’s University School of Music. He has studied with Dr. Kristina Benitez (Composition), Christopher Borela (Vocal Arranging), Richelle Rivera (Classical Piano). As part of the perks of his employment in FreeJazzLessons.com, he also studies jazz & blues piano with Steve Nixon.
Mark has worked with various individuals and organizations such as Darren Michaels (http://www.d-star.co.uk), Australian singer-songwriter Emi Waterson (http://www.emiseve.com), MSE Music Services (a leading musician and entertainment provider in the Philippines), pianist/composer Cesar S. Wycoco, composer Barbie Dumlao (Springs Foundation, Inc.) and guitarists Dan Denley (http://www.guitarzoom.com) and Steve Stine (http://www.stinemusiclessons.com).
Through his association with MSE, he also had the privilege of working as a music transcriber/copyist for veteran music director, pianist and arranger Romy San Mateo. For a brief period in time, he was an artist signed under the a7records label in the UK, writing music for the Easy Sleep Music, Relaxing Records and Relax My Dog brands. Mark was once the pianist, keyboardist, composer and occasional guitarist for Jacob’s Ladder/Blue Fusion, a defunct Christian progressive rock band from Malate, Manila.
Born into a somewhat musical family, Mark has been playing piano and guitar since childhood, and has played in various relatively unknown bands such the above-mentioned former Jacob’s Ladder, a Christian music/progressive rock band from Malate, Manila. Other significant musical experiences Mark experienced growing up include being a vocalist of a Metallica cover band at age 12, a guitarist/keyboardist/bassist for a number of very short-lived high school rock bands, a church youth choir member, and being a keyboardist, bassist, back-up singer or drummer for a certain number of musical groups in college. Were they commercially successful? Of course not, but they all provided great musical experiences.
Mark’s formal education is actually in the health sciences, having earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in 2003, majoring in Occupational Therapy. He also went to medical school the same year and, despite being the top-ranking student in his class, he opted to drop out because of financial and personal reasons. The year after, Mark passed the 2004 Occupational Therapy Licensure Exams by the PRC.
Even while studying the health sciences and prior to graduate music studies, Mark’s mind was always occupied with his love for music, going to lengths to study music theory and composition on his own (e.g. going into the UST Conservatory of Music’s library), practicing on various instruments (such as the piano at UCCP-Ellinwood-Malate Church’s old auditorium or choir room), and writing songs with whatever available time he had on his hands (usually with Jacob’s Ladder). In short, he followed the path of notable composers like Georg Philip Telemann, Edward Elgar, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Vangelis, Frank Zappa and Cesar Wycoco in order to augment whatever little formal music training he received from a number of local teachers and a few encounters with church choir conductors.
After spending time writing and performing with Jacob’s Ladder from 1995 to 2000 along with other experiences from a variety of bands, he started a personal experimental recording project called “Sterilium”, exploring a diverse mix of musical styles and genres, releasing five experimental albums in the process.
Fast forward to this day and age, Mark has independently released singles under his own name “Mark A. Galang” on various platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, and Amazon Music.