As students of musicology and performers of traditional music, members of Tugtugang Musika Asyatika are always conscious of three objectives: to conserve Asian music, observe its culture and traditions, and further the value of its performance as a service to the community. Musicking activities closely follow the music cultures that the local performing group adopts. In particular, their performances of traditional Asian music are mostly given as an ensemble, hardly ever as solo performances. Naturally, the group members enhance their musicianship while they rehearse and interact with each other. Most importantly, workshop-performances are designed to be experiential in accordance with the group’s long-standing efforts to raise global awareness of Philippine Indigenous music. The recent migration of the group’s musicking activities from live rehearsals to online meetings raises the question: how can this group of young musicians sustain the musicking traditions that their agency has upheld since its beginnings? How can they comply with these principles while physically distant?

Exercising autoethnography while following Schippers’ framework of “ecosystems of music” (Schipper 2015:134-146), this case study examines the efforts of Tugtugang Musika Asyatika to maintain its traditions as it transitions its activities online and finds revival through the creation of a year-long project, while also documenting the obstacles it faces as a dependent agency.