Toma Cayabyab: The ‘C’ in Mr. C stands for cool
Growing up with the esteemed musician and educator Ryan Cayabyab as his father, Toma Cayabyab probably lived in a home filled with music and learned it through immersion and methodical study. Or at least that’s how most people picture it.
While there’s truth to that, much of what he learned from his father he picked up from a distance—by observing, not through hand-holding.
“Actually, sobrang cool dad si Papa kasi he lets you explore and do your own thing. Your first shot at something will not be perfect. But as they say, experience is a great teacher because you get to learn from your mistakes, from your victories and falls,” Toma tells Lifestyle Inquirer. “‘Di pwedeng lahat theoretical lang.”
Space to grow
Failure has a way of humbling, Toma says, and once it hits us in the face, nothing quite creates a stronger impulse to learn. That’s the only time Ryan—the National Artist for Music, no less—checks in.
“He gives you space to grow, and I’m all for that,” says Toma, a rising composer, arranger, and conductor. He has led the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth in the 2023 and 2024 stagings of the iconic rock opera ballet “Rama, Hari,” and in the 2025 production of “Florante at Laura.” And as the frontman of the jazz band Debonair District, he helps promote Filipino folk, kundiman, and OPM music by adapting them into jazz.
“Because I was allowed to make mistakes, I feel like I became a better artist and person,” he says.
One such recent foray into the unfamiliar was music directing Lani Misalucha’s “Still Lani” concert last August—his first in the world of mainstream pop. But while his roots are in jazz and classical music, he’s not at all oblivious to what’s happening in the pop scene. After all, working on some of his father’s shows and watching him rehearse with the country’s biggest stars was a common sight.
“Being an observer and collaborator has allowed me to see and learn what happens behind the scenes of these shows. It’s a blessing,” says Toma, who studied choral conducting at the University of the Philippines Diliman, and is now part of Ateneo de Manila University’s Interdisciplinary Studies Department, teaching subjects related to music and film.
A little “tugsh-tugsh”
Steering the ship, of course, is a different story altogether. The presence of an orchestra at the Misalucha concert provided a reassuring touch. But still, he admits, there was a lot to be learned when it comes to arranging songs and directing artists.
“Iba pa rin kapag may pop elements, iba pa rin siya from teaching a choir or conducting an orchestra,” he says. “So I still ask Papa, ‘Ganito po ba?’ Para at least I’m sure that what I’m doing is right.”
Eventually, he found his groove and, in the end, even surprised himself with the arrangements he managed to come up with. In fact, he hopes to continue directing more pop concerts and further broaden his horizons.
“Iba rin ’yung kwento at style ng pop. But I just kept on working on the pieces, and before I knew it, I was like, ‘Uy, parang trip ko rin ang ganitong music. Pwede pala,’” he says. “May konting tugsh-tugsh, tapos may papasok na orchestra. It became an adventure for me.”
But more than the lessons and the new prospects that directing a pop show opened for him, the most heartening part, he says, was sharing the stage with people whose music he had only heard on the radio and people with whom his father had made beautiful music. In a way, it was a full-circle moment.
“Na-realize ko rin na parang, wow, umabot na rin ako sa point na ’yung mga friends at katrabaho ni Papa, nagiging friends ko na rin,” Toma says. “It’s such a big privilege, and I feel really humbled.”
