As Assistant Professor of Steel Pan and Co-director of the Steelband at Northern Illinois University (NIU), steelpan great Liam Teague has many responsibilities - none greater than his charge to create the best environment and learning experience for his students.  This past April NIU held its annual Spring concert showcasing the university’s steelband community.  In an interview exclusive with When Steel Talks, Liam shares his thoughts on the 2007 performance, and also on the 2006 concert which resulted in the CD Festival of Voices.

1. WST - Were all the recordings on this Festival of Voices CD made at the recent annual NIU April concert?
   
   Liam - The recording was done at our spring 2006 concert.
   
    

2. WST - Was there a particular theme for this concert?
   
   Liam - The main theme of all of our concerts is to demonstrate the versatility of the steelpan and our students, hence the title of the CD “Festival of Voices”.
   
    

3. WST - Is there any particular significance in any of the pieces that were chosen for the performance?
   
   Liam - All the pieces are significant in that they show the variety of possibilities that exist on the instrument and the effective combination of the steelpan with other instruments.
   
    

4. WST - The CD has a collection of pieces that showcases NIU Steel Band’s versatility. How long did the orchestra prepare for the performance/recording?
   
   Liam - The band started rehearsing in the fall of 2005, so they had roughly 7 months to work on the material. We didn’t decide to do a recording until late in the fall.
   
    

5. WST - How does the complement of the orchestra vary from year to year, in terms of the ratio of freshmen through seniors?
   
   Liam - It is tough to make an estimation, however, we always seem to have a nice balance of experienced players and novices to the instrument each year.
   
    

6. WST - Are the performers in the NIU Steelband music majors, and for about how many currently, is the steelpan instrument their instrument of choice?
   
   Liam - The majority of the band is made up of music majors (steelpan majors, percussion majors etc). At the time of the recording we had about 12 steelpan majors some of whom hailed from Trinidad, Aruba, Denmark, Japan, Canada and the USA.
   
    

7. WST - Do the students specialize in one instrument of the steelpan music family, or are they expected to learn and develop skills on other voices of steelpan instruments?
   
   Liam - Usually the musicians in the steelband will play one instrument due to the high degree of difficulty of the pieces. The steelpan majors are expected to play different instruments in the steelband family.
   
    

8. WST - How did the NIU’s student body respond to the concert?
    
   Liam - Since the formation of the band in the 1970s by G. Allan O’Connor, the band has usually played to standing room only size audiences. We feel very blessed and thankful for that.
   
    

9. WST - Chant from the CD is a beautiful piece. It is also a very personal piece as it is written by you for your father. Was the [2006] concert the first time it was performed in public?
   
   Liam - Thank you for the kind compliment.
   “Chant” was dedicated to my father, Russell Teague who passed away a couple years ago. Since his departure from this world, I have felt a deep void and loss.  He was my biggest supporter. The piece was previously performed and recorded by “Panoramic”, a world music group that I co-formed with Robert Chappell, who is the Head of Percussion at NIU.
   
    

10. WST - The CD features, in addition to yourself, other familiar members of the NIU family like Clifford Alexis, and Seion Gomez. What can we expect in the future from NIU family members?
    
    Liam - Cliff and I have dedicated ourselves toward educating the students in a holistic manner. Many of them enter the program with obvious strengths in certain musical departments and lack proficiency in others. As a result they are exposed not only to an environment that helps them to develop their performing skills, but also one in which the can learn about steelpan tuning & building, arranging, composing, etc. What they ultimately do with the knowledge they acquire is really up to them.
    
     

11. WST - You didn’t participate in the Trinidad and Tobago panorama arena this year - will you be back next year?
    
    Liam - This is up to God.  While I am not a fan of panorama as a competition, I did miss hearing a band of 120 pan players execute my work.  My goal as related to panorama has been a simple one: to bring something musically different and hopefully, pleasing to the table. Based on what many people have said to me, I managed to accomplish that during my 3-year stint with Skiffle Bunch. I certainly hope to have the opportunity to add my humble voice to panorama in the future.
    
     

12. WST - What is next for NIU Steelband?
    
    Liam - Hopefully we’ll be able to take part in the next World Steelband Festival. We did well in 2000 placing 2nd, and would like another opportunity to make a statement in future festivals.  Being a collegiate steelband, we cannot travel and perform as much as professional steelbands, however, both Cliff and I are committed to the band being progressive and current.
    
    Thanks for giving us the opportunity to highlight the band’s CD and we wish you everything that is good.
    LIAM

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