Ok so I have some awesome
experiences to share. On Wednesday I was
fortunate enough to meet Dr. Jeannine Remy
and sit in on her "Steel Pan History and
Development" course at UWI. The students were
all young, around their 20s. It was really
encouraging to see people investing in the
history of steelband, and considering it's
future. Dr. Remy has so much information and
was very welcoming, so I hope to be able to
talk to her more. (I also plan to buy her
book on Invaders, which I encourage all of
you to do once if comes out.) UWI has such
an awesome pan program, which I must admit I
am jealous of. They not only have the
history and development course, but a
Steelband Literature course, a Steelband
Technology course, plus all of the
ensembles.. wow, I wish there were programs
like that in Indiana.
Lord Superior
Thursday I had a number of
really great experiences. I sat in on the
National Steel Symphony rehearsal. First of
all, the G-Pans sounded great together,
particularly the basses. Secondly, it was
wonderful to see such a professional, young,
and talented orchestra. They were amazing!
Thirdly, Ms. De Coteau came in to view the
rehearsal. I am really disappointed that I
didn't get to talk to her, because what a
pleasure it would be to talk to her about
pan history! Hopefully I will get another
opportunity. After that I walked from POS to
Woodbrook, which was not at all as long of a
walk as I thought it would be. It was also
nice because I got to see some things and
solidify my grasp of where things are
downtown.
Bertram Kellman
The coolest thing though,
was when I got to Woodbrook Playboyz yard,
Butch Kellman was in the midst of blending!
I spent the entire afternoon talking with
him and watching him work. He really has
made me consider learning to tune! I was
interested before, but he really encouraged
me to pursue it. Maybe I've found a
calling...?
Friday I met up with two
other foreigners from Starlift and we went
to see Lord Relator give a workshop on
composing classic calypsos for the music
students at St. Anthony's College in
Carenage. Though I made us miss a lot of the
workshop (getting maxis from Santa Cruz is
not easy,) we got to talk to the students
about our musical careers, our studies, etc.
It was really really rewarding to see their
interest, to inspire a little bit, and to
answer questions and spark conversation. The
music program there is really impressive,
and in fact the entire facility there seemed
like it offered a lot to the kids.
Mango
I had my first tastes of
Buss Up Shut two days ago, and had more
yesterday. I have to admit though, I'm
making it a rule that I will not eat from
food courts anymore. I also had my first
taste of Starch Mango and Soursop this week.
Wonderful, though the Soursop I had as a
punch, so it wasn't actually the fruit
itself. The Starch Mango is this yellow and
black leopard spotted Mango with crazy
stringy insides. It's super sweet, but the
fibers can get a little painful on the gums.
Woodbrook Playboyz
I am proud to say I will be
earning my second pan jersey today by
playing with Woodbrook Playboyz in their
prelims today! This will be my first
participation in a Panorama competition
round, and I'm very excited!
With that being said, I'm
going to get ready to go practice. I'm
spending Sunday and part of Monday in
Tobago, so I won't be able to update until
sometime next week.
Life for Pan,