Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 18, 2016 (SKNIS): The Department of Culture continues to ensure the survival of critical elements of the Federation’s way of life for future generations by coordinating training sessions in the art of playing the steel pan.
The workshop runs from Monday, July 11 – Friday, July 29, 2016 at the FLOW grounds, Needsmust. Nigel Williams, Music Specialist in the Department of Culture said that the sessions are going well and a total of 104 participants are attending.
The steel pan is the only music instrument created in the 20th Century and Mr. Williams said that when it was crafted in Trinidad, it spread to the other Caribbean countries at around the same time and so it is part of the region’s history.
“It is something that we (the Caribbean) came up with and we mastered it, so we can’t afford to lose it now, now that it has International fame,” Mr. Williams said. “To let go of that now will be like – you build something to throw it away.”
The music specialist outlined that historically there were quite a few steel pan bands in the Federation and that initially it was inexpensive to make or purchase a steel pan.
“Every parish in St. Kitts, almost every village in St. Kitts used to have a steel band, we were known for that,” Mr. Williams said, informing that renowned bands included the Boston Tigers and the Invaders. “These bands really used to carry the torch for St. Kitts musically, for many, many years. It’s kind of getting expensive now, but once ago it was an instrument that was more easily available for a poor person who was unable to get a piano and a trumpet and things like that.”
Mr. Williams classifies the steel pan as a pitch percussion instrument that is not difficult to learn and yet can be used to play any musical score just like other instruments.
“It covers all the chromatic notes, in other words it is capable of playing anything like any other universal instrument, whether it’s a trumpet, or a violin, a piano or anything,” he said. “It’s not an instrument that’s limited to a few notes. It covers the entire set of note range that you use in an orchestra. Notes are notes, it doesn’t matter the instrument and if you master the pan you’re mastering an instrument that can take you anywhere.”
In order to master any instrument, one has to practice playing on a regular basis. It was noted that the one hindrance to learning to play the pan may be the cost of purchasing one.
“Today, the pans too have gone to another level, for example it’s not just getting a free oil drum like you used to get once ago,” Mr. Williams said, explaining that pans are now manufactured just for making the instrument. “So you find the sound of the pans today is a much richer sound than the sound you used to get from the pans yesterday. And the looks, look at them now too, they’re now chrome and they shine and they’re glossy like any trumpet, it’s not just a little paint up pan like we used to have before.”
All individuals were encouraged to learn to play at least one music instrument, since research has proven that doing so has a positive effect on the brain, and students who play music have been known to perform well academically.
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