Trinidad Newsday
Pan tuner Andy Neils works on the phonic pan, recording the notes on a computer, at Arima All Stars panyard in Malabar. PHOTO BY AYANNA KINSALE
FEELING trapped by the limited range of the middle section of the single pan ensemble, pan tuner Andy Neils hammered out a solution.
The phonic pan, as he named it, is the newest member of the pan family and while it does not have fluctuating octaves, it does have all 12 musical notes. Neils debuted the pan with Arima All Stars for judges, on Friday night, as he hoped the band would make it to the finals and regain their championships.
Sunday Newsday met Neils at Arima All Stars panyard in Malabar, hours before the competition. Neils was tuning the pans in preparation for the night's rendition of 5 Star Akil's Different Me. A pannist for over two decades, Neils, 52, said the phonic pan, taken from the quadraphonic pan (four pan carrying different notes used by large steelbands played by one player), was created to keep the melody and harmony of the single pan sides.
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