Jr. High Steelband In ‘Talent’ Finals

OakdaleLeader.com

Members of the Oakdale Junior High School Steelband pose in front of their steel pans in downtown Modesto where they became finalists in the Gallo Center for the Arts’ Valleys Got Talent 2013 competition. In random order, members are Hailey Brown, Liz White, Lacie Blount, Sophie Jones, Jenni Shaefle, Sarah Hammoudi, and Ryan Hodge. Not pictured: Meghan Caron and music director Ross McGinnis.Oakdale, California, USA - Oakdale’s got talent. In fact, a bit of the island calypso sound performed by young Oakdale musicians will soon be featured on the Gallo Center for the Arts stage.

....“The kids played well and handled the experience with grace and their parents were awesome, too, as they were our roadies as well,” McGinnis said.

....He went on to give the details about the audition at the Gallo Center, which almost went sideways.

“Our logistics are fairly complicated as there are nine of us and we take up about 20 square feet,” he described. “So we waited on the loading dock with everything prepped to go then realized we forgot two steel drum stands. These stands are quite specific and we had no way of… rigging something makeshift for the audition.”

....The steelband members had to get creative to come up with something for the stands. They’d asked if there were any 2x4s, duct tape and bailing wire lying around the stage area. There wasn’t, but McGinnis said the stage manager realized they needed some help and offered to hold the two drums for the audition.

“There were two guys holding the drums, one for each drum that was missing a stand...We called them ‘man stands,’” McGinnis said.
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