Cecil Hinkson made me blink three times and sit up straight when he coined the expression "pan friendly tunes" -- maybe it was used before on this forum but I cannot remember seeing it. I wish I had heard that term when I was 9 years old.
For the last few decades, to prove that you are a TRUE TRUE TRINIDADIAN and to show how much you LOVE PAN MUSIC had to say two things: Pan is the only musical instrument invented in the 20th century and PAN could play ANY KINDA MUSIC.
Now, as a calypso lover, not even knowing what I was thinking, I long ago decided that there were certain calypsos that PAN should just leave alone because they just did not sound right coming from the STEELBAND.
So to see a qualifier being put around the ability of the PAN to deliver ALL KINDA MUSIC (by a fanatical pan supporter like Cecil Hinkson) is quite an awakening for me.
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The most surprising thing to me is that so many "pan people " on this forum do not recognize that you you can play , feel ,express and interpret certain types of music with a steelband - pan friendly music - , while some music , even though you play the notes , you could never get the true emotional impact, THE TRUE "FEEL" of the music.
Rock music , for instance.
This I've known as long as I've known steelband music.
PLEASO NOTE ONCE AGAIN WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT INDIVIDUAL PAN SOLOISTS.
A tenor pan can fit into any musical genre as a lead or supporting instrument.
I'm talking about STEELBAND MUSIC.
Please note once again: We're not talking about individual pan soloists.
A tenor pan can fit into any musical genre as a lead supporting instrument.
... while some music, even though you [THE STEELBAND] plays the notes, you could never get the true emotional impact. THE TRUE "FEEL" of the music.
I'm talking about STEELBAND MUSIC.
END OF DISCUSSION
Claude to me UNFRIENDLY TUNES is in the listening ear of the person hearing it. Some people love High Mass on pan that is friendly music to them and some hate High Mass on pan that is unfriendly music to them. Do you remember when David Rudder came out with High Mass many religious people were against it saying how we could jump up and play mass with a song praising the ALMIGHTY. THAT IS UNFRIENDLY MUSIC to them but on carnival Monday and Tuesday mass players were wining jumping and drinking having a good time with High Mass. That was FRIENDLY MUSIC to them, Even when Nutones played High Mass and won panorama that year it was FRIENDLY TUNE / MUSIC to all who supported them and all who love the tune.
There you have it " the long answer to Pan Friendly"
The term "pan friendly tunes" are very relevant. Over the years music has changed quite a lot. Some of the songs in the Hip Hop, Dance Hall, Rapso and Rock genre are composed without much melodic structure, they use a dominant bassline, sound effects and Rap as the lead or voice. Now taking into consideration that the Steelband usually plays instrumental music, it would be very difficult to capture the mood of the song without a voice as the lead.Therefore the tunes that suit the Pan easily are those with nice melody lines, Classical, Gospel, Ballads, Latin ,Jazz,Calypso,Reggae,Soca etc. That is why it is said Pan can play anything.
I like this response.
The assertion that "pan can play anything" tends to ignore one glaring fact: so can any other fully melodic instrument. It's kind of an empty boast.
Anyway, why put so much value on mimicry? Yes, when the instrument was new and looking for a foothold there perhaps was merit to showing that it could stand up to the challenge of "sophisticated" classical music. But now that pan has established its own quasi-classical genre in panorama, it seems that stage should be past by now...
Excellent response , Noah .
However I must mention that over the years we've found that many classical pieces , pop tunes and jazz standards have also been pan friendly , and have been part of the steelbands musical repertoires from day one.
It is no coincidence that one of the earliest steelband names was "Alexander's Ragtime Band" which was the name of an early jazz standard composed by Irvin Berlin in 1911.
Take for instance Mozart'sEine Kline nachtmusik.
What could be more pan friendly than that?
Any discussion about pan and genre of music is moot since the pan is just another instrument and as such can be used to play any genre of music.
That being said there are some tunes that should not be played on pan simply because they are too simplistic and make the pan sound less than optimum.
But that's the same for any instrument. (Music for harp does not cut it on the clarinet for example)
If however those same tunes (as in sequence of musical notes) is taken by a competent arranger and then used as a basis for a completely new direction, then there would be no problem with that.
Therefore any tune can be played on the pan and with enough impact made, to warrant it being called a pan tune.
If we take the tune as it is composed however, especially if the lyrical content was more important than the original music, then it might not be appropriate for pan, in the original format.
'Mary had a little lamb', for example as composed, would not be considered a pan tune but in the hands of a competent arranger, that sequence of notes could be made into one.
My personal feeling is that pan music should be composed especially for the pan to take advantage of it's strengths (tonality etc) and minimize the shortfalls of the instrument (range etc). (Let's face it, 'church' music sounds best on a big pipe organ)
Then the pan can truly shine as an instrument.
That is the beauty of Steelband and Steelband Music. Yes Pan could play any kind of music and in the process the music becomes "pan-friendly" when the steelband and the arranger take full charge. Check Flamingoes' arrangement of "Poets and Peasants". The music was not composed for Pan but when this band played it it became a pan tune. Same thing with Fonclaire's presentation of "Lowdown", originally a soul tune made in the US. When Fonclaire dropped it on the crowds for Jourvert in San Fernando in the early seventies (I don't remember the exact year, it might have been 1971 or 1972), it was a pan tune. That is why the Bomb Competition remains a fantastic idea.