From the news desk of Pan United
Continuing our goal to aggressively promote the steel pan instrument and music education for inner-city youth, Pan United Steel Orchestra is proud to announce a new partnership with the Charlestown Community Center on 255 Medford Street in the Charlestown neighborhood in Boston Mass. We will base our steel orchestra at the Charlestown Community Center (CCC) for the 2011 carnival season and will provide programming for the CCC and its youths. This unprecedented move outside of the customary Dorchester – Roxbury – Mattapan area is central to one of our goals - promoting steel pan and Trinidadian culture on a broad audience. The new ‘panyard’ also serves our primary goal – educating underserved youths. “(This) presents a great opportunity for our youth” says Beth Burton, Cluster Administrator for Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF) and the executive director of the Charlestown Community Center.
This securement of a summer rehearsal space also marks the official re-launching of Pan United as a participant at Boston Caribbean Carnival. Their last appearance was in 2006 where they won 2nd place for the fourth time. Pan United’s new home will be far from the heart of Boston’s Caribbean community but Pan United’s founder and director Charleston Sarjeant – who teaches steel pan at the Roland Hayes School of Music - thinks it’s a non-issue. “It’s only a 10 minute walk from the Orange Line – and it’s a lovely walk” jokes Mr. Sarjeant. He maintains that Pan United’s original members will make the trip up north four nights a week from Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain and Roslindale. “We are just happy to have the opportunity to once again show what we are made of at Carnival” says Quianna Sarjeant, a founding member and Pan United’s new captain.
Pan United will continue to operate steel pan classes for the after the Carnival season. Those classes, along with Pan United’s are the only community steel band organizations in the city where (at the very least) basic music reading and fundamentals are required to be learnt. The only other organization in the city that provides this service is the Roland Hayes School of Music. Pan United supporter Michael C. Smith of Boston Carnival Village says “Charlestown, like Dorchester has youths that are underserved in arts and cultural education and will serve as a catalyst to spread Trinidadian culture to a wider audience. “ “This will pushes us even closer to our goal of making this program truly a citywide program and will help to change the perception of the instrument and culture” Mr. Sarjeant said. "We are trying to once and for all get rid of the novelty factor that we still have to endure with pan. We are capable of reading music too... We can learn scales too... We can be rounded musicians". He also adds “this isn’t about shunning away students and adults who don’t know how to read music – this is about bringing them in to learn how to read music.”
Tauna Good, Pan United’s new General Manager and an original member explains “(pan) is a tremendous gift and many people don’t know that it was one of the last instruments invented. It has always been and will be a staple of the Trinidadian culture, and now as we work to integrate it through this new venue I hope it will become a staple in the melting pot known as the American culture”.
The Charlestown Community Center is a non-profit organization. The CCC has been serving the Charlestown Community since 1973. We serve Pre-Schoolers, children, teens, adults and the elderly. The Mission of Boston Centers for Youth & Families is to enhance the quality of life for Boston's residents by supporting children, youth and families through a wide range of programs and services.
Pan United Steel Orchestra is a progressive steel orchestra based in Boston, committed to pushing the steel pan instrument into the 21st century, changing the status quo of Boston’s steel band community and aggressively promoting the addition of music reading and fundamentals in steel pan teaching. Celebrating our 10th anniversary, we represent the future of steel pan. We continue the tradition of carnival and steel pan while modernizing its approach and spreading the awareness of the instrument and culture. Pan United was founded in 2001 by (then) 14 year old Charleston Sarjeant, son of Debra “Sista D” Sarjeant and grandson of Denzil “Belt” Botus and is continuing a strong family legacy of innovation in steel pan music. Pan United is a free service provided by our organization and is currently not funded by any grants or endowments.
For more information on Pan United Steel Orchestra, please visit www.charlestonsarjeant.com. For more information on Boston Caribbean Carnival, please visit www.bostoncarnivalzone.com.
Contact Information:
Charleston L. Sarjeant – Director, Pan United Steel Orchestra
Phone: (857) 719-6816
Email: chunkston@gmail.com
From the news desk of Pan United
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