Dorchester Reporter
Branches Director Carl Smith leads the band at their “pan yard” rehearsal space off River Street earlier this month.Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Coming down an obscure side road off Mattapan’s River Street, you might think it would be hard to find the “pan yard” where the storied Branches Steel Orchestra practices several times a week to hone their steel band sound. But not if you are following the sounds of a steel pan version of Abba’s “Dancing Queen” being melodically pounded out by a dozen or more members of the multi-generational group.
Follow the music through the neighborhood, and you will run into the two-car garage of Branches founder and long-time director Carl Smith, where dozens of steel pans are set up alongside other percussion instruments – not to mention the several pans tossed to the side for tuning or adjustments. It is the very definition of what those in the craft call a “pan yard,” or the place where a steel band stores instruments and rehearses.
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