Panorama - the misunderstood carnival event. Panorama judging -the misunderstood adjudicating. Panorama judges-the misunderstood musical judges. Panorama criteria- the misunderstood loss of points system. Panorama musical genre- The misunderstood genre of music and Panorama politics-the misunderstood part of Panorama.
So lets leave out the word "Panorama" and look at the misunderstood parts.
The misunderstood carnival event.
The event is held during the carnival season and forms part of the carnival events and should therefore contain excitement, surprises, upsets, dark horses, and sometimes court cases depending on what transpires leading up to the events. The judges are people who don’t only follow the music itself but internally begin judging the "tralala" and forming secret opinions. These things cannot be removed from the minds of human beings. Unlike a pure music festival, the judges judge only on the basis of how well the music score had been interpreted and sounded. Not so with this misunderstood event. There are many things in the minds of those judges of this event that are not only musical arrangements, which would in effect alter their thoughts of the musical arrangements. This leads us to the next misunderstood.
The misunderstood adjudicating.
Adjudicating the performances from the yards to the finals, opinions begin to form in the minds of the judges. Once those opinions form, the sound they hear is different from what each other judge hear and what people here in general. This also happens to people as well and according to the development of their minds and influences of all sorts etc. The sound they hear is different somehow. People hear sound of music according to their state of consciousness and state of mind at the time of actual listening. This event is a listening event and seeing event. It is not a strict musical score following event like a music festival held indoors. This event is held outdoors with shifting airflows, shifting sights, shifting insights, shifting minds, shifting comforts etc etc. The time factor is extremely long hours as well sitting in one chair in one set of clothes etc etc. So it is shifting circumstances on particular days or nights. What seemed a first place on one night may be seen differently another night. Nothing holds at the same positioning because of the shifting circumstances. This leads us to the next misunderstood.
The misunderstood musical judges.
Even though the judges mostly are all musically trained etc, they are asked to judge music simply on the basis of hearing and seeing the performance. They may have heard the song before or not. More than often they have heard the song itself before the days or nights of this event. They have also heard the arrangements more than once before as well. After all this is the internet an TV age. They can go home and see it on TV as someone recorded it for them or some other means. The judges are mostly up to date with technology as well. They are modern musicians of various types. So it is not that they don’t know what is being played or not played. They know what is being played. Because it is mostly a listening and seeing event, this then depend ,ore on their ability to hear not only through their ears but through their eyes and minds as well. If one of these senses become distracted or blown in any way, their actual hearing is altered immediately. It is a game of concentration really. They are asked also to concentrate in sometimes harsh surroundings and circumstances. This leads us to the next misunderstood.
The misunderstood criteria
6. Judging Criteria
6.1 Maximum Points for Adjudication – During each stage of the competition, every steelband shall be marked on the basis of a maximum of 100 points.
6.2 Adjudication Criteria – Each steelband shall be awarded points for the following categories:-
(a) Arrangement – a maximum of 40 points shall be awarded under this category
(b) General Performance - a maximum of 40 points shall be awarded under this category
(c) Tone - a maximum of 10 points shall be awarded under this category
(d) Rhythm - a maximum of 10 points shall be awarded under this category.
When something affects the judges personally about something about the band in front of them, they start deducting points. The judges start by giving each band 100 points. They then deduct points according to what they hear and what they see. They do not award points. They take away points. There is a big difference in that sort of mindset. They do not credit. They discredit. In other words they first see or hear discredits rather than see or hear the credits. In this way any thing can grossly affect a judge at the time of hearing and seeing a band. This brings us to the next misunderstood.
The misunderstood genre music .
The music that is played at these events can no longer be described as merely “calypso” or “soca”. It is a gross misunderstanding that bands play a calypso or calypso beat and that will constitute a “panorama tune.” A tune could be a classical piece, a jazz number, a calypso, a reggae song, a pop song. However the genre changes immediately when arrangers add various rhythms in different parts of the song, to interpret the song’s contents and add expressions to it. So sometimes one hears samba, tassa, soca, calypso, jazz, classical or other sounds. This therefore makes it a slightly difficult genre to judge. Judges may not always pick up the various inputs and the bands may not always do a good job of switching the rhythm patterns perfectly. But it is completely new genre of music. This is what this event has brought with it. This brings us to the last but not least part of the misunderstood event.
Politics the misunderstood part of the event.
Bands come from various sectors of the social and political structure of society. So too the judges, so too the spectators. The event of all the carnival events, is highly involved in politics as its funds most comes from the government at the time. Statement made before the event, concerning the event could have adverse or positive effects on the outcome of bands. All persons are affected in some way by politics of the day. One’s thinking can change drastically by one statement of a politician or and arranger or band leader who critiques the present political system or either the government itself or the organization running the event. All this has effects on the outcome of bands either directly or indirectly.
In summary, the entire system may never change and it will continue on like that. It can change if the organization which runs the event separates itself and become totally independent and selects judges from across the globe which ad up to the outnumbering of Trinidad and Tobago judges. To the ratio of 90% foreign 10% local. This should be so simply because 90% more represents the world of pan rather than just T&T pan community. Then we can get a a more evenly distribution of intelligence and more worldwide support both financially and other wise
Replies
The judges sit together and I know for a fact they consult each other on the awarding of points, but what they write as points has nothing to do with the criteria, the criteria that is usually given to judges in contests usually are more an analysis and would require study and review, and it is impossible to create a conclusion at a moments notice, and so in the end criteria is nullified
The points awarded to me as a soloist in the 1986 festival had a serious discrepancy between the comments according to criteria and the alloca, perhap$ having judgesin stion of points, I had forgotten most of my lines on page 3 of my own piece that I changed backstage and Dr Havelock Nelson noted that and gave me 7 out of 10 for accuracy of notes same as Merle Albino De Corteau who said my notes were correct
There is no real effective formula for on location assesment to safe guard bias, perhaps the judges placed in seperate enclosure may help
This is a realistic view of the animal we call Panorama. I hope the governing body takes this information seriously and objectively, and not as an attack on their administration, if Panorama is to have a bright future, and if Trinidad & Tobago is to be branded the "Mecca of the Steel Pan".
One sure way of gaining international appeal and support is the use of international judges. Another probable method is to zero in on every Carnival regionally and internationally where there is a panorama competition hosted by an association/organisation.
Turn panorama into the biggest steelband tournament, and therein lies the foundation for a Federation of International Steelpan Associations, set up to pull the global associations together, zone them, and host for example world panorama, music festival and pan in the 21st century finals, at differing international venues.