Over the years I have had people send me email criticisms of the G-PAN which I have kept to myself because that I have never stood up next a G-PAN and listened to it. There has been a lot of back and forth about the instrument on this forum over the THIRTY FIVE MILLION dollars spent on the project but not much discussion about the functionality of the instrument.
But, in a recent response to RUDY KENDALL and the HAND-PAN bee in his bonnet, Dr Anthony Achong included two comments about the G-PAN that surprised me and made me want to know more about the G-PAN debate. Guess I am going to have to buy Dr. Achong's book. But in the mean time I would like to hear what the locals who frequent this forum have to say about the perfection or the imperfection of the G-PAN.
Dr. Achong's comments:
The use of acoustical (air) resonators on Pans, or its operation as a semi-enclosed vessel, is not new. They have been tried and discontinued on Pans in Trinidad many years ago and suggested for the ill-fated G–Pan more recently.
The ill-fated G-Pan mentioned earlier is a strong case in point. In addition to the resonance problem, there is more that has gone wrong with the G-Pan designs (read my book)!
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Issues Surrounding
the Latest Steelpan Development
- the G-Pan
An unfair advantage for a few?
Opinion Piece
by Nestor Sullivan
Bertram ‘Birch’ Kelman and Roland Harrigin are the tuners who made the G-Pan instruments that were launched at UWI and that the TTNSSO uses. What is so wrong in giving them the highest awards for their efforts in the G-Pan project?
http://www.panonthenet.com/news/2009/dec/gpan-12-2-09.htm
National Symphony Steel Orchestra -
SLAVE by Mighty Sparrow b.1935
The name "G-Pan" is trademarked through the patent by the same name. This allows the owner of the trademark to apply the name "G-Pan" to any of their products. The same can be said of car makers and their products. However ODW must check the Pans used by the National Symphony Steel Orchestra to see whether or not they comply with the specifications of the patent. These Pans DO NOT function in the manner specified in the patent. The patent specifications do not apply to Steelpans. The instruments used by the National Orchestra are not the G-Pans specified in the patent. You cannot build and operate a Pan or G-Pan by following the patent specifications! Not even the patent owner can do this! Pans, even "G-Pans," DO NOT operate according to G-Pan specifications. Claude Gonzales has "never stood up next to a G-Pan" because that is, strictly speaking, impossible! Neither are the frontline players in the orchestra, some of whom I recognize, standing next to G-Pans?
An Interview with Steelpan Innovator & G-Pan Inventor Brian Copeland
WST - “What have been the most difficult challenges faced by the G-Pan family to date?”
Copeland - “1. Defending against those who want to maintain the status quo (I call them the t-cells of the established system) – no-one likes change, and I guess that it is necessary to have opposition to change. However, given the history of the pan movement, a revolution that turned the music world on its head, I was surprised at the level of opposition. To them I would say that we are trying to get to the next plateau.”
“2. Lack of critical mass in the technical and scientific support – a problem in any developing country. In my early days in steelpan technology I faced outright disdain from many local scientists and engineers locally who baulked at the idea of there being a subtle elegance in steelpan technology. It is better now, but we do need more hands on deck.”
http://www.panonthenet.com/news/2010/mar/copeland-3-01-10.htm