Steel pan drummers (from left) Michael Edwards, 20, Jordan Cato, 17, and Kaila Charles, 16, play in the rain at practice for the Panorama tournament on Saturday.
CROWN HEIGHTS — It was a cold and rainy night in Brooklyn, but the steel pan band Despers had to keep practicing.
Dressed in sweatshirts and jackets, dozens of players huddled under metal coverings in their outdoor practice space at Classon Avenue and Pacific Street Tuesday evening, tapping out rhythms on their drums as bandleader Odie Franklin gave the cue.
With only days left before Labor Day weekend, the steel pan orchestra is perfecting the arrangement they’ll play Saturday at the annual “Panorama” tournament, held at the Brooklyn Museum as part of the annual West Indian Day Parade festivities.
And everything has to be perfect. Terrence Greenwich, 50, who plays a double “guitar pan” drum, said each part of the band — from the high tenor drums to the large bass drums — has to be right on the money, every time.
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