What's that sound? Mummy what's that sound?
Those were my words at the age of four (or so my mother told me) while tugging excitedly on her skirt. Even before she explained it to me I knew I wanted to know more about steelpan music. Every year during Carnival I waited for when the bands passed. I begged my mother to let me join one but she wouldn't because of the late practice hours. Luckily, at 13 I got my first pan experience at a summer programme with a young but extremely competent tutor. I stayed with that pan group until it dissoved 5 years later.
Living a 3-minute walk away from Diamond Steel, one of the most popular and respected bands in St. Lucia, I was devastated when my mother refused to allow me at 15 to join them for the Juniour Panorama. But I would still stay up into the wee hours of the morning, listening to the rigorous practice from my balcony, mentally corecting errors and formulating suggestions for better arrangements.
At secondary school, there was a pan group led by the arranger of North Stars but the fee charged was relatively high although affordable. Plus my mother wanted me home by 4. I still cheered passionately whenever they put on performances.
I had two years of basic music education at my school and I intended to make the best of it. I couldn't sing so it was all I had to rely on. In the pan group, Culture Flames, I often attempted arrangements of popular dancehall songs like those by Dr Evil and Sean Paul, local soca songs like tose by Ricky T, and classics like Flight of the Bumblebee and Pan in a Minor.
Comments
Thus far, interesting!
Awaiting Part 2.