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When Steel Talks

SPOTLIGHT

• 2004 NY Panorama Results & Details
• 2004 Panorama Report Card (Review)
• 2004 NY Panorama In Pictures
• 2004 NY Panorama Opinions (Message Board)
• 2004 NY Panorama Bands' (Fans - Players Feedback)

A Pan In New York Story
- Brooklyn Steelband 2004 Panorama
From The Inside -
Woman On The Bass
By --Wanda McCrae

New York - September 16,  2004 

Two years ago I had the pleasure of writing about my experience rehearsing for and winning T&T Panorama with Trinidad All Stars. This year I have the pleasure of writing about rehearsing for and winning Brooklyn Panorama with Pan Sonatas. Though the end result was the same--a Panorama crown--the paths I took to get there and the effect the experiences had on me were very different.

Preparing for Brooklyn Panorama was slightly more challenging for me than my preparation time in Trinidad. For starters, when I am in Trinidad I am on vacation, therefore I can spend all day in the panyard drilling whatever I did not quite catch the previous night, and I can do so after a full eight hours of sleep, no matter how late rehearsal ran the night before. I do not have that luxury here in NYC: the evening's practice must be done after a full day of work. I also have a lengthy commute to and from Long Island every day, which requires me to rise at 5 a.m. to catch my train and doesn't allow me to get home until well after 7 p.m. By the time I am able to get home, inhale a bite to eat, change my clothes, get to my car, and drive to Brooklyn, rehearsal is already underway. I won't even mention the state I am in when my alarm goes off all too quickly the next morning!

I quickly discovered for me to be able to participate, fulfill my obligations on the job and elsewhere, _and_ remain healthy (which would be the only way I could do any of that), I had to use wisdom: rehearse only 3 days during the week and leave no later than 10:30 on worknights. On Friday nights, I would usually get there early to drill myself and then stay through the end. That meant I had to be completely focused at rehearsals, not only on learning whatever the band had been taught on the previous night in my absence, but also on learning whatever the arranger gave us that night. During the times I wasn't in the panyard, I would rehearse the tune in my mind and make sure to get to sleep early. The discipline and focus I learned during the many hours I spent behind my bass in All Stars' yard served me well during this eight-week juggling act.

The other, major challenge came from my instrument. 3 weeks before Panorama we lost one of our two nine-bass players. I have wanted to try my hand at that bass ever since I first became aware of pan in 1997, but by the time I arrive in Trinidad each year to begin learning All Stars' Panorama tune, the 9-bass and 10-bass are already taken. So when I saw the opportunity to make the switch this year in Sonatas, I jumped at it. To my delight, I found it was even more fun than I had ever imagined, despite having to quickly relearn the tune on a different note layout.

My mood on Panorama night was far more relaxed and far more excited here than in Trinidad, and I know that came from being in surroundings as familiar to me as my own name. I was so excited, my skin felt like it was vibrating at its own frequency. After being a spectator for six years, I was finally playing with my favorite New York steelband. I've never had so much fun playing a Panorama tune; while my brain furiously sent signals to my arms and hands, directing them to the correct notes, the rest of my body danced as though she had a mind of her own. And despite being desperately in need of sleep, I found myself screaming in joy and taking off towards the stage in a full-fledged sprint when we were announced as this year's champions. As happy as I was when All Stars won Panorama in 2002, I wasn't nearly that excited.

In Pan Sonatas I found some of the same good things I've come to appreciate about All Stars: talented musicians, a willingness to help me when I had trouble, a willingness to be helped by me when I had something to offer, musical cohesiveness, pore-raising music, and even a few of the same faces. But there was a lot here that I can never experience in Trinidad. We pushed the racks through the streets to the museum not far from where I was born. Local friends who had never seen me play were able to check out the rehearsal and the competition. My family was there with their band jerseys to see me perform at Panorama, and they were the first ones to congratulate me when Sonatas was announced as champions. (In fact, my 9-year-old cousin attended two rehearsals with me, has claimed Sonatas as his band, and has expressed an interest in learning to play.) This was the first time I have been able to share this aspect of my life with my family. And for the first time I wasn't the visiting foreigner. I won _at home_ with my own family watching, and not even winning T&T Panorama with All Stars in 2002, can compare to that.

--Wanda McCrae

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