Miami University Steel Band hosts PanFest 2011 with 150 Steelpan Musicians

Oxford, Ohio, USA - Oxford, Ohio was the site for a full day of pan on April 9, 2011. The event, dubbed PanFest 2011, was a collaborative effort between university, high school and community steel bands, along with renowned pan artists. The evening concert culminated in a mass steel band performance involving eight ensembles, comprising over 150 musicians performing simultaneously.

The Miami University (MU) Steel Band, under the direction of Chris Tanner, hosted the event. Tanner’s group joined with the Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) Steel Band to perform a first half set of primarily original compositions, including Tanner’s Panorama-style composition, Star City Suite. The ten-minute piece follows the standard Panorama format of theme-and-variations with jam sections interspersed throughout. As is typical in Panorama-style music, each section of the band had its moments to shine (or sweat!) as they navigated difficult passages.

Artists featured with the university bands on the first half of the concert included Pan Ramajay members Alan Lightner and Tom Miller, performing improvised solos on their original tunes, Give ‘im Up and Joe’s Melody Boys, respectively. Also featured was Liam Teague, whose solo on his arrangement of Len “Boogsie” Sharpe’s Ashley brought down the house. Liam’s performance on this chart was a highlight of the evening for many in the audience, which numbered over one thousand.

After intermission, the artists (Pan Ramajay and Teague) each performed one piece by themselves before the mass band took over. Pan Ramajay’s quartet configuration featured Lightner and Miller playing double second pans while seated, so that they could also play hi-hat and bass drum pedals with their feet. Ramajay member Jim Munzenrider, director of the celebrated southern California-based band the CSM Panhandlers, performed on tenor bass pan with one hand while grooving a shaker with his other. The quartet was completed with the addition of percussionist Michael Spiro on congas. Following Ramajay’s performance of Un Poco Loco, Liam Teague once again amazed the crowd with his rendition of A Visit to Hell.

The mass band performance brought together the MU and EKU ensembles, Mosaic Steel Orchestra from Virginia (directed by Dr. Anthony Hailey), and five Ohio high school steel bands: Elder and Walnut Hills High Schools from Cincinnati, Talawanda High School from Oxford, and Granville and Canal Winchester High Schools from the Columbus area. Typically, mass band performances that close festival performances feature only one tune. However at PanFest 2011, the bands prepared four charts in advance of the date, rehearsed during the afternoon, and performed the charts that evening. The result was greater than even the directors could have anticipated: despite the massive size of the ensemble, there was no phasing that occurred (save for one brief spot in an arrangement of Kitchener’s Jaws); one centrally located engine room was sufficient to power the large ensemble.

Aside from rehearsals during the afternoon, the participants were also treated to two clinics, one from Liam Teague and one from Michael Spiro. Teague discussed his approach to arranging for the annual Trinidad & Tobago Steelband Panorama, using his 2005 arrangement of Kitchener’s Pan Night and Day for Skiffle Bunch Steel Orchestra as a case study. Spiro discussed and demonstrated Afro-Cuban percussion instruments and techniques. Both clinics were very informative and well received.

This was the first event of its kind to be hosted by Miami University, and Chris Tanner definitely sees a repeat in the future, perhaps a few years down the road. If this inaugural PanFest is any indication, then future efforts will surely be successful.

Contact Chris Tanner:  tannerc@muohio.edu

All images by Jeff Sabo