A Dream Coming True…
Pan in the Schools of Trinidad and Tobago!
From as early as 1956, steelband teacher and arranger, Nervin
Saunders, had already established a steelband in the R.C.
Primary school in the village of Blanchiseusse. In the
late sixties, Scofield Pilgrim introduced the Steelpan to the
prestigious QRC Magnum band. By 1970, Ray Holman had
followed his mentor and brought pan to another of the top
schools in Trinidad, Fatima College. By the 80’s a number
of persons and institutions played leading roles in the
continuing establishment of ‘pan in the schools’. Here we
are in the 21st century and still waiting for it to happen in a
‘real’ way.
It was at the Pan Trinbago Convention of 1980 that the first
official call to put pan on the School Curriculum was made.
Two of the nation’s well-known music teachers, Ms. Joyce Clement
and Ms. Louise McIntosh made an impassioned plea for Pan
Trinbago to intervene in the Pan in Schools initiative.
They felt that, even though there were some schools that had
been innovative enough to include steelpan in their music
departments, there were still many music teachers who felt they
were not adequately trained and so lacked the confidence to
teach music via this instrument. At the same time, the use
of the steelpan as an integral part of music was becoming more
entrenched in England and North America! Out of this historic
intervention came a resolution to appoint a sub-committee to
address the issue of Pan in Schools in Trinidad and Tobago and
to develop strategy to ensure its widespread success.
The committee was formed in 1981 under the Chairmanship of Mr.
Andre Moses, then Treasurer of Pan Trinbago, along with Ms. Alma
Pierre of the Ministry of Education, and Mr. Jerry Jemmott and
Mr. Selwyn Taradath, both seasoned and successful steelband
persona. The Moses Committee plunged straight into action by
organizing the first of ten (to date) biennial Schools’
Steelband Music Festivals. This served to fuel the interest and
competitive spirit among the schools and provide a platform to
showcase the plethora of talent and creativity in the nation’s
schools. Along with this was a Pan Tuners Convention at which
the tuners approved a range of instruments (including note
placement) for the schools, as well as a survey of schools to
ascertain which schools were desirous of establishing their own
steelbands.
In 1987, the Ministry of Education made its first major move to
assist with the Pan in Schools initiative as pioneered by the
Moses Committee. After several stops and starts, it was in 1991
that twelve schools were selected by the Ministry for a pilot
project which included the provision of pans and full-time
tutors following a set music programme. By the end of the 90’s
the Pan in Schools movement could boast of almost one hundred
school steelbands. This initiative was already drawing the
interest of other prominent persons in the local music/pan
world. Among them were Pat Bishop, Desmond Waithe, Dr.
Dawn
Batson, Fazal Mohammed, Ian Belgrave, Barbara Lowhar and Lydia
Jackson. Along with this, two other inspired developments had
begun – the inclusion of the Steelpan as a musical instrument of
choice on the CXC Music Syllabus, and the establishment at the
then-Creative Arts Centre of UWI St. Augustine, of a Certificate
Programme in the use of the steelpan in teaching the music
syllabus.
Collectively, all these developments served to successfully
create a school steelband movement of growing sophistication. Among the ‘graduates’ of the Pan in Schools programmes are Liam
Teague who has graduated from the University of Illinois, Chantelle Esdelle from Berkely University and Sean Thomas from
Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. Now the cry is for structure
and a well-defined policy for Pan in Schools! To serve this
call, the new Pan in Schools Co-ordinating Council (PSCC) was
established in June 1999. This body has been given the mandate
by Pan Trinbago and the Ministry of Education to proceed with
the implementation of a structured programme for the curriculum
and development of Pan in Schools. The proposal is to provide an
interdisciplinary steelband curricula which would seek to
prepare the student to play a leading role in the burgeoning
steelband industry in this the era of the internationalization
of the steelband.
The PSCC has taken up this challenge with characteristic gusto
and has organized several conferences for Music teachers across
Trinidad and Tobago, from October 2000 to date. The first such
conference was attended by ninety-nine (99) primary school music
teachers and thirty-three (33) secondary school teachers as well
as members of the pan fraternity who were involved in school
music programmes. The pilot project proposed is to introduce pan
on the curriculum of at least one hundred (100) schools by
September 2003! The PSCC is also working along with the Ministry
to establish the proper infrastructure in the schools to ensure
that the programme is a success. At the same time, PSCC is
involving Pan Tuners and other persons involved in developing a
steelband to heighten the awareness of their role in the future
of the pan industry and the legacy they must share with the
youth to ensure that our indigenous music remains alive. A Pan
Tuning Workshop for music teachers and students was held at the end of April
2003. Meanwhile, preparations are under way for the
11th Biennial School Steelbands Festival in October 2003,
starting with a competition for a Test Piece composition. The
theme of this year’s festival is “A Heritage of Folk Music”.
Good luck to the PSCC!! Let’s give our children what they
deserve… pride in our national instrument… the instrument of
the 21st century!! Thank you Ms. Clement and Ms. McIntosh for
the wake-up call!
The Executive of the PSCC are:
President: Ian Belgrave
1st Vice-President: Andre Moses
2nd Vice-President: Patricia Adams
Secretary: Gofrey Joseph
Asst. Secretary: Odessa Vincent-Brown
Treasurer: Ruthven Perryman
Public Relations Officer: Anslem Wright
Trustees: Amanda De Silva; Ann-Marie Harry
International Relations Officer: Patricia Doughlin
