Young Steelband Musicians Deliver - CASYM's musical program showcases budding talents

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Young Steelband Musicians Deliver
CASYM's musical program showcases budding talents

by Anton Estaniel

New York - Speaking from experience I can say that sitting through children’s music concerts can be a little challenging. My first concert in eighth grade featured an excellent program of such crowd pleasers, most notably the song “Tequila” (hey it was 1989, life wasn’t as politically correct as it is now). My family came out in force for my debut and gave me the standard compliments and praise post-concert; they were genuinely proud and happy for me and I never once sensed that the music had tested their patience. Years later my family reminisced about that concert and informed me that most of the songs that the orchestra played were nearly impossible to identify, that is with the exception of “Tequila.” I had no idea that I was helping produce cacophony but that certainly was the case. And how exactly did my family identify “Tequila?” Well it helps when the orchestra shouts the title of the song during the chorus. So it was a pleasure and a relief to identify songs without difficulty at the CASYM school concert held at PS 91 in Brooklyn, New York.

Most of the children’s concerts that I’ve attended have been fairly straightforward affairs. Ensembles play their music and in between pieces the schoolteacher may say a few words regarding the music. Certain students may be singled out and given awards or praise, but overall the school concerts I’ve attended cater to the masses. Kids receive a pat on the back and an admission of a “job well done.” Well the CASYM school concert went above and beyond the call of duty by showcasing every single student who had participated in the concert. All the special attention was something I’ve never witnessed at a children’s concert, so it was a bit of a surprise to see so much time given to each child. Every single performers name was announced before their opening number, producing cheers of approval from proud parents and friends in the audience. After a group’s set was finished each student was brought to the front of the stage and awarded a certificate for participation, a perfect moment for a photo opportunity for the proud audience. Parents and friends in the audience were beaming for all the young performers who received their certificates. The only drawback to this was the amount of time it added to the concert. At times I felt like the concert was just going on for too long, thankfully though there was someone to help fill in all the dead time, an emcee.

Yes, I mentioned dead time. There was too much time between the different groups. I’d have to say that the amount of time going from one group to the next rivaled the amount of time dedicated to actual music being played. There were moments when I was squirming in my seat, trying to remain patient since I know many things will not go to plan, but the total amount of time spent waiting began to tire me a bit. This brings me to the emcee. All the emcees that I’ve seen at school concerts have one simple task: to announce and describe the music being performed. It’s somewhat of a mundane job but like anything it’s a job that needs to be done. I’ve never seen an emcee burdened with the task of keeping an audience interested through a lot of lag time, that’s what the music is supposed to do. So it was a pleasant surprise to see that the CASYM emcee kept my attention from straying. This emcee did more than just announce songs. He injected life into the concert with witty humor and insightful retorts. His presence alone lightened the atmosphere, making the concert feel casual and relaxed. Sometimes school concerts can by dry affairs, I never felt that the CASYM concert was rigid, and I give credit to the emcee for creating a very fun environment for a school concert. I didn’t catch all of his jokes since most of it was culturally based so references flew by me, but what little I understood did have me smiling. The emcee had most of the concertgoers chuckling so I ended up laughing sympathetically anyways, even if something mentioned was indecipherable on my part.

So overall the concert was a success. The music being performed was fun to listen to and the kids received tons of kudos from everyone in the audience. Recognition was given to every student and the emcee had me laughing during some dry moments. The one criticism I have is the amount of time it took to finish the concert; some seamless transitions would have made the concert go much smoother and would have saved the emcee from sweating out some awkward moments. However the whole point of the concert was to showcase the fact that the students were playing music and having a great time doing it, an accomplishment by any measure. So congratulations to the teaching staff of CASYM, their diligent work and effort paid off in the form of sweet sounds. I could actually recognize the tunes being played, and that says a lot when the music is being produced from young musicians of any instrument.

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