Roseau, Dominica -
This all-boys secondary education institution in Roseau,
Dominica, is one of three participants in the joint
collaborative Steelpan in Schools initiative, between
Dominica’s Cultural Division and UNESCO. Background steelpan
instruments (bass, tenor bass, guitars and cellos) were manufactured
by
Edward ‘Eddie’ André, and frontline instruments (tenors
and double seconds) were made in and imported from St. Lucia,
with overall funding provided by
UNESCO. Assisting the school’s music teacher, and dealing
specifically with the steelpan component of the music
program, Mr. Neville Christian was quietly proud of the
acquisition of the different voices of instruments, noting
that they currently had between sixteen and twenty boys from
various forms interested in learning to play the instrument.
Like their recipient counterpart the
Dominica Grammar School,
St. Mary’s Academy also elected to
focus on the younger students - between ages eleven and
fourteen - as part of their burgeoning steel orchestra.
Christian told When Steel Talks (WST) that the group
consisted primarily of first and second form students, but
also featured a few third formers. The latter were included
in the program because those particular students had been
patiently but eagerly awaiting the arrival of the steelpan
instruments, promised more than two years previous, when
they were first formers. St. Mary’s Academy took delivery
of the instruments in December 2007.
Presently steelpan
classes are held after school from 2:30 – 4:30 PM on Mondays
and Thursdays. There are hopes that the school’s orchestra
will be making a showing at the next semi-Annual Pan By
The Bay in November 2008, and possibly appearances
before then.
Christian himself has a background in
the steelpan and since 1990 was a member of Fanta Pan (and
was one of the group's musicians in the
2006 event), one
of Dominica’s more-renowned steel orchestras which was
founded by his uncle Edward ‘Eddie’ André. Through an
arrangement with Dominica’s Cultural Division, André is also
the tuner and main tutor for the steelpan students at St.
Mary’s Academy. Christian remains active on the steelpan
scene outside of the school,
and performed recently as part
of Phase V, which came together to pay respect to and
celebrate the life of Dominica's late
Alan
Jno Baptiste.
Though it is just the beginning in pan
for St. Mary’s Academy, Christian’s ultimate dream is of an
orchestra between fifty and one hundred-players strong.
For now though, they are off to an enthusiastic start in
their intimate pan room with instruments at the ready for
practice. The
school’s steelband is temporarily housed in an annex
belonging to the church adjacent to the school, but is
already slated for bigger and better things, with a plot of
land behind the school identified as the spot for their new
‘pan house’ to be built.
If
you would like to help further the steelpan program at
St. Mary’s Academy, contact Neville
Christian at:
brenville@hotmail.com
contact:
Dominica Steelband
Association | Anna Raffoul, President | email:
raffoulskye@hotmail.com | tel: 1 (767) 448 2622
contact: Dominica's Division of Culture - Chief Music Officer |
Pearle Christian |email:
christianpearle@yahoo.com | tel:
1 (767) 449 1804
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