In January, I’ll be headed to Trinidad to conduct research on youth steel bands and play double seconds in PCS Nitrogen Silver Stars. Liam Teague is the arranger for the group and he sent out music via e-mail for his arrangement (of a piece that shall remain secret, for now) of a popular song that people from the country hear on the radio.
I am spending around two hours a day cleaning the music, memorizing, and working the music up to speed. Over my stay (of 24 days) I will be updating this page with information and pictures (as my wi-fi connection allows). Below is a picture of the Nutrien Silver Stars panyard on Tragerate Road in Woodbrook, Port of Spain.
I’m now five out from my departure to Piarco airport in Port of Spain, Trinidad. I am staying at a house in Woodbrook lined up through a connection with Cliff Alexis. I am arriving on the afternoon of preliminaries, so that is a bit stressful and I don’t know how I’ll mesh in limited rehearsal time before the judges arrive. They come to each respective panyard for preliminaries. I have the music down except for 3 or 4 spots that need some work tomorrow. I’m largely up to speed (minus the spots I mentioned) and around 60-70% memorized.
I’ve been getting things lined up for the trip and thinking about how I’ll pack my pans. I hope to take a picture once I have it ready. I’m excited about getting out there. and starting rehearsals and my research, which involves studying the youth steel bands.
So let’s talk about the practice routine . . .
I tend to practice in bits throughout the day, at this point totally around 3 hours per day. I tend to play in 15 or 20-minute chunks that have specific goals and then take a break for ten minutes or so. I find this helps me process things and I memorize music more quickly in this way. it also gives my hands a chance to rest. It’s important for me to hydrate throughout this process as my hands and arms tend to have more discomfort when I’m dehydrated. I try very hard to practice issues in isolation and then work them back into the music transitioning into the problem spot and out as well. Also, I’m trying hard not to push tempo too early (when it’s not yet clean). For something like Panorama, this is a balance. I have to get it done, period, BUT I also don’t want to rush the process, which can cause mishits and mental gaps. Lastly, when I get frustrated, I take a break, which is a lot better than in my college years.
At this point, I am two days from leaving for Trinidad. I am working to line up a ride from Piarco airport in Port of Spain upon arrival. I’m packing up my technology for the trip (since I’ll be doing some writing and listening to music while there). I installed WhatsApp so I can avoid big charges to my phone plan. I’m stopping by Home Depot in the morning for pipe insulators to put on the rims of my steelpans. Lots of tiny tasks that are all necessary for travel.
Upon arriving in Trinidad two days ago, I had to clear immigration, exchange U.S. money to TT (currently 7TT to the U.S. dollar), pick up my bags, and have my steelpans clear customs. A gentleman from the steel band I’m playing with picked me up at the airport, let me drop off my belongings to the house I’m staying at and took me to the pan yard. It was prelims night, so not a topical night in the yard. I worked on the sections that I could remember on two hours of sleep and then got back to the apartment at 2am.
Yesterday, I got to the yard about three hours early to practice and really worked on parts. They are largely down and memorized now and I’m working for clean and fast. Semi-finals are Sunday and I have to be ready. I’m listening to the piece a lot at this point and will go down again early tonight after eating some doubles for dinner.
At this point, we have qualified for semi-finals, which will happen Sunday. Rehearsals have picked up in intensity. Last night I got to sleep about 3am. Resting and hydrating as well as doing some writing for my research are the main goals during the day. It has been a bit rainy down here, making outdoor rehearsal humid, which can drain the energy. My body is sore, but my parts are learned, just trying to get them all up to speed.
As far as food adventures, I’ve had roti, pelau, Caribbean barbeque, amongst some other treats to this point. I love the food down here. The spicier the better.
Each night we have been heading to the panyard, an outdoor area in Woodbrook, Port of Spain, Trinidad for rehearsals. We’ve generally been getting there around 5 or 6PM to put in extra work. Sometimes there are sectionals before the main rehearsal, which starts at 8PM. We typically finish somewhere between 1 or 2AM.
During rehearsals, there is a lot of repetitions of sections, looping, and clarifications of rhythms and notes (done by ear and visually amongst players). No sheet music is used during rehearsals and additions and changes have happened every night until last night. Now we are working to keep up the energy and play clean and fast for semi-finals. We play 9th and so will likely begin performing around midnight.
Tonight (January 28th) is semi-finals. Medium groups started around 1PM and we don’t play until probably around midnight. This is an all-day event and giant party with street food vendors. We will load steelpans into a truck in the yard after 5PM. Racks for the steelpans will be pushed by us to the “track.” Once on the track, we will “warm-up” by playing the arrangement a few times before we get to the stage. There is a lot of standing around and waiting during this time period. After we perform, we will head back to the yard pushing the racks and hang out, or lime, until the final score come out. This could be as late as 3 or 4AM, but more likely somewhere around 2 or 2:30AM.
Today, I will be headed out to see a youth steel orchestra, Success Stars as part of my research. Also, during my visit, I got to see numerous panyards, including the Desperadoes yard, pictured above. Tomorrow I am going to an open rehearsal with the NSSO, while is their national steel orchestra. They will be playing on G pans, which I’ve not encountered before, so that will be interesting as well.
As part of my trip down here this time, I’ve worked hard to collect some books I can’t get in the U.S. and wander around to take in more things. Yesterday, I went to the National Museum before rehearsal, which was excellent. I still have one book to buy while out here. Book shopping is crucial to the visit as many of these books are not available in the U.S. or through online means.
Yesterday, I went to catch the National Steel Symphony Orchestra for an open rehearsal and got to take a look at their G pans, which are oversized pans with extended range that are based on the circle of fifths pattern. The lead, mid, and bass pans all have notes arranged based on the circle of fifths, while the seconds are still a whole tone arrangement. The leads, seconds, and mids each have a 3-octave range with the bass having a 2.5-octave range.
Next, we went to the Trinidad All Stars youth band rehearsal for some of my research,
Lastly, we had a rehearsal . . . a hard rehearsal, to clean up just a few passages and then take multiple runs through the piece. I got back to the house at 3pm. I can say that the balance between research and playing are taking a toll. Trying to push through today, but not feeling it. Need more rest.
At this point, we are beginning to learn some new musical passages for finals. These are top secret so we try hard not to tip our hand. Learning is done by rote in the yard, but I must admit I prefer to write down the notes and then memorize, particularly at the speed in which we take music in the yard.
We are entering Carnival week so it’s getting intense. Rehearsals will start to go longer and there are different events in the Savannah each day (extempo, tamboo-bamboo, canboulay, etc.). I have to balance going to those with being fresh for rehearsals which is a tricky balance. Our arranger, Liam Teague, arrives back today, and so I’m sure he will have thoughts and ideas to interject this week. I’m somewhat in the home-stretch of doing my research here. I have one more school band to visit and some video analysis to do.
It’s been a few days since I’ve updated. The lead up to Panorama finals is intense and we are regularly going to 2am in the morning at this point (which means between 7 and 8 hours of steelpan playing a day for me). My wrist is currently inflamed with tendonitis, but I’ll be able to rest it after Saturday. We were still making some small changes to the piece yesterday, so there is constant learning and adjustment going on. Tonight they will unveil our uniform for finals and some of the theatrics. The yard will likely be closed for this aspect as it is kept a secret so it has the maximum impact Saturday night.
We play 6th on Saturday in the large band’s category, which means will play somewhere around midnight or 1am. Afterwards, we’ll head back to the yard and await the final scores. Sunday is some relaxation followed by afternoon rehearsals for Jouvert.
Early in the week, I was able to visit the National Archives Carnival display, the UTT music program at NAPA, and watch the NSSO in performance (shown above). It’s been busy, but the last two days I have spent reading during the day. I’ve picked up six books during my travels down here, and hope to have two fully read before I get back to the U.S.
Here is the Silver Stars finals performance:
This morning starting at 4AM is officially Jouvert. I got up and went outside for about an hour and a half and then later back out for another two hours. Lots and lots of people of all different backgrounds celebrating, dancing, and enjoying music. The picture below are of some of the costumed characters down here and a steel band float (Starlift).
Here are some pictures from later on during Jouvert (I think) and Carnival Tuesday. It’s really all a blur. I got to see some extempo and old mas this morning at the Socadrome before heading down to Ariapita Ave. for some partying.
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