HighLite Vibes Chatter

The Pan Business

-by Barbara Sealy Rhoden (2008)

It is one thing to enjoy playing steelpan and quite another to make a living by it.

Melvin Dean does both. Born and raised in Harlem, Dean may be one of few African Americans who earns a living playing the instrument. In 1962, he began playing pan at the Morningside Community Center in a program designed to keep young men off the streets and out of trouble. His instructor and mentor was Vincent Rolle, a double second player with Hilanders, a top steelpan group of the day. When that program ended, he moved over to the Minisink Community Center program under the instruction of Carlos Benjamin, another pan musician with Hilanders.

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Although he played other instruments such as the saxophone, piano and clarinet, it was the steelpan that held his interest. Years later, when an opening for a pan musician became available with Spirit Ensemble, a well-known percussion group, he was asked to join. He recorded with them on the album Ancestral Callings.

Among the musicians he admires most is Victor Brady, who changed Dean’s concept of the scope of the instrument and inspired him to practice more on the tenor; Ken “Professor” Philmore for his comment about “style over competition”; Len “Boogsie” Sharpe for his creativity in soloing and mastery over the instruments, and Carlos Benjamin, who retired in Yonkers, New York as a
pan musician. His favorite tuners are Phil Solomon of Pennsylvania, Learie Harrigin of Brooklyn and the late “Mikey” Enoch.

Two of his favorite musicians are Liam Teague for the “fine quality of his work” and Dale Gulston, who “brings much showmanship to the art form.” Dean, who has his own performance company, Steel the Show, offers the following recommendations for those seeking to earn a living by playing the instrument:

Professionalism: We know you can play but the instrument presents a “learning curve,” so listen, observe and learn.

Mentorship: Find a mentor who is reliable because it is an advantage and allows you to pull head of others.

Instrument: Get your own steelpan for serious practicing morning, noon and night.

Customer Satisfaction: It is the key to a successful career in steelpan performance. There is no room for error here. You must be on time. In fact, it is better to be early to become familiar with the environment. Be well groomed and have a versatile repertoire, each piece no longer than 3 or 4 minutes. Adopt a no-alcohol drinking policy during the performance for clear-headed thinking.

Music Business: Be sure to have contracts, payroll forms, fax and cell phones. A calendar is good to avoid double booking by keeping too many details in your head.

Join the Musicians Union: It pays. He still receives royalty checks (as stipulated in the contract) from having performed on The Kathy Lee and Regis Show back in the ‘90s. When a commercial is recorded, residual checks are paid every time the commercial airs.

To learn more about Melvin Dean, go here
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A Steel Band Overture

Today we completed a new work. Actually, it really is a derivative of a previously composed work - “A wah mi name.” Nonetheless, it is an arrangement for steelband and symphonic orchestra. The final score would be submitted as an entry into the International Steelband and Orchestra Competition. We now would turn our attentions to composing a pan concerto - three movements.

Coming back to the new work, you can hear a clip of this music here. Once again, it is a brief clip (2 minutes), the function of which is to give the listener an idea of what the score should sound like. Hopefully in 2009, HighLite Vibes can secure the resources to have these works performed live. Just to give an idea of what it would involve, there are parts for a steelband:

—–Single Tenors, Double Tenors, Double Seconds, Guitars, Cellos and Bass———

And the parts for the orchestra include
Strings: Violins I, II, Violas, Cellos, Double Bass
Woodwinds: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon
Brass: Trumpet, Trombone, French Horn, Tuba
Percussion:Timpani, snare drum, cymbal, bass drum, shakers, castanets, triangle

There would be a challenge in finding the correct balance of personnel for each instrument, but the final number could easily be in excess of forty persons players. The steelband alone would be at least 15 persons (extremely small for a steelband). So once again, all suggestions, criticisms, concerns and generally impressions are welcome…
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An Obeah Wedding?

A long time ago, long before I was conceived I am sure, the Mighty Sparrow released a hit song “Obeah Wedding.” This calypso narrated a story about “Melda gyal.” “Melda” was an individual who was seeking out the services of “obeah personas” to assist her in marriage. Regardless of the whole point of the story, the music in its own right is very entertaining and refreshing. It was for this reason that HighLite Vibes decided to arrange this calypso for steelband - AND - symphonic orchestra. It is an interesting match, the steelband and the orchestra, but in this arrangement we had quite a bit of fun exploring all the possibilities, and believe you me, they are endless. A clip of this arrangement is posted here.

We invite you to listen to it and provide us with some feedback. We will be writing/arranging additional pieces in this genre (Orchestra/Steelband) and maybe one day soon, we will actually be able to hear similar pieces performed live by symphonic orchestras and steel orchestras.
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Steelpan and the Symphonic Orchestra

Recently, I discovered an international competition that is promoting new music for steelpan and the symphonic orchestra. This is a combination that we have never really heard before. The steelband is an orchestra by itself - we have heard several bands playing classical works fairly regularly. What we have never heard or maybe not nearly enough is the symphonic orchestra performing works originally for the steelband. For example, have you ever wondered what Pan in A minor would sound like if performed by a world-class orchestra?

Well this competition is promoting that curiosity and HighLite Vibes have already completed a new arrangement for steelband and orchestra. It is an arrangement of a popular Sparrow calypso and it makes for an extremely interesting and fresh sound. In addition to this, the competition has categories for a steelpan concerto and an Overture for steelband and Symphonic Orchestra. You can find more details here

Adlib-in’ History

The New York Panorama event took place this weekend (August 30, 2008) behind the Brooklyn Museum. This weekend was historic. In an event where the best band was only a point better than the second best, it is hard for such a contest to not be considered controversial. Nonetheless it was historic, crowning the youngest steelpan arranger (Andre White) in the history of the event.

Quite frankly, the final result should not have been that close - ADLIB was way better on this night - not a point better. Not only was their arrangement superior than both CASYM and SONATAS, the execution was very precise especially in the melodic runs pulled out by the tenor pans. CASYM played extremely well (as expected), well enough to win on any other night, however their short-coming may have been in their arrangement which seemed overburdened with too many “4-note flurries” and not enough melodic motifs and ideas to take the listener on a journey. Sonatas’ arrangement did this, take the listener on a musical journey (exploring several keys) but their execution was not up to the usual Sonata precision, and when compared to ADLIB and CASYM, it was evident. However, CASYM was not 5+ points better than Sonatas, that should have been closer.

The night belonged to ADLIB though, hands down - their performance was well executed with dynamics and showmanship never before seen nor heard by an ADLIB band. The addition of fireworks to their presentation may have been an overkill, but still, it was a memorable and historic performance.

Online Music Stores

I am sure I am not the first to tell you, but the online music stores are causing a dramatic change and shift in the entire music industry. They are leveling the playing field allowing the unsigned artist to get equal “shelf-time” with the superstars and mega labels. Even though online stores only accounted for about 10% of total sales in the previous year, these companies are now the new mega players in the industry. Itunes is the overall leader, but Amazon music, Rhapsody, eMusic, Napster, MySpace SnoCap are all music store and portals affecting change. There are several others out there also all competing and providing different, unique models for both customers and musicians.

So here is the question for you pan musicians - Are you getting your music online? Are you a pan fanatic? Can you even find pan music in any of these stores? Many steelbands and steelpan musicians are still pursuing the traditional distribution methods (CD) for getting their albums out there, but this model is quickly becoming obsolete. Online stores and music portals is the way to go. If you are not familiar with the computer, then you are probably very out of touch and missing a golden opportunity. This is the dawn of a new trend, and whenever a trend is starts, those first in line are always rewarded the highest. Get out there, do the research and get your music into the online stores - its the wave of the future. And when you have published your pan music, ensure you add HighLite Vibes as similar sounding artists because we play pan too!

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Getting your music out there

As many of you are already aware of, websites such as facebook and myspace (commonly referred to as social networking sites and WEB 2.0) are dominating the internet with mind numbing views/day and staggering amounts of users. What you may not be aware of is that social network sites exist for almost any hobby, viewpoint, career or just about anything you can think of - further, the music portals are an extremely popular choice for community and interaction. All musicians, artists, record labels must have a profile on these sites - Last.fm, airplaydirect.com, reverbnation.com, numberonemusic.com, BroadJam.com, Rhapsody.com, Lala.com - and there are several others not mentioned here.
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Pan in A-minor Analysis

-By Kurleigh Lowe

Pan in A minor is a mega hit composed and performed by Lord Kitchener (Aldwyn Roberts) in 1987. Amoco Renegades performed this piece in the panorama competition and Jit Samaroo’s interpretation of this piece is phenomenal and must be archived in the Steel Pan Classics library. This paper will investigate Samaroo’s use of structure, tonality and rhythms in this historic arrangement.

As a reference, this paper uses the YouTube video located here, additionally, instead of referring to measures and bar lines, reference would be made to the timeline of the video. For example, “see section starting at 2:07” would be a reference to the exact location of the music in the video to which the paper is referring.

Structure and Form
This arrangement was for the Panorama competition in 1987 and it was a requirement that the pieces be approximately ten minutes in length. When examining this piece closely, you will notice that there is some amount of repetition in the structure. Like almost any panorama arrangement, this piece contains an introduction, actual song, variation/interpretation and an “outro .” Table I shows a detail description of the Pan in A minor structural arrangement.

Table I shows that this arrangement is linear in structure. Most sections are played twice, and this is the only type of repetition in this piece. Each section is unique and presents several musical ideas that will be investigated further. Even though the recap by definition is a repeat (usually in a different key in classical music), the recap section in this piece features some extensive melodic motifs and rhythms that make it notably different from the initial verse/chorus at 0:40-1:38.

The two-beat bars as identified in Interlude III and in the Outro put some slight variation into the musical structure and are very subtle in nature.

Harmonic Investigation
Harmonically, this arrangement demonstrates a level of complexity that is on par with many of the great composers of the classical genre.
Intro
The arrangement starts with a descending progression that moves from the root (A minor) to the fifth (E major). See figure 1. It is a standard I-V movement as found in classical music but made interesting because of the passing chords (G major, F major). This progression is repeated with the guitars and doubles executing scales. The A-major sonority (0:17) that then follows provides a stark contrast to the minor-feel that was already established. Further, this marks the beginning of a standard II-V-I progression (A-D-G-C) but the Bb-major (0:21) marks the spot where the music races through several chords and on first analysis may seem totally random, but the overall sound is very unique, exotic and elegant. A similar sounding progression may not be found anywhere except in a Samaroo arrangement. Figure 2 outlines this progression. The music returns to it’s a-minor sonority at (0:32) when the band plays an E-major which is the fifth of the root as established in the opening series. This V-I progression is followed by “drops” on the VI (F major - 0:35) which forms a (ii)-V-I-VI progression, a very common progression. The introduction ends with the entire band executing a chromatic scale (0:37) starting on E and ascending over an octave to a G# before the actual piece beginning on the subsequent A.

Song (0:40)
The main song section is vintage Lord Kitchener and apparently no one arranges Kitchener better than Jit Samaroo. The tenors play the melody with some lower pans doubling the melody an octave below at specific points. The guitars provide counter melodies in every break in the melodic line. See Table II for the chordal changes for several of the sections in this piece, including the main song section, which begins at (0:39).

The chorus (1:08) of this song generates the most excitement, mostly because of a two-note phrase that divides a I-V progression. The two-note phrase is the melodic representation of the words “steel-pan,” as sung by Kitchener. The second half of the chorus is highlighted by a run over a G-chord (see figure 3).

Variation I (2:07)
The creativity begins with the second verse. As with any panorama piece, the arrangement and improvisation of the melody are key elements to the success of a piece and Dr. Samaroo and his renegades take no prisoners in their stellar rendition.

There are three distinct voices in this section (excluding the drummers and iron section), a main melodic line (guitars and double pans), a counter melody played above this line (tenors) and a chordal/bass foundation. The chordal/bass foundation establishes that the music is back in the verse, since the chords are the same as previous verses. These three lines interact intimately ending the variation with a thrilling downward chromatic. See (2:34) and (3:04).

Variation II (4:07)
The second variation begins with the band executing drops on a C-chord before finally resolving to F minor which is the new key for this variation. Further, the melodic line in this section bears no semblance to the melodic lines of the actual song, but this is the beauty of the entire section. It still has the same changes as the song itself (albeit in the key of F minor) but this expose swings with a West Indian flare that can only be experienced on the Savannah.

The chorus of this F-minor section is highlighted by a ferocious run (5:21-5:37 and 5:50-6:04) that begins in the tenor pans and waves its way through the entire band with the basses playing furious arpeggios in an Eb - Ab progression that all climaxes on a C-major drop that marks the end of that section.

Interlude I (6:04)
This point of the music can be considered a bridge since its shorter than the previous sections and also, it introduces a totally new idea. Listen for the James Bond sounding theme (starts at 6:05-6:12) in the lower pans. The bridge also serves as the introduction of the next section which is another variation of the verse, but this time in the key of Ab major.

Variation III (6:16)
This variation puts a different dimension on the music by moving into Ab major key. This is a standard tactic in Panorama arrangements but what is slightly unexpected in this situation is that the major key is Ab-major instead of A-major. The melody is in the tenor line in this section and while there are remnants of the original theme, the tenors quickly move into a ramojay (6:30) that elevates the music to new highs.

The variation continues with a new interpretation of the chorus that emphasizes a specific motif. This motif (6:52) is played a total of four times before the band executes another flamboyant run (7:07) that passes through several chords before settling in the minor mode of Ab for another ramojay (7:23).

This ramojay ends with the arrangement returning to the original key (7:37) of A-minor and the melody in the lower pans in essence creating a recapitulation. This leads to a brief interlude which is followed by the final chorus and then the outro. The final chorus is slightly varied from the original, but its theme is still evident.

Outro
At (8:43) the outro begins with what sounds like another interpretation of the chorus, but this time it is more rhythmic with four-beat percussion breaks at (8:49) and (8:56). This section is then climaxed with the entire band participating in a furious chromatic run that uses an E-Eb-E base to build the run. Basically what this means is that for every note in the chromatic, this base (E-Eb-E) is played. See figure 5 for more details on this run. Once the final note is reached, the entire band announces the theme of the song in unison before ending on the A-minor “drops.”

Additional Comments
Pan in A-minor is one of several steelpan gems composed by Lord Kitchener. The industry surely suffered a tremendous loss when he departed this life, but his music has already catapulted the steelpan to a new level. This performance by Amoco Renegades was presented more that two decades ago, and yet it is still being performed. A simple search for Pan in A-minor on YouTube yields astounding results.

If ever there is a complaint about the arrangement, it may be the repeating of sections as this can be a technique used to lengthen the piece. Besides this minor complaint, this piece is truly a work of art produced by two very great artists. It has always been rumored that Jit Samaroo can only arrange Lord Kitchener’s music, but this could not be further from the truth. The creativity and brilliance of this arrangement is only a miniscule taste of his true genius.

Figure 1 showing the opening progression of the Amoco Renegades arrangement of Pan in A-minor

Figure 2 showing the harmonic changes in the introduction

Figure 3 showing the highlight run in the chorus.

Click here to view the tables.

Pan in A-minor

I have completed an analysis of the Pan in A-minor arrangement as played by Amoco Renegades (now BP Renegades). It would be posted on this website under the Pages section. In doing the analysis, some questions came to mind. Questions like, what constitutes a great panorama arrangement? There are some basic outlines/requirements that are generally followed — piece must have an introduction and ending (outro), the actual song and then variations/arrangement of the song. Jit Samaroo’s arrangement of Pan in A-minor meets all these requirements and Amoco Renegades executes it with unprecedented fluency and “fire”. It is almost a shock that this piece did not win the Panorama in 1987. In fact, it was Phase II that won the competition, but it is Amoco’s performance that history remembers.

When you search for Pan in A-minor on Youtube (click here), you will discover a quiet world of pan enthusiasts performing this piece. Further, many of these artistes are performing at least the introduction of Jit Samaroo’s arrangement, which will underline the importance of this arrangement and performance. Even HighLite Vibes has a version of Pan in A , that mirrors many of the musical moments from that memorable performance.

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The steelpan no longer Trinidadian?

The steelpan instrument was invented in Trinidad and has its history and growth on several sites all over the internet. Trinidadians are among the best pan players in the world. However, what exactly ranks you among the best? Is it your level of skill or how many records you sell? How about how many fans you have? That could be an entire discussion in itself, but that’s not really what I want to talk about. Somehow, I have this feeling that the steelpan is no longer a “Trinidadian” or “West Indian” or “Caribbean” instrument. Yes how shocking is that - it caused quite a stirring debate with my trinidadian friends when I uttered those words but here’s why I say that.

When the steelpan started growing in popularity, I am sure it was the vision of many pioneers to share this part of their culture with as many persons they could in the world. However, once more individuals and countries started embracing the instrument, its identity became blurred and it is categorized more and more as a musical instrument rather than a “trinidadian instrument.” For example, where was the flute invented? Or where was the clarinet, oboe, trumpet invented? The “ordinary man” most likely cannot answer these questions but yet these instruments are always present in a standard orchestra and are known around the world.

My point is this, for the Steelpan to become even more standardized, it may have to let go of its roots and this might not be a bad thing even though so many Trinidadians do dread it, I say relax, we’re going to come and go - but the steelpan will remain here…yes its already entering into that eternal musical instrument home - (The symphony Orchestra)

Check out this clip of steelpan and orchestra from HighLite Vibes here.