(Carrie, Me and Will being creative with our sticks)
Day 3
Today was the third day of steel pan lessons and we learned a new song and practiced “the waltz”. Mr. Headley helped me to better understand how to count and stay on beat with the pan. I think I had it a lot easier today, in reference to the ascending and descending of the chromatic scale because I had the notes written on my pan (a little bit of a cheat). We also learned the G major scale (I think that’s what it is called). Today was better than yesterday because it didn’t rain the entire session, which was kind of bitter sweet because it was very hot! All in all, it was a very good day and I think I’m getting the hang of playing the steel pan.
Day 4
Today was the fourth day of our steel pan lessons with Mr. Headley and we learned another new song. The song is called “love me tender” by the late, the great Elvis Priestley. He played the song for us before he taught it and assumed that we would all know the tune but me, not being an Elvis fan was clueless to what he was playing. Learning this song was different than the others; it required a little bit more skill, and being able to not get caught up in the other sounds in the band. Tomorrow we are going to continue and perfect “love me tender” and hopefully get a few smooth runs without messing up or confusing one another. I would say that playing the steel pan isn’t as much technique, as it is feeling. I’m interested to see what tomorrows steel pan lesson brings.
Day 5
Today was the last day of steel pan lessons with Mr. Headley, which was bitter sweet for me because I no longer had to wake up at 7am to rain. But on the other hand I really liked learning how to play the steel pan and learning new tunes as well. So, today we simply went over the songs we had already learned which are “the waltz”, “Cuando, Cuando” and “Love me Tender”. Mr. Headley brought his son and his nephew to rehearsal today, which was really cool because his son was our drummer (who was really good by the way). Him bringing them also gave me a sense of the importance of music in his family and the Trinidadian culture. I was still a little rusty on “Love me tender” but I would have to say “The Waltz” is my favorite tune. I think that today and the first day we began learning how to play the steel pan are the most significant days out of the five of our lessons. Looking back on the first day, I barely knew what a steel pan was and how on earth one would play such an odd instrument. But from this entire week I’ve learned all of the notes on my tenor pan, 3 songs, and chord progressions and also that the steel pan has a significant history behind it. All in all the lessons were extremely helpful and I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to learn to play the steel pan from an amazing man, Mr. Headley.*Learning how to play the steel pan was definately something new and exciting for me. I got to learn a new instrument and it only took me 5 days to learn the basics, which is pretty amazing! All in all (as I've stated in my reflection above) this experience opened me up to one more aspect of myself that I never knew I even had! I love this!*
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