DAVID CUFFY

San Fer­nan­do is a bustling hive of aca­d­e­m­ic ex­cel­lence, sport­ing achieve­ment and home of the 47-year-old NL­CB Fon­claire Steel Or­ches­tra. In ad­di­tion to its stage side and de­vot­ed Panora­ma play­ers, the leg­endary steel or­ches­tra has es­tab­lished the Fon­claire Ju­nior Steel En­sem­ble made up of young­sters be­tween sev­en and 19 years of age who re­ceive tu­ition on play­ing the na­tion­al mu­si­cal in­stru­ment un­der the di­rec­tion of Adan­na Pom­pey.

Since the ju­nior band start­ed in 2002 it has at­tract­ed quite a lot of mem­bers, all of whom came to the pa­n­yard with no mu­si­cal back­ground. Their in­volve­ment in the band, how­ev­er, has taught them not on­ly to play and en­joy mu­sic but al­so to work as a team.

Very of­ten mu­sic takes an un­fair back­seat to most sport­ing achieve­ments, but this young steel­band's pop­u­lar­i­ty in the com­mu­ni­ty has proven that mu­sic can com­pete on par with sports for at­ten­tion, with the added ad­van­tage of giv­ing plea­sure to those with­in lis­ten­ing range.

Ses­sions are held every Wednes­day and Sat­ur­day at Fon­claire's pan the­atre near Fon­rose and Claire streets. "It's a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun at the same time, teach­ing these 32 young­sters how to play the steel­pan," said Pom­pey, a dou­ble-tenor play­er with the se­nior or­ches­tra for the past 10 years.

"Like all kids, the younger ones can be eas­i­ly dis­tract­ed from what they are about, but a com­bi­na­tion of firm­ness and pa­tience is all it takes to get back their at­ten­tion." Last Wednes­day af­ter­noon, the Fon­claire Ju­nior En­sem­ble was hard at prac­tice for its par­tic­i­pa­tion in the an­nu­al Pan Ex­trav­a­gan­za host­ed by St Mar­garet's Boys' AC School at the Ju­nior Sam­my Group Skif­fle pan the­atre on Cof­fee Street, San Fer­nan­do, on June 7.

Un­der the firm guid­ance of Pom­pey, mem­bers ran through the or­ches­tra's ex­ten­sive reper­toire of mu­sic to the de­light of lis­ten­ers in near­by hous­es and the im­me­di­ate vicin­i­ty of the pa­n­yard, among whom was Mil­ton "Wire" Austin, a found­ing mem­ber of Fon­claire Steel Or­ches­tra. "This young arm of Fon­claire is our pride and joy," he said.

"We have been do­ing our bit over the years to en­sure that the younger ones in our com­mu­ni­ty have an op­por­tu­ni­ty to learn to play the steel­pan, a mu­si­cal in­stru­ment like any oth­er, with the hope that through mu­sic they would find an out­let for their nat­ur­al youth­ful ex­u­ber­ance which if not con­trolled could lead to all types of an­ti-so­cial be­hav­iour." Mem­bers are learn­ing mu­sic the­o­ry through a com­bi­na­tion of for­mal lessons and in­ter­ac­tive games.

This method, Pom­pey ex­plained, was to fa­cil­i­tate the younger mem­bers who could eas­i­ly be­come frus­trat­ed if they could not un­der­stand or in­ter­pret the for­mal lessons. So, would the wider com­mu­ni­ty of Trinidad and To­ba­go be ex­posed to the pan-play­ing skills of the Fon­claire Ju­nior En­sem­ble in the next Na­tion­al Ju­nior Steel­band Panora­ma Com­pe­ti­tion? "On­ly if they are ready," stressed Pom­pey.