Sto­ry and pic­tures by

In­nis Fran­cis

in­nis_fran­cis@ya­hoo.com

The Hat­ters Steel Or­ches­tra host­ed a one-month camp where they taught chil­dren how to play the na­tion­al in­stru­ment dur­ing the Au­gust/Sep­tem­ber school va­ca­tion.

The young pan en­thu­si­asts, rang­ing from ages four to 16, host­ed a show and col­lect­ed cer­tifi­cates of achieve­ment re­cent­ly at the Girls Guides Head­quar­ters in San Fer­nan­do.

The 37 mem­bers be­came in­volved in the de­vel­op­ments and seized the op­por­tu­ni­ty to re­name them­selves the Hat­ters’ Youth Acad­e­my.

They shared songs they learned on the drums, steel­pan and with their har­monised voic­es.

Pan Trin­ba­go ex­ec­u­tive mem­ber and Hat­ters Steel Or­ches­tra PRO With­field Weekes com­mend­ed the tu­tors for the ac­com­plish­ment of turn­ing non-pan play­ers in­to a sym­pho­ny of lo­cal songs.

He said with tal­ents as such, Mer­chant’s 1995 song Pan in Dan­ger is no longer a ques­tion with the show the chil­dren put on at the grad­u­a­tion.

He said he was ini­tial­ly un­cer­tain of the camp’s du­ra­tion af­ter their La­dy Hailes, San Fer­nan­do home base was van­dalised some months ago.

Part valedictorian Ronisea Huggins receives her certificate from music theory tutor Wendell Bernard

INNIS FRANCIS

Weekes said: “With­out a prop­er home, it is very dif­fi­cult to have mem­bers be­cause you are not sure where you would end up…there was un­cer­tain­ty about the camp, but I am so pleased with what was achieved in one short month.

“Trinida­di­ans have re­al tal­ent. To see it come to fruition, I salute the mem­bers.”

Weekes called on all to play a part to en­sure con­ti­nu­ity and to save the art form. He said every­one had a part to play and not just a spe­cif­ic sec­tor of so­ci­ety.

“I am al­ways hap­py to see our young peo­ple in­volved in play­ing the na­tion­al in­stru­ment, it gives me pride and joy…God give us this gift and we are shar­ing this gift with the world…We just have to man­age it prop­er­ly.

“We have to sup­port it, not on­ly the gov­ern­ment and cor­po­rate Trinidad but the peo­ple in the so­ci­ety…If we are hav­ing a fundrais­ing event com­ing up and you ask­ing for a com­pli­men­ta­ry tick­et; come and pay! That would sup­port all the bands in T&T.

“We need fi­nan­cial sup­port be­cause it is not like 40, 50 years ago when the pan was cheap, every­thing has gone up, the cost of liv­ing and so are the in­stru­ments, and now it is a world wide phe­nom­e­non, peo­ple all over the world want to hear the pan.”

The Academy ended the graduation with a jump up.

INNIS FRANCIS

At the camp, the chil­dren learned to play the tenor, dou­ble tenor, dou­ble sec­onds, and the base pans.

Pan tu­tor Car­lon Lyons said he was com­fort­able and con­fi­dent of the acad­e­my mak­ing a place in a panora­ma com­pe­ti­tion if one was to be host­ed.

Vale­dic­to­ri­ans Isa­iah Black­man and Ro­nisea Hug­gins said they en­joyed learn­ing about the scores sheets, drums, steel­pan, mu­sic the­o­ry and the copy­right laws that go with the busi­ness.

Hatters Youth Academy members perform the song I Can See Clearly Now.

INNIS FRANCIS

Young pannists in the four-to-11-years age group.

INNIS FRANCIS