Pan Ramajay Steel Drum Festival - day 2

I'm ready for day two. Some have told me that my brain will be mush by the end of Wednesday. There really isn't much pressure, other than what we put on ourselves. We want to maximize the experience for the sake of value, but how you measure your experience is a personal thing.

a couple memorable moments from Monday

Glen (the tuner) was emphasizing the importance of cleaning our instruments by telling a story about Andy Narrell. Andy does not clean his pans, and after Glen tuned them, Andy came to pick them up from Glen's shop. Andy saw a set of double seconds and remarked, "these are nice." He didn't even recognize his own instrument because it was clean!

Jim was working on 12/8 time signature with us because we are doing an African tune. He once studied with an African drummer and during some difficulty, Jim was told through an interpreter that 4/4 was not *his* idea! This drove home the idea to not think in the traditional western sense.

morning rehearsals

Jim spent some more time on 12/8 rhythm with us before starting on his tune. We worked through the entire tune, except for the intro. The piece is really sounding great. It's fun to play 3 against 4!

Rehearsal two was our first rehearsal with Tom. Tom's chart is a Carol King tune. It's pretty simple but set to a fast calypso beat. You have to be on the ball though, because the melody is well known (will you still love me tomorrow?) and there are 8 others playing the lead pan part, so you stick out if you make a mistake.

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