Pan Ramajay Steel Drum Festival - day 3

Musical calisthenics were review of yesterday's 12/8 rhythms. Jim's piece is almost performance ready. Tom's piece is close too. We worked out the second half of the tune (chorus & coda) before running all the way through it. He may speed up the tempo a bit next time.

I was able to get into the building @ 7:55 am, so I got an extra 45 minutes of practice. The biggest difficulty has been Don's piece.

Ray discusses his life in pan
Ray says about music, "if you can't dance to it, what is the point?"
Today's highlight for me was listening to Ray Holman talk informally about how he came into contact with the steel pan while growing up in Trinidad and Tobago.

Ray's contact with Ellie Manette and Lord Kitchner, two legends in the world of steel pan, seem unreal. But, Ray is just a man, whose life has been shaped by some important figures. After telling some entertaining stories, Ray played a few songs on the guitar and sang. I was moved by the lyric, "the sun just kissed us goodbye," which he used in a song about two lovers in the Caribbean.


afternoon rehearsals
Because Ray's ran late (nobody minded), our rehearsal schedule was off. We worked on Don's piece, which I'd say is the most difficult. Us lead panists got to play the evil E section. It's coming along, but still has a ways to go.

We also worked out the coda on Alan's Michael Jackson tune. It will be ready. Tonight was a free night, so I went for a bike ride with a friend in Denver.
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