Pantastic time

HADCO Phase II Pan Groove began its first-ever pan camp for children from five to 17 years last Monday.

The camp, based at the Woodbrook panyard, is intended to run for three weeks and co-ordinator Michelle Huggins-Watts said, “It is all free.”

Huggins-Watts said the objective of the camp is to introduce participants to the steelband artform, with focus on playing the instrument and music theory. It is also intended to groom participants as future members of Phase II Pan Groove (junior band).

The main activities of the three-week camp are wrist strengthening exercises, care of the instrument, a brief history of the birth of pan and a suitable playing stance to promote proper access to notes.

The 35 young players will also learn playing techniques such as rolling, grasp, hand placement and an introduction to scales and arpeggios.

For theory they will learn lines and spaces of the treble and bass clef. They will get an insight into note values –whole note, half-note, quarter-note and note relationships.

The students will also do reading of simple notation as well as learning the concept of scales. They will also play scales from reading the pitches on the staff related to the instrument.

It is not all work and no play, as the students will be taken on a field trip to Pan Land. Each day starts at 9 am and runs until noon. But the children also get time off to play games outdoors.

Tutors for the pan camp include Douglas Redon, Mark Sealey, Wayne Pinder and Ronnie Collins.

Huggins-Watts said Phase II arranger and leader Len “Boogsie” Sharpe was elated to hear the camp has started and wished them all the best. Sharpe is currently in Cuba.