Steelbands North Newsletter March 2008
Regional News
Volcanoes at TSG. A slight drop in player numbers this year sees Volcanoes operating as a leaner unit with only Wendy Brown from Sage staff involved. The absent players are a bit of a miss at the moment, but this coincides with the charging of full membership fees to bring Volcanoes into line with other Sage youth ensembles; £350 for the year is a lot of money. We can’t think of any other steelband which charges anything like this amount to players, although many north east bands do charge subs of up to £120 a year.
Several Volcanoes rehearsal dates last term were cancelled or altered at short notice but the band is obviously still working very hard – see Gig Review inside.
In an effort to pull back a few more players there were extra auditions held in Feb for players wanting to join for the rest of 07/08 at reduced rates. Auditions for 08/09 will be early in May.
NE Steelband at NHC Panorama 2008.
In addition to Volcanoes Wendy Brown is working towards putting a big (40 +) band together from north east players to take part in NH Panorama at Hyde Park in August. The ambitious plans involve three rehearsals a week over the school summer holidays plus a couple of residentials. Wendy says that any player who is dedicated can be considered. NE bands are asked to support by providing players and pans for rehearsals and the London performances – one band has estimated that this could cost £10,000 with arrangers fees and other expenses. Yes, it is planned to have a world class arranger work with the band; one who has tasted much success at Trini Panoramas over the years!
SN feels that taking a NE band to Panorama is a logical development; already thirty plus players each year play with other bands in Panorama, are we ready to form our own band yet? Perhaps there’s only one way to find out. We’ll let you know.
Middlesbrough Steelband Festival , a big hit in 2006, may be repeated this year. Organisers are currently in discussions about funding. This festival is unique in the region in that participating bands were paid to perform and there was a chance for all bands to play pre arranged music together. SN hope that it goes ahead again and becomes a regular feature on our calendar.
Steel Spring at The Sage Gateshead, now in its
fourth year, is planned (but not yet confirmed) for the weekend of 19/20 July, the first weekend of the school holidays, so don’t leave the area until after then! More info from
ruth.currie@thesagegateshead.org or
wendy.brown@thesagegateshead.org.
North Tyneside Festival of Steelbands is
also in the planning stages. This ran for the first time last year and involved eight steelbands directly. Provisional date is Friday 5 July; more details in next issue or from SN.
National News
Accreditation for Pan
Things have been a little quiet on this front over the winter, but after the meeting at Wycombe in December the current plans are to go with an ABRSM type system administered by SV2G open to all British players via their bands. Such a system would indicate a player’s ability to play test pieces at various levels, but with no indication of their understanding of theory or the history and background of pan; SN would like to see these aspects of playing acknowledged in any national accreditation scheme, especially if the scheme were to be widened to include accreditation of tutors.
British Association of Steelbands (BAS), in common with many other arts organisations, has been informed by the Arts Council that its grant funding will be ‘radically restructured’ from March 08. This will probably mean a merger with another organisation and a smaller budget. ACE has interfered in BAS before by instigating research into levels of pan activity across the UK; they won’t comment publicly on why they are reducing funding and status of BAS.
Sound Sense – the national support network for community music of which Steelbands North is a member – has also suffered at the hands of the Arts Council; their annual grant has been totally removed. SS will continue as there is no other organisation which caters for the needs and development of community musicians such as steelband tutors, and their resources of knowledge and advice are without equal in the world, but with no permanent paid staff for the foreseeable future.
It seems that two of the steelband communities’ main supports have been dealt a severe blow by the Arts Council (thanks a bunch!) and our roles will therefore become that bit more difficult. Funding has become a more difficult issue for all organisations over the last couple of years. However we can take consolation in the fact that the Arts Council has seen fit to award quite a lot of theatres and opera companies significantly more money so we’re fine aren’t we?
Take It Away is an Arts Council scheme which lends money (without interest) to young musicians to buy good quality instruments. Steelbands North asked the Arts Council why there were no pan suppliers on their approved list. The reply was -
The aim of Take it away is to make purchasing an instrument more affordable. To maintain the quality and credibility of the scheme, as well as to manage the subsidy, Take it away is available only through participating stores, which are selected through an application process.
(We) accept your point that most steel pan groups buy from makers, however the issue of access and inclusively was behind the decision only to use retailers. We wanted Take it away to be available through outlets with regular opening hours, offering a range of instruments to suit all abilities, and with staff able to give really good, appropriate advice. Pan makers could apply to operate Take it away, but they would need to have regular opening hours.
I hope this helps to explain our position.
Kind regards, Lucy Jamieson, Arts Council of England, 14 Gt Peter Street, London SW1P 3NQ
Direct Line 020 7973 6452. www.takeitaway.org.uk
Anyone know a music shop selling, and giving really good, appropriate advice, about pans? If you do, let Lucy know.
SN know of at least one n.e. steelband who operate an interest free ‘hire to buy’ scheme for players and they use only the best makers (see last page). They can do it, why can’t the Arts Council? They should be setting the example.
International News
Congratulations to Phase II on winning Trini Panorama on Feb 2nd with an arrangement by Boogsie Sharpe who has since commented to the effect that he has had to ‘dumb down’ his music to gain success, and he is dissatisfied with the judging. Sound familiar?
Other news coming out of Trinidad – none, although some enlightened panners there are beginning to realise that there is a whole world beyond Panorama too.
Our T’n’T correspondent has been told by a rep that Renegades are working towards being a more professional band, which means every gig (not just Panorama) must be good. ‘Maintaining our international image is just as important as Panorama.’
After 67 years of existence in the top flight, on Nov 1st 2007 Invaders Steel Orchestra gained ownership of its panyard. Congratulations Invaders; this story shows that accommodation is a problem for steelbands the world over. Some n.e. bands work in less than ideal conditions, and from time to time a few are actually homeless – more proof that steel pan is seen as a poor relation by the musical mainstream.