RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Hav­ing prac­tised for just over a month, 50 stu­dents from the Pleas­antville Sec­ondary School en­tered the pre­lim­i­nary round of the 2023 Na­tion­al Sec­ondary Schools Ju­nior Panora­ma com­pe­ti­tion on Wednes­day.

They are among 17 schools which en­tered the com­pe­ti­tion this year.

At the Fon­claire Steel Or­ches­tra pa­n­yard at Dot­tin Street, the sweet sounds of a pan filled the air as the stu­dents played Blaxx’s hit tune, "Same Way".

Mu­sic teacher and steel­pan arranger, Cur­tis Mar­celle, said the stu­dents came to him in late Oc­to­ber.

"Some of them had nev­er played the pan be­fore," Mar­celle re­vealed. Among them was 12-year-old Naresh Ram­per­sad who ex­pressed a de­sire to play the na­tion­al in­stru­ment.

Naresh Rampersad of Pleasantville Secondary School enjoys playing the steelpan, on Wednesday 11 January 2023. [Image by KRISTIAN DE SILVA]

The chil­dren prac­tised for three hours dai­ly right through the Christ­mas hol­i­days un­til Mar­celle re­al­ized they were ready for the Ju­nior Panora­ma.

Pres­i­dent of Fon­claire, Dar­ren Shep­pard, said he was im­pressed at the progress of the stu­dents. Ob­serv­ing that Pleas­antville Se­nior Com­pre­hen­sive was once a leader in Panora­ma Sec­ondary Schools com­pe­ti­tions, Shep­pard said they were on the road to great­ness once again.

Mean­while, at the Skif­fle Bunch pa­n­yard at Cof­fee Street, the Naps Com­bine Steel Or­ches­tra played “Big Bad So­ca” by Bun­ji Gar­lin.

Ed­di­son Dean, band cap­tain ex­pressed thanks to their spon­sors, in­clud­ing San Fer­nan­do May­or Ju­nia Re­grel­lo.

He said the arranger, Shaquille Vin­cent, worked hard with the Or­ches­tra, which com­prised stu­dents of Na­pari­ma Girls’ High School and Na­pari­ma Col­lege.

May­or Re­grel­lo said he was hap­py to be part of the event.

Students of the Naparima Combine Steel Orchestra play at the Skiffle Bunch Panyard in San Fernando, on Wednesday 11 January 2023. [Image by RISHI RAGOONATH]

Cur­ricu­lum co­or­di­na­tor at the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion, Marce­line Pe­ters, said she was not sur­prised at the progress of the stu­dents, say­ing the steel pan was a ver­sa­tile in­stru­ment. She said each band will be judged by their in­tro­duc­tion, how well they ar­tic­u­late, the cho­rus, how they in­ter­pret the song and har­mo­niza­tion.

In the South Zone, there were four en­trants this year—Mara­bel­la South Sec­ondary, Na­pari­ma Col­lege and Na­pari­ma Girls High School. Wa­ter­loo Gov­ern­ment School dropped out at the last minute.

Pe­ters said the judges will be go­ing to the East Zone and Port-of-Spain on Jan­u­ary 12 and 13.