Austin Community Steelband

Nonprofit group gives middle-schoolers free taste of Trinidad.

By Katie Humphrey
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, November 22, 2007

Inside a little white house with red trim, surrounded by shining steel pan drums, Leon "Smooth" Edwards counts off. "One, two, three, four."
Kaylan Wilkins gets some guidance from Leon 'Smooth' Edwards as she learns the steel pan drums.
The champion pannist from Trinidad claps the rhythm as students from Pearce Middle School strike the syncopated notes of "Crank That" by Soulja Boy.
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The hip-hop tune is recognizable, but a couple of sour notes sneak in. A student hesitates and stops playing, then another.
"Come on, keep going," Edwards urges. "Let it flow."
The students take free lessons twice a week after school with the Austin Community Steelband, an East Austin nonprofit group that hopes someday to send local ensembles to competitions and maybe even to Carnival celebrations in New York or Trinidad.
But first, "Crank That."
The students regroup and keep trying. Ten minutes later, accompanied by Edwards on a bongo, they have it down. They add the lyrics, and two girls who had been playing the bass line step into the middle of the room to dance.
The community steel band was established as a nonprofit in 2003 and officially opened its school doors in January.
Executive Director Paula Beaird fell in love with the sound of steel pan drums decades ago during visits to Trinidad. The music was born on the island, off Venezuela's northern coast, as a variation of the drumming African slaves used as communication. By the 1950s, there were multiple steel pan drum bands.
Students from Pearce and Kealing middle schools and the Boys and Girls Club are the first to take free lessons at the school. Beaird said they opened the program to those students because many of them come from lower-income families and schools that have fewer resources and after-hours activities.
"We want to teach the kids that don't have the opportunities available to them or their schools," Beaird said. "Besides being fun, the benefits of our program bring out their musical talents and help them improve academically."
Ignacio "Nacho" Rojas, a seventh-grade clarinet player in the Pearce school band, is a member of the steel pan drum ensemble. Ignacio said he wanted to play drums in sixth grade but couldn't afford the equipment.
During rehearsal, he carefully struck the pans and said they were fun to play.
"They make all different sounds," said Ignacio, 12. "You've got to learn all the different notes and stuff."
Some Austin schools, including Bowie and McCallum high schools, have steel pan drum ensembles.
All of the Pearce students in the community steel band program play different instruments in their school's band, led by band and fine arts director Anthony Tedeschi.
Steel pan is relatively easy for students to pick up and a great way for them to learn about rhythm. If the after-school program takes off, the school might consider creating its own ensemble, Tedeschi said.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for them," he said.
khumphrey@statesman.com; 445-3658
Steel drumming
For more information about the Austin Community Steelband, call its offices at 473-8434.