VERB MAGAZINE
FEATURE
VOLUME 1
ISSUE 1
FEBRUARY 2014
PAGE 4
St Francois Girls’
hunt for historic win
By Dasia Edwards
For the last three years the St François Girls’ Steel Orchestra has been on a winning streak. In 2014 they hope
to continue that streak and make history by becoming
the first school to ever win the Trinidad and Tobago National Junior Panorama Finals, four years in a row.
When VERB Magazine visited the girls at a practice
session for the competition recently they were pretty
confident about their chances of writing their names in
the Panorama history books.
Thyra Ryan first time captain of the band knows that
the pressure is on but does not intend to back down
from the challenge.
“They coming out for us this year but we are not
afraid, we coming for them," she said with a broad smile.
Ryan, a 15-year-old fourth former has been playing
the national instrument for over three years. She admits
that her greatest joys aren't the competitions or playing
for dignitaries but playing in school and in and around
her community of Belmont where she lives.
She finds happiness not just on stage but when she
hears her neighbours say "who playing the pan we listening to allyuh play and dancing to the music.”
In this band, the players know that a winning performance depends on much more than the melodious
beating of the steelpans. The rhythm section is equally
important.
Jannica Bartholomew’s attitude is as pulsating as the
conga drums she plays. The fifth former is the band’s
rhythm section leader. This is her second year playing
with the orchestra. Last year she played the scratcher.
"Without the rhythm section it just won't be the
same because rhythm is needed to add some flavour to
the pan and the music you know. I am proud to be on
rhythm section I give the players energy to go and play, I
start everything," Bartholomew said.
The orchestra’s music teachers Michelle Clarke and
At right: The girls
get ready to perform
at last year’s
Trinidad & Tobago
National Junior
Panorama Finals.
Bottom: Students
chat during
rehearsals.
Resha Forde are described by their students as the best
music teachers in the world.
Miss Clarke has been around music all her life and has
been playing with the Phase Two Pan
Groove for nine years and has worked with veterans
like Lennox “Boogsie” Sharpe.
She is a singer a pianist, panist and percussionist.
She loves being at St François Girls to impart her love
and knowledge of music.
The band’s arranger Peter Rorry Aleong is an extremely talented musician who taught himself to play the instrument using a neighbor’s pan when he was just seven.
His parents didn't allow him to begin playing outside of
the home until he was eleven and since then there has
been no turning back.
Three years ago he accepted the position of arranger
with the school and has played an integral part of the
girls’ continued success.
After spending an afternoon watching the band rehears it is evident that they all share a great love for the
national instrument. When they play it’s their passion
that brings out the rhythmic sounds. Their dedication
and tenacity makes them well deserving champions.
Trinidad & Tobago
National Junior
Panorama 2014 –
Finals
Features Junior
Steel Orchestras
in the Primary
Schools category,
the Secondary
Schools category
and the Non-Schools
category.
Date: February 23, 2014
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Venue: Queen’s Park
Savannah, Port-of-Spain