Steel pan music
UD's Community Music School offers variety of steel pan ensemble programs
2:15 p.m., May 17, 2012--During the spring 2012 semester, the University of Delaware Community Music School (UDCMS) introduced its newest program, called Family of Pan, which offers steel pan music.
Family of Pan has brought something unique to the Community Music School line-up, according to director Demetrius Delancy, as it is the only group class that offers musical instruction for all ages. The class is primarily composed of family members, including mothers and fathers and their children.
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Family of Pan will play in its first recital, along with other Community Music School students, at a general recital to be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 23, in the Loudis Recital Hall of the Amy E. du Pont Music Building. The recital is free and open to the public.
About the steel pan program
The UD Department of Music has a vibrant percussion area, and one of its key ensembles is the internationally acclaimed Delaware Steel, a steel band ensemble.
Delancy said inquiries were made about steel pan at the Community Music School and two classes were created -- Pan Jr. and the Peace, Love and Pan Youth Steel Band. Both of these programs were geared toward middle and high school students.
Joe Ambrosino, a 1988 graduate of UD and one of the longtime members of Delaware Steel, was selected as the director of both programs. Ambrosino teaches general music and steel band at John R. Downes Elementary School, was named a teacher of the year in 2007 and was named a distinguished teacher in 2009 by the Delaware Geography Alliance for a unit of study that combined music and geography.
A former president of the Delaware Music Educators Association, Ambrosino is also active in the community as a choir director, cantor, and featured soloist.
About the steel pan
According to Sharma Satanand, lecturer in music at the University of the West Indies, the steel pan or pan -- widely known as the steel drum -- was created in Trinidad, West Indies. It is one of the few versatile acoustic instruments invented in the 20th century.
Now the steel pan has "evolved into a bona fide instrument that can play any genre of music," she said. "It has also been accepted as an effective medium for music making in the public education system in North America, Europe, and the Caribbean."
Satanand added, “Learning to play the steelpan in the most prevalent setting in Trinidad and Tobago is in the ‘panyard’ – a space in a community, be it outdoors, under a galvanized shed, a concrete enclosure – where anyone desirous of learning to play can walk in and begin to learn a tune in a full steelband arrangement.”
The Community Music School's "panyard" is 120 Amy E. du Pont Music Building, where every Saturday morning Ambrosino and several families gather to make music.
Steel pan can be taught to anyone with or without musical experience, and as such, the pan class has been adapted to teach students of all ages and abilities.
As an encouragement to get more parents involved in musical activities with their children, the school offered free parent registration with every paid child registration.
Summer camp registration
The Community Music School is currently taking registration for its summer camps and will have registration for Family of Pan and other fall lessons and classes available later this summer.