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Grant gives boost to steel pan music
4:00pm Friday 27th July 2007
A COMMUNITY group believes it will set a UK precedent for steel band music after receiving a £50,000 grant to launch a unique project, starting in the Caribbean.
St Vincent and the Grenadines Second Generation (SV2G) was told it secured the large grant last week from Arts Council England (ACE) after applying earlier this year.
SV2G, which set up the Wycombe Steel Orchestra a year ago, will now send between four and six players to Trinidad to become qualified tutors.
They will be taught the syllabus of steel pan playing and thus become the first teachers of the instrument to introduce a graded system to the UK.
Currently a graded system is said not to exist in the UK but the syllabus originated in Trinidad and Tobago and is widely taught in the USA.
Once qualified, the tutors will teach budding players on the orchestra's waiting list by taking them through the syllabus.
This will mark the starting point in SV2G's Steel Pan Education project, with the trainee-teachers jetting out to Trinidad in late August.
Jacqueline Roberts, chairman of SV2G, which is currently based at the Disraeli School, said: "It has never been done before that is why it is so unique and why the council (ACE) has helped us.
"We don't have a graded system in the UK or Europe and it is something that will be of benefit."
The project will be supported by the Associated Board for the Royal School of Music, which will validate the syllabus when it is eventually taught to students. This could see alterations made to the syllabus before the board decides whether to open it up to the rest of the UK.
Miss Roberts added: "It is team work. We have sat down many hours putting things together."
Meanwhile SV2G, which aims to increase awareness of African and Caribbean culture, is still looking for a permanent home in High Wycombe and needs storage space for its steel pans.
The steel orchestra will perform this Saturday at the Wycombe Community Festival between noon and 7pm. It takes place at the BCUC Wellesbourne Campus in Terriers.
If you can help the group's search for a new home or storage space, contact Miss Roberts on 01494 436269.
Your Say YourBucks
Ivor, says...
8:03pm Fri 27 Jul 07
Is there much demand for steel band tuition in the UK? Is it really worth spending £50k? Perhaps there are better things thing money could have been spent on.
tom, marlow says...
7:38pm Sat 28 Jul 07
I doubt whether many of the arts council grants would go down that well on here.
Or am I getting too cynical?
AT, High Wycombe says...
9:33am Mon 30 Jul 07
pans_rule_d_world, High Wycombe says...
3:18pm Wed 26 Sep 07
yes, it was necessary to send them all the way to trinidad. i understand that the organisation are currently bringing the grading system & syllabus to UK and this was the only means by which it was necessary. It was necessary to go to trinidad as there was NO ONE qualified in the UK to do such a job. If you had not realised by now, I was one of the four sent and we did nothing BUT work on pans 24/7, no exaggeration.
There is a very high demand for steel pan tuition in the UK, more than the average person seems to realise and I believe it was worth spending 50k on becoming a qualified tutor and to begin something that no one has done before.
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Wycombe Steel Orchestra will perform on Saturday
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Sue L, Hazlemere says...
12:02pm Fri 27 Jul 07