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Passion, perseverance led to Junior Panorama win for HFCP

By Klysha Best

Neil Simon, the music teacher at the Holy Faith Convent, Penal, (HFCP) can attest to being the kind of teacher that motivates and awakens joy.

Notwithstanding the fact that he bears the same name as famous American playwright and comic legend Neil Simon, this Simon’s creativity and musical arrangement helped propel his students into the history books for the National Junior Steelband Panorama competition.

Neil Simon

HFCP entered the Junior Panorama for the first time this year and surprised themselves and their seasoned competitors by taking the title.

The feat was also accomplished with a group of young ladies who had little to no experience with the steelpan before or even ventured to the “drag” of the Queen’s Park Savannah.

As Simon tells it, the journey was not an easy one. “When I came to the school, I told them that my background is in performance first and then teaching. So being involved in the steelpan industry for years, I thought it would be fitting to enter the school into the junior pan,” said Simon.

“The response originally from the student body, from administration and my fellow teaching colleagues was a little bit tentative. And I understood why. This had never happened before. It was a huge undertaking for a school that prided itself on its academic prowess.”

He continued, “We started in 2019 trying to build the orchestra, but then the pandemic came, and everything was postponed. Then we re-started late last year, in spite of all odds, as I just felt that we had to stick to it.”

Simon said when he made the official announcement that they were indeed entering the girls into the junior pan competition, he had an overwhelming response, and about 40 to 50 girls responded.

He said: “The majority of them had little to no experience at all. So, when we actually started rehearsals that number dwindled down to just about 22 and I knew I had a challenge on my hand.”

“We tried to partner with our brother school – St Benedict’s, but that didn’t pan out. I had a core of four to five experienced players, and I told them that they had to carry the band. These girls took the mantle, and they were an inspiration to me.”

Pushing through despite challenges

“We also got some students from the panyard, and we started to build from there. Some dropped out along the way and came back afterwards,” said Simon.

He said it came down to hard work and continuous rehearsals. “They inspired me to continue, because of how they were responding to me, challenging them to go beyond. I pushed 2–3-hour sessions after school and I never slowed down the pace of teaching for the slower ones. I pushed the slower ones to keep up with the faster ones and it worked.”

However, on advancing from the preliminaries to the finals, they didn’t have any practice until the Saturday before the final on Sunday, as Panasonic Connection was competing in the small band final the Friday and needed their pans.

Despite that setback, they drilled and worked on their one practice day.

Simon said he made a minor tweak to their selection ‘Savannah Grass’ heading into the finals, but he believes what caused the difference was the girls’ performance.

“They performed at a higher level on stage. They brought an energy that I didn’t see before. It was like they were waiting for the stage, for that moment,” said Simon. “Our music spoke for us, even though we weren’t the largest on stage, with a minimum of 34 players.”

On hearing the news that they had won and beaten former champions Naps Combined, Simon said the girls could not believe it. “Some of them cried,” he said.

“They had classmates who asked them why they were doing this pan thing and told them they couldn’t win and could not beat Naps, and they pushed through. They were the real MVPs [Most Valuable Players]. They had to overcome negativity from classmates and plenty ‘bouff’ from me. Now, they are popular in school,” smiled Simon.

Grateful for community support

The school utilised pans from the small adult band Panasonic Connection from Cipero Road, San Fernando. “The guys from Panasonic were so very helpful,” said Simon.

“Besides providing us with the pans to use, two of their drillmasters provided their service for free. That is a big deal as drilling is a major job within the steelband industry and drillmasters can earn between $10,000 – $20,000 to drill one band for Carnival or between $5,000 – $8,000 for schools. Having that service for free was a critical part of the process. Panasonic was just a really helpful partner.”

Simon ended, “We would like to get our own steelpans and are hoping to get sponsors on board. We have momentum going on the heels of the win and the girls are passionate about the instrument.”

Teacher’s pan journey

Simon said the entire experience has been fulfilling. “I don’t know how I ended up here in teaching, but it is clearly God’s calling.”

Simon holds a bachelor’s degree in music from COSTAATT and a Diploma in Education.

He started his pan journey in 1991, where he said at the age of 13, he began playing with the Laventille Port of Spain Police Youth Club.

That very same year, he said they entered the Youth Steelpan Music Festival, which was originally called Pan is Beautiful and got to play a test piece and a tune of choice. “We won best tune of choice and best test piece.”

“My professional career really began in 2003 with the national orchestra. In 2007, it was reestablished and renamed the National Steel Symphony Orchestra, and there I learnt how to bring music out of the music.”

“We would take a simple piece and reshape it to sound so dynamic. That helped me develop my musicianship. There I was also the in-house arranger, so I developed my craft.”

“I’ve also had tremendous experience as a performer travelling the world, as steelpan really takes you places.”

“I try to take that performance approach to teaching. It makes no sense learning to read music and not play an instrument, so I encourage my students to join the steel orchestra,” said Simon.

So, what now for HFCP’s pannists? Simon said the junior pan title has put the school in a different limelight.

“It also gives the girls something else to work towards, as it is an experience outside of academics.”

They also now have a title to hold onto and they don’t intend to give it up easily.