Friday, May 16, 2014

What Should I Be Listening To When Not Playing?

What you listen to when not playing steel pans impacts your growth as a steel pan musician. I was lucky enough to have this discussion about a year ago with Paul Munzenrider, SPC Board Member. I was struggling with playing solos at the time. He suggested taking the time to figure out what I wanted to accomplish and to know my goals ahead of time. Here are some of the additional tips he suggested:
  1. Finding musicians who are good at what you want to do - Doing better solos was my goal. So I listened to a lot of jazz done by steel panists and other musicians. I discovered the importance of practicing my scales, knowing what key I play in, and how to listen for the melody and reinterpret it into an effective solo. I'm still not there, but I feel I am heading in the right direction.
  2. Listen to calypso or pan music Steel pan was born in Trinidad. It makes sense to listen to the music written for it. No matter if it is Kitchener, Mighty Sparrow, Ray Holman, or full steel pan orchestras like Phase II, Carib Tokyo, or Exodus, you learn a lot about arrangements and how all the instruments fit together in a composition. 
  3. Find your instrument in the song -  This step has been the most fun. What you try to do is to find your instrument in the music and play what they are playing. I tune into the melody more since I play tenor. Copying what they were doing and playing along has helped. This step deepened my appreciation for music overall. 
  4. Listen to other music too - The steel pans are versatile instruments. There is something that can be learned from all kinds of music. You can learn as much from a Sly and the Family Stone tune as you could from Claire de Lune by Claude Debussy. It is not uncommon for the steel pan to play classical, country, pop, rock, or jazz. You improve your playing just by expanding your listening repertoire to include additional music you like. 
Hopefully, these suggestions will help you.

Skip Waugh
The Steel Pan Collective


No comments:

Post a Comment