We received this article from our 2016 Panorama arranger Andy Narell. Andy is a highly regarded jazz musician and composer specialized in the steelpan and a renowned soloist who has played in hundreds of concerts and jazz festivals throughout the world.

I heard the news that birdsong is being evicted.  I’m in no way qualified to discuss the legal issues concerning the real estate involved, but I would like to say a few words about birdsong and music education.   Anywhere you go in the world, when we have discussions about who we are, how we identify ourselves as a people, you will inevitably hear the words literature, music, and art.  We define ourselves by our culture – the stories we tell, the music and art that we create.  And yet there is a widespread lack of music and art education in our public schools.  If you feel as I do that music education is essential in a society such as ours, that young people benefit enormously from studying and performing music, that it’s a social activity that brings us together to work in harmony and create something beautiful, then you probably agree that it should be considered a basic part of our educational system.  

Unfortunately this isn’t the case.  Music is mostly considered an elective, something that families and communities with sufficient resources can provide for their kids, but a vast majority of our young people are left to fend for themselves to learn about music. We ignore the fact that music is a profession as well as a fun activity, and we let academics tell us that perhaps it should be part of our educational system because it helps kids score better on math tests, but the priorities remain focused on other subjects.    

Birdsong steel band made a conscious decision to step into the breach and do something about it.  Without the benefit of government or corporate backing, Dennis Phillip and a group of Trinidad’s best musicians led by Raf Robertson launched a music camp offering free instruction to young people across a broad range of musical subjects.   Nobody knew how or when they would be paid but they believed in what they were doing.  Steel band music, keyboards, guitars, vocals, horns, percussion, dance, music theory, history and so on  all became part of a year round program for youth – the birdsong music academy.  In the process, birdsong became a model for music education programs throughout the country.   It’s changing the way we learn music in steel bands, and it’s providing the foundation needed to launch our most talented and motivated youth towards a career in music. 

The talent coming out of the birdsong music program is being recognized by major educational institutions in the USA and Europe, who are offering scholarship assistance for them to pursue higher education.    As the arranger for birdsong for the past 4 years of Panorama, I’ve seen the effect of music literacy on how we learn music.  10 year old children  can read music and learn pieces on their own, as well as pan men and women who have been in the band for 35 years and spent most of their lives learning by rote.  Birdsong also launched an international program four years ago, inviting 40-50 players from all over the world to come and play in Panorama, take master classes, and interact with the local players.  This has brought a large number of university music professors and their students to birdsong, and the exchange has been beneficial to everyone.     

As we are all aware, the early steel bands were gangs who fought with each other, and they transformed themselves into world class musical ensembles and community organizations that provide a focus for people’s lives, social cohesion, and in the process have become an international phenomenon.  So with birdsong on the precipice, unsure of its future, we ask ourselves questions about the role of the steel band in our communities, the importance of music education for our youth, what our priorities are as a society, and how deep is our commitment to preserving and nurturing our music and our culture.  I hope that birdsong will emerge from this crisis and continue their tradition of playing progressive music and offering high quality music education to our youth.  They may need our help and we need to rise to this occasion and find a way to keep the fire burning.