Children crossed their drumsticks above their heads, hitting them together to start off a rendition of jazz legend Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” — and they were off filling St. Luke’s Episcopal Church with steel-pan magic.
The song opened the Steel Pan Summer Camp’s concert at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Friday morning.
Students recruited from New Haven Public Schools played songs by artists from Mozart to Bruno Mars to the Seattle-based rap group Macklemore. As parents filmed on iPhones and cameras, the children got the audience swaying and clapping along as they showed off the results of two weeks of rehearsals sponsored by the St. Luke’s Steel Band.
Debby Teason, center, directs a piece from a pew.
“In a feat of memory and youth,” instructor Debby Teason told the audience, students had learned Macklemore’s “Can’t Hold Us” in just one day. Christopher Burney, 12, started the piece off on the drum kit, providing the underlying rhythm while other parts joined in on the up-tempo song. Two boys in white T‑shirts carried the melody on small silver “tenor” drums. In the audience, a little girl in a yellow dress started clapping along and bobbing her head. Soon, the young musicians had wrapped the rest of the audience up in the rollicking tune, too. The kids broke out into song at the piece’s end, singing the chorus – a series of “na“s and “oh“s, followed by “and all my people say” – that reached the heights of the rafters.
Besides more modern tunes, the concert included a classical piece arranged for steel drum: an allegro by Mozart. While other students returned to their seats in the pews, Morgan Edwards and Kobi Spence took center stage to perform the duet. Teason advised the girls to take a “good deep breath,” then let them start the piece, a performance that highlighted the clear tone of the instruments.
This unique sound is what drew Kayden Collins, age 9, to the steel drum. “It kind of echoes,” he said. While sitting in the cafeteria as a first-grader at the Highville Charter School, Collins heard a steel drum performance for the first time. He came home and told his parents he wanted to learn. Since then, Kayden has attended the St. Luke’s camp for two years with his older brother, Kenny. He also plays the recorder but said he prefers the steel drum. “If he likes it, I love it,” his father Ken Collins said.
Colin Benn prepares to hand out certificates of completion to the students.
Jared, 10, and his brother Vance Morris, 12, also became involved with the steel drum program through the Highville Charter School. The St. Luke’s Steel Band director, Kenneth Joseph, teaches steel band at the school along with Debby Teason. Teason also directs the steel band program at Neighborhood Music School and teaches music at the Cold Spring School. The summer program’s third instructor, Colin Benn, teaches at Music Haven and plays viola with the Haven String Quartet. Benn taught the campers music theory, using games to work on sight reading, training their ears, and reading music.
For the Morris parents, the song “Savage” proved most enjoyable. “It made you move,” Darline said. “Yeah, I liked that one,” Bryan concurred. Normally, Bryan said, he would’ve had to miss the weekday morning performance due to his job as a New Haven police officer. His recent retirement after 21 years allowed him to see his sons play.
22-month-old Mia Vereen listens to the performance.
Bryan’s mother, Gloria Flemming, said she liked watching the children play. “I liked the way that the kids seemed to enjoy it,” she said. “They got excited.” A girl Flemming takes care of, 22-month-old Mia Vereen, also appeared to enjoy the performance, standing up on Flemming’s lap and clapping along to each song.
As he waited to be picked up after the concert, Christopher Burney mentioned that he’ll head to another music camp in two weeks. At the Neighborhood Music School’s camp, Burney will play jazz music. He has also played classical music through Music Haven and plays gospel music – his favorite – at church services and in the community. He started playing the drums at age one on pots and pans, and even though he dreams of becoming a police officer, he plans to keep music a part of his life. “I won’t stop music,” he said, “even though I’m a cop. It’ll be a leisure thing.”