Color in the Music

I've been thinking ever since I arrived here about how to explain music as well as the layout of steel pan instruments. That is, to musicians and non-musicians alike. I think color is probably one of the easiest analogies (unless you're color blind) so I will use that. Please excuse the crudity of these models as I have not yet had time to adjust them to scale or color specificity. In addition, colors may be distorted depending on your computer. I don't know if this is the best way, but try to follow me...

If you don't know about the color wheel here it is:



There are 3 primary colors - Red Yellow Blue
3 secondary colors (when you mix two primaries) - Green Orange Purple
and 6 tertiary colors (when you mix a primary and secondary) ex. red mixed with orange is "Red-Orange"
All together that's twelve.

Well there are also 12 separate notes in music. Some person a very long time ago decided to assign a letter name to each pitch (instead of a color - why I have no idea). The letters go from A-G and they are the white keys on a piano. The black keys are notes that are basically in between the white keys and are designated with a "#" symbol. Again, this pattern won't make sense to the non musician, but please keep reading. They are as follows:

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#

This pattern repeats itself over and over as the notes become higher or lower in pitch.

12 colors and 12 notes. 12 and 12. LIGHT BULB!!! Hopefully I'm not the first person to have thought of this but here it goes...

I picked red as a visual starting point and the letter "A" note as a musical starting point. Laid out on a piano it looks like this:



Very pretty I know. The true colors are "in the middle" and as you get higher in pitch they get lighter. As you get lower, they become darker. Pretty simple. What you should basically take away from the color description is that on a piano the pitches move in a linear fashion. The next note in the pattern is EXACTLY NEXT TO THE PREVIOUS. Either above or below.

So here is where it get's interesting. There are a few different sections of instruments in the steel pan family. Each section has a different range of notes and therefore a different layout. I play a set called double seconds. Here they are:



The reason I presented a narrow section from the piano is because those are the exact notes and ranges I have on my instrument. For you musicians it is F3 to A#5. So when I apply the same exact colors to the same exact pitches on pan, it looks like this:

Not even close to a piano.

Another quick comparison. Here is a simple C major scale on piano. See how linear it is. Straight up.



Here is the exact same scale on my pans.



At this point I should note that in some ways this instrument is actually easier for me as my brain thinks about the world a great deal in terms of space and dimension. For that reason I've come to realize that I think about the music I play on pans as shapes as opposed to actual notes. I think this may be the case for many people and that is why so many other musicians may enjoy playing the instrument.

There are far more comparisons that can be made with both color and music theory but I will refrain from nerding-out on those right now. However I hope this has helped some of you at home understand this instrument a little better.

Jr. Panorama

My weekend was pretty eventful.

Friday we went downtown to catch a speaker at the public library, but it was cancelled so we all went out to lunch. Spent some type by the pier at a little place called The Breakfast Shed. FYI they don't serve breakfast in Trinidad like we know it in America which is mildly disappointing - however still delicious! Then we walked around town, saw a free calypso concert in a park, walked up to Simon's music store for some new mallets, and then over to Pan Trinbago. Pan Trinbago (a combination of the words Trinidad and Tobago) is pretty much an office in a run down building that is the headquarters for everything steel band in the Nation. They had some foreigner I.D.s we needed to pick up. After that we walked to get some lunch and then for the main event: Our friend that has been driving us around (and plays bass pans in Starlift) was in a singing competition for his work. He works for a company called T&TEC which is the electric company for the whole island - yes there is just one. They host a huge party for all of their employes, families, and friends each year and people sing and dance. It's complete with a live backing band, professional sound and light system, MC, back up singers, food drinks and everything. Did I mention that is free? It seems like a really awesome event for a company to do for their employees. Anyway our friend Fellie was singing and so we all went to support. HE WAS AWESOME and came away with an award. Then on to rehearsal.

We've changed the tune every single night for the last week - it is daunting. Most people here cannot read music. Therefore when we learn brand new music the arranger walks over to one section and says play A,B,C,D. Then walks over to another section and says play C,D,E,F etc. etc. We did this for about 2 hours. Once we put everything together it sounded great! It also lasted for about 20 seconds. 20 seconds of music. for the whole band. performing at tempo. took 2 hours to learn. Every single change makes the arrangement sound even more diversified and unique. Everything we do is to better the ARRANGEMENT. It's all worth while.

Saturday was rehearsal for what they call the "road tunes." It is what we will play in the street for the Carnival parade. It was a slow and long rehearsal.

Sunday was Jr. panorama. Basically an event for school steel bands to compete like I'm doing with the adults. I spent the whole day at the Savannah. The kids learn, practice, and perform just like the big bands do. Learning all the music by rote and pushing pan racks up the street and onto the stage. My friend Eric and I remarked all day about the incredible level of these young performers. While I'm sure they lack some skills our music students in America have, almost every kid down here can groove, perform, and memorize better than any child I know in America. It is quite difficult to explain in words but fascinating for me to watch as a teacher, student, and performer myself. It is certainly something I will never forget and will continually think about how I may adapt it into my own teaching process.