SAN JUAN, Trinidad -- The sound of steel bands was heard everywhere on this West Indies island as The Advocate Brass Band traveled there during the Christmas holiday.

The "pan" music was heard in the streets, in taxis, hotels and on the beach as well as in pan yards where bands congregate to practice.

A trip to an authentic pan yard was an interesting experience for the Danville band during its recent tour of Trinidad. Pan refers to the steel drum made from a barrel used to store crude oil, then converted by the islanders into a musical instrument.

The Pamberi Orchestra operates from a pan yard in a concrete block building at the end of an alley in San Juan. The 100-member steel band plays tenor, making music from a deep to a high sound on the steel pans. It has sections that make many different sounds, from guitars to cellos.

The musicians keep their drums set up and ready to play in a large building in back of living quarters, an office, cafeteria, and place to congregate.

Pan music attracts Advocate band members

About half of the Advocate band spent a couple of hours in the pan yard as the Pamberi Orchestra leader demonstrated the pans and the sounds they make.

The used 55-gallon drums, all different depths from half to a fourth or a third of an oil drum, were lined up for the performers. Some also play on the whole drum that sits on a metal stand. The band leader showed that when the drum sits on the floor, it will not sound correct, but when it is on the frame, the sound is right. The sounds range from a low to high pitch.

After a drum is shaped, it is tempered with a hammer and maul for the fine tuning. The man who tunes the pans has an ear for music, the band leader said. The pans can be played with any type of instrument.

"It is becoming accepted in America, Europe and France," the conductor said. "People are coming to us for our music. It is part of our culture and created here in Trinidad-Tabago," he said.

There is no set time to practice for the orchestra members, who also have full-time jobs.

"You can always find someone here," said the leader of the orchestra. "We're open from 6 a.m. to 6 a.m. all of the time."

Most communities have pan yard

Most of the communities have a pan yard, and anyone who shows up can join in.

Only a few musicians began pounding on the drums as the Advocate band watched with fascination. As the evening progressed, more people joined in the playing of the steel drums, and bongo and percussion instruments. They played jazz and a few Christmas songs.

While no one is sure of how the pan music started, the Trinidadians say their music blossomed after World War II and became more popular in the mid-1960s.

The steel drums, made from the bottoms of oil barrels, first were heard in Port of Spain in the 1930s, according to travel information. The instrument says much about the people in Trinidad. They're resourceful, drawn to lively music, and willing to use whatever is available to get a party started. History indicates that the pan was born when poor Trinidadians needed a musical instrument for Carnival, the festival of frantic revelry that is another of the island's claims to fame. Carnival is similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

Trinidadians are always ready for a party whether it be to celebrate the Carnival or the coming of a tropical storm, a coup, a wedding or any festive occasion, said Eola Alfred, a travel guide. Even during a curfew, the natives party, she said.

Band hosts workshop

The Trinidad tour also included a workshop conducted by Mike Swaffer, who plays a clarinet for The Advocate Brass Band. It was held in one of the pan yards for the steel band members. The Advocate members talked about how the band operates and demonstrated the brass instruments for about 50 members of the police, prison service and brass institute bands. Some of the Trinidadian musicians play in the National Youth Symphony.

"Everyone had a good time," said Swaffer. Swaffer, who is a former band director at Transylvania University and Austin Peay, and for high schools.

"They are so eager to learn. They play like high school players," Swaffer said. The pan bandsmen have little instruction, he said. They do not use music or a sound system. They play by memory alone.

Some of the players begin as youngsters. The leader of the Pamberi band began when he was 4 years old. He has traveled extensively with the band.

While anyone can join a steel band, it's the money for instruments that keep many people from playing. The police band used to get members from two orphanages, but they ran out of money for instruments, said Swaffer.

Untouched music

While Swaffer was conducting the workshop, George Foreman, director of The Advocate Band, took a tour of the police band's library.

"The library began during the colonial period," he said, adding that the band was organized over 150 years ago. "There was a lot of wonderful old music from the late 1800s and early 1900s. They don't play the music much. The shelves of music that are catalogued hadn't been touched in years."

Cynthia Davis Ross, president of the National Parang Association of Trinidad-Tabago, encourages young Trinidadians to be involved in keeping traditions like the pan music of their native country. She also works with natives in Venezuela with a type of music similar to Christmas carols in Spanish. The Parang celebration begins in September and ends Jan. 6.

Ross said concerts in Trinidad are not free like the ones in Venezuela, where they have government support, or the ones The Advocate Brass Band presents in the park and at the Great American Brass Band Festival each summer.

All local bands are invited to perform in the traditional Parang and are allowed to present three songs: one about the association, another about the birth of Christ, and a third one that can be anything as long as it is joyous music, said Ross.

Trip to see scarlet ibises

A two-hour trip to the Caroni Bird Sanctuary also was a treat for the bird lovers while the brass band was on tour in Trinidad. Most of the crowd was interested in getting a view of the scarlet ibis, the national bird.

The sanctuary is located in a 200-acre protected area within a large mangrove swamp on the northwest coast of Trinidad. The first part of the flat-boat ride through the area offered few sightings of birds. However, the group did see crabs that climbed trees, a nonpoisonous boa wrapped around tree branches, and egrets, herons, terns, other swamp inhabitants, and an anteater.

When the boat approached a large open lagoon, the group began to see flocks of the scarlet bird as well as other tropical birds that were flying in to roost.

After the flocks of birds flew to the roosts, the trees looked like they had been decorated with red and white ribbons. The birds fly in from Venezuela each evening, then leave the next morning.

The swamp is a haven for many birds that fly in from the north.

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