St. John, or "Love City" to our Caribbean neighbors,
is often called the best kept secret in the U.S.
Virgin Islands. Much of our Manhattan-sized island is protected
from development by the V.I. National Park, but we still have room for
a population of 9,000 residents and over 100,000 visitors a year.
The mission of the Love City Pan Dragons
Youth Steel Orchestra is:
» To provide a healthy positive extracurricular cultural
experience for St. John students from elementary through
high school;
» To enhance the educational experience of Virgin Islands
young people by promoting qualities and skills, through the learning
and performance of steel band music, that will assist them in their
everyday scholastic settings;
» To serve as a cultural force in the Virgin Islands
community.
The Love City Pan Dragons Youth Steel
Orchestra evolved from a teen drug and pregnancy prevention
after-school program begun over ten years ago. In 1998 a beginner band
for younger children, the Baby Dragons, was
added. For the next couple years there were two bands, with Baby
Dragons moving up to the Pan Dragons as they gained expertise and as
older players moved on to work, school commitments and graduation.
At present there is a single band, with current members aged 7-16. Many
have played over half their lives in the Baby Dragons and Pan
Dragons, and have developed into poised, musically skilled young people
with a strong sense of pride in the band, their music, and the high
regard in which the band is held throughout the Virgin Islands. The orchestra includes seven sections,
giving the
sound incredible richness and complexity. The 'voices' range from Tenor
(the soprano, or single lead pan, with 25-28 notes on each pan), to
Bass, with each player surrounded by six full size drums holding three
notes each. The Pan Dragons repertoire includes music from gospel and
40's pop and light classics to the latest calypsoes; we are in constant
demand for performances and launched our first CD in November, 2004,
and our second CD in November, 2006. Visitors to St. John will find the band
practicing with instructor/arranger Samuel Lawrence on Friday and
Saturday afternoons behind our bright red doors at the Youth Center
across the street from the Cruz Bay fire station, and are welcome to
stop in and listen.
Here's where we
are, with directions from New York, Chicago, Miami and San Juan:
>>>>>
Aboard The World,
March 11,
2004
photo by Oswin Sewer
The Pan Dragons perform annually at many
community events:The St. John Arts Festival each February, St. Thomas
Carnival Panorama and the Children's Parade in April, St. John
Panorama, Food Fair, Carnival Village Opening and the Carnival Parade
in June and July, at our own Annual Pre-Thanksgiving Dinners and
Community Honors Nights in November in Cruz Bay Park, and at St. John's
Christmas and Kwanzaa celebrations. In addition, the band is engaged
several times a year for private and corporate engagements such as
parties, receptions and weddings, either as the full orchestra or a
smaller ensemble.
Proceeds from our
2001 Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner, Calypso Show at the Westin
Resort St. John (featuring Irving "Brownie" Brown as emcee,
Imaginations Brass, Trinidad's
Singing Sandra and Black Stalin, St. Thomas' King Whadablee and
Calypso Sis, and Dominica's De Hunter), and a buffet at Cruz Bay's Fish
Trap Restaurant helped fund a trip to Trinidad in June of 2002.
Especially notable performances over the last few years include: 2001
in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands for the 1st Annual BVI Music
Festival, 2002-2006's St. John Arts Festivals, in 2003 for a corporate
convention for over 600 visitors at the Westin
Resort St. John, and in March, 2004 aboard The World,
a residential cruise ship in the process of a year-long world cruise. In
December, 2004, the Pan Dragons brought the internationally acclaimed
African-American a cappella women's group, Sweet Honey
in the Rock, to the Wyndham
Sugar Bay Resort ballroom
for a gala holiday fundraiser.
2005 found the band in record demand,
with special performances at the finish line of the 8 Tuff Miles, at
the Westin
for the Caribbean Dance Festival and again for a major corporate
reception, at a private dinner at Coral World in St. Thomas, at
Mongoose Junction for another corporate party, In October,
they played at a reception for the 2005
International Submerged Lands Management Conference. They gave two
concerts for guests at
the Westin Resort, plus greeted guests
arriving at the Westin dock throughout the holidays.
Four of our most
experienced band members travelled to Antigua in November 2005 to
compete in the 2005 Moods of Pan Festival "Five Alive" competition. This was
their first opportunity to connect with their musical peers in youth
steel bands from beyond the Virgin Islands, as well as priceless
exposure to scintillating ensemble performances from some of the finest
steel orchestras in the Caribbean.
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Antigua, November 2005 -
players and chaperones
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2006 brought more
special performances besides our regular events: at the Westin
providing dinner music for
corporate guests, playing the National and Virgin
Island Anthems for St. John's Martin Luther King Day program, at the
St. John Arts Festival, at the
finish line for the 10th Annual 8 Tuff Miles Road Race, at a reception
for Wild Thyme Boutique in Cruz Bay, in
performance for Starwood owners at the Westin in May, and recording of
our second CD at the Westin in October, officially
released at our 10th Pre-Thanksgiving Community Honors Dinner in
November. They went on to the VI National
Park 50th Anniversary Ceremonies, VI Senator Roosevelt David's honors
dinner at Frenchman's Reef in St. Thomas, the Christmas Parade for
the Second Annual St. John Christmas Music Festival, and a St.
John Animal Care Center benefit. The band appeared for
the first time in December at St. Thomas Miracle on Main Street, their
annual
Christmas downtown festival. They ended the year once again with
Kwanzaa
and holiday gigs at the Westin.
2007 found the
band with about 10 new members. The band played for its usual spring
gigs and then took their new trolley to St. Thomas for their first
appearance in the St. Thomas Carnival Children's Parade in April.
Additonal performances included the opening of the new Cafe Concordia
at
Estate Concordia Ecoresort, the Wagapalooza Animal Care Center Benefit,
the BVI Music Festival, St. John Carnival
events, the usual end-of-year events, and a Christmas Concert in the
Westin St. John ballroom, with performances by the band and local
calypsonians.
2008's summer break
brought more turnover, as several longtime members 'outgrew' the
program; their pans are now filled by new players, who began in
September to learn the repertoire for our second Westin Christmas
concert. The band continues to have a busy schedule, with our regular
commitments and special engagements.
Costs
for a steel band are very high. The small pool of truly gifted
instructors, musical arrangers, and tuners (who typically make as well
as tune pans) is in ever greater demand as the popularity of steel pan
has blossomed worldwide. The best come from
the home of steel pan, Trinidad. Steel drums are individually handmade,
formed with
hammers and chisels, cured by fire, then tuned with more hammers,
chromed or painted, then tuned a final time, usually with (the one
high-tech touch) a strobe. The unique sound comes from overtones in
each note which must also be tuned to sweeten the sound. The tuner must
'blend' not only the individual notes on each pan, but all the pans in
an orchestra to give them the same tonal quality. The nature of playing
them (hitting them with rubber-tipped sticks!) means the tuner must
return with his hammers and strobes for regular retuning.
Another continuing cost is uniforms to suit the most casual to formal
engagements. And travel with such bulky and heavy musical instruments,
not to mention children and chaperones,
rivals that of a major rock band in cost and complexity.
Our long-standing dream of replacing the band's worn-out instruments
was finally fulfilled in December, 2005 by the donation of
$32,000 from Trust Asset Management LLP, a St. Thomas-based global
investments management services firm chaired by S. Donald Sussman, who
is committed to securing the future through support of youth and
education. Made to order by renowned Desperadoes
tuner Desmond "Mappo"
Richardson, the sweetness of the Pan Dragons' instruments finally
matches the sweetness of their music.
Another long-standing dream was fulfilled by our good friends at
the Westin
St. John; the band now has their own parade trolley. Local beverage
distributor West Indies Corp. fulfilled another major need with their
gift of a spacious strong
delivery truck that holds all our pans and more.
The Pan Dragons welcome more solid support from our local community and
the wider community of steel pan lovers. Our small core of volunteers
is committed to providing the best available instruction, musical
arrangement and opportunities for our deserving young
musicians; yet funding for the arts is increasingly uncertain in our
present economic and political climate. An operations grant from the Virgin
Islands Council on the Arts and a Community
Development Block Grant from HUD fund part of our
instructor's fee each year, and other local donors provide fundraising
supplies and other services.
Topping our wish list: secure funding for
our arranger and for tuning twice a year, and expansion of our
overcrowded panyard so we can increase the number of children served
and add an
office and meeting area.
For information on booking or attending performances, to get our CDs,
or
if you are interested in becoming a sponsor of Pan Dragons operations
or projects, please e-mail us at the link
below. Our mailing address:
Love City Pan Dragons, PO Box 1537, St John VI 00831-0537
The Love City Pan Dragons
and Baby Dragons Youth Steel Orchestras, Inc. is recognized by the IRS
as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; donations and gifts are
tax-exempt to the extent allowed by law.
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