Programming Decisions of Steel Band Directors in the United States

Jonah Payne Author

08/04/2020 Added

14 Plays

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An exploratory study looking at which genres are composed, arranged and programmed by steel band directors in the U.S. and why.

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[00:00:00.000]Hey, everybody! My name is Jonah Payne,
[00:00:03.698]and I am a senior at the University of
[00:00:05.948]Nebraska-Lincoln. I am currently pursuing
[00:00:08.502]degrees in music performance and
[00:00:10.706]psychology. The title of my presentation
[00:00:13.304]today is "Programming Decisions of Steel
[00:00:15.868]Band Directors in the United States."
[00:00:21.400]So, before I begin, I just want to quickly
[00:00:24.933]explain what a steel band is. So, a steel
[00:00:27.906]band is a musical ensemble comprised of
[00:00:32.751]mostly steel pans, which are made from oil
[00:00:35.761]barrels as well as a rhythm section. Steel
[00:00:38.941]pans were invented in the 1940s. Steel
[00:00:41.353]pans moved to the U.S. in the late 1950s.
[00:00:47.151]By 2016, it was estimated that there were
[00:00:51.634]already over 600 steel bands just in the
[00:00:55.185]K-12 and university settings, so there are
[00:00:57.749]likely more than that now.
[00:00:59.472]So today, I will be discussing the
[00:01:02.590]programming decisions of steel band
[00:01:04.994]directors in the United States.
[00:01:06.989]Programming simply refers to the music
[00:01:09.713]played by the ensemble. When one attends
[00:01:13.864]a concert, there is normally a program
[00:01:16.542]with a list of songs that are performed.
[00:01:18.929]Looking into this topic is something that
[00:01:21.403]was suggested by Dr. Brandon Haskett in
[00:01:25.300]his 2016 study. He has been pioneering the
[00:01:28.758]process of researching U.S. steel bands.
[00:01:31.852]His 2016 study used surveys to
[00:01:35.003]investigate demographic and pedagogical
[00:01:38.392]information of steel bands in the United
[00:01:40.877]States.
[00:01:41.623]So, why does this matter?
[00:01:43.344]There is limited research on steel bands
[00:01:46.462]in general, especially United States'
[00:01:48.674]steel bands. In addition, nobody has
[00:01:51.659]researched this very specific topic of
[00:01:54.939]programming of concerts for U.S. steel
[00:01:57.330]bands, nor the availability of repertoire
[00:01:59.772]for various genres written for steel
[00:02:01.986]bands.
[00:02:02.796]Also, I think it is essential to document
[00:02:05.165]history in the making while pans are so
[00:02:07.617]young.
[00:02:08.327]As with most world music, I believe this
[00:02:10.770]family of instruments is not appreciated
[00:02:13.260]enough, and they are often viewed as just
[00:02:15.819]a novelty instrument. And, on that point,
[00:02:18.324]the final reason why I believe this is so
[00:02:20.717]important is that exploring the types of
[00:02:23.097]music performed by steel bands and why can
[00:02:25.701]point toward future directions on how to
[00:02:27.851]further acculturate steel pans into all
[00:02:29.546]genres and ensembles as well as U.S. music
[00:02:32.040]culture in general.
[00:02:32.950]I had 3 main research questions going into
[00:02:35.327]this study: First, what are the most
[00:02:37.319]common genres selected for performance,
[00:02:39.767]arrangement, and composition by U.S. steel
[00:02:42.172]band directors?
[00:02:43.106]Second, what factors influence U.S. steel band
[00:02:45.704]directors' decisions regarding repertoire
[00:02:47.759]selection, arrangements, and compositions?
[00:02:50.075]Which genres have the most and least
[00:02:52.290]notated repertoire available?
[00:02:56.509]So a brief overview of the methods:
[00:02:59.095]I reached out to the U.S. Steel Band
[00:03:01.252]Directors Facebook page. I was able to get
[00:03:03.570]51 participants for this survey and 36
[00:03:08.800]were full responses. I created this survey
[00:03:11.210]via Qualtrics, and there was essentially
[00:03:13.770]one half focused on the steel band
[00:03:16.725]directors themselves, and one half that
[00:03:19.470]was focused on the steel bands they
[00:03:21.680]direct.
[00:03:22.526]Looking at the results of directors who
[00:03:24.788]arrange music, the traditional Trinidadian
[00:03:27.133]music and pop music were most frequently
[00:03:29.743]arranged; and concerti were least
[00:03:33.368]frequently arranged. In regard to
[00:03:35.842]composing, once again, traditional
[00:03:38.112]Trinidadian was the most frequently
[00:03:40.182]composed. Concerti are the least.
[00:03:42.322]For programming, it is very similar once
[00:03:43.892]again. Traditional Trinidadian and pop
[00:03:46.008]music are the most frequently programmed.
[00:03:48.464]Concerti are the least frequently
[00:03:50.259]programmed.
[00:03:51.559]In regard to arranging and composing
[00:03:54.793]influences, matching the group's skill
[00:03:57.043]level with the difficulty of music as well
[00:03:59.298]as pedagogical benefits for the players
[00:04:01.678]were the most influential. However,
[00:04:03.901]opportunities for improvisation and trying
[00:04:06.515]to appease musical preferences of the
[00:04:09.018]general public are the last influential.
[00:04:12.484]Programming influences were mainly
[00:04:15.080]"trying to match group's skill level with
[00:04:17.350]difficulty of music" and "amount of time
[00:04:19.693]available for rehearsals" while, once
[00:04:21.936]again, preferences of the general public
[00:04:24.385]are the least influential. Lastly,
[00:04:29.142]regarding repertoire availability,
[00:04:31.177]most directors agreed that traditional
[00:04:33.467]Trinidadian and pop music have the most
[00:04:36.078]notated repertoire available, while
[00:04:38.777]concerti have the least.
[00:04:41.259]So, traditional Trinidadian music is
[00:04:43.864]arranged, composed and programmed the most
[00:04:46.751]frequently, while pop music seems to be
[00:04:49.286]second; and other Latin American styles
[00:04:52.404]are third. Concerti, but also solo
[00:04:56.480]'concert' pieces and contemporary
[00:04:58.905]classical ensembles are arranged,
[00:05:02.260]composed, and programmed the least
[00:05:04.931]frequently across the board.
[00:05:06.971]Solo 'concert' pieces and contemporary
[00:05:09.525]classical ensemble pieces require a small
[00:05:11.986]sect of performers to play, which excludes
[00:05:15.093]the rest of the band; therefore, I cannot
[00:05:17.823]say that my numbers on programming for
[00:05:20.491]these genres accurately reflect how often
[00:05:24.411]they are performed in general. Because -
[00:05:27.441]speaking from experience- many people
[00:05:29.920]put them on recitals and percussion
[00:05:32.128]ensemble concerts, and they are not always
[00:05:34.728]on the steel band concerts because they
[00:05:37.257]are not performed by an entire band.
[00:05:40.227]However, integrating into these styles
[00:05:42.263]will hopefully further acculturate
[00:05:44.049]these instruments to our culture in the
[00:05:46.119]United States without taking away from
[00:05:47.923]the traditional music.
[00:05:49.356]Also, using steel pan for these styles
[00:05:51.976]would likely reduce the 'novelty
[00:05:54.070]instrument' stereotypes.
[00:05:55.741]Regarding the availability ratings,
[00:05:58.179]steel band directors believe that
[00:06:01.242]most availability was between a 2.1
[00:06:04.292](which corresponds to an 'average'
[00:06:06.390]availability) and 3.6 (which corresponds
[00:06:10.955]to 'good' availability). But no genre was
[00:06:13.365]perceived as having excellent
[00:06:15.295]availability.
[00:06:16.285]And, regarding programming influences,
[00:06:18.551]they nearly mirror the influences on
[00:06:22.600]arranging and composing. So, for both,
[00:06:25.229]the option of matching group's skill with
[00:06:28.552]music was the largest influence. This is
[00:06:31.779]logical; however, this does raise a
[00:06:34.390]question of whether or not there is
[00:06:36.161]sufficient for each skill-level range. So,
[00:06:39.108]for example, intermediate music.
[00:06:41.198]In regard to the first research question,
[00:06:45.196]which asks about the most common genres
[00:06:47.676]selected for performance, arrangement
[00:06:49.901]and composition, it appears that
[00:06:52.191]traditional Trinidadian and pop music,
[00:06:54.558]across the board, are the most frequently
[00:06:57.341]arranged, composed, and programmed.
[00:07:00.786]In regard to influences on those
[00:07:04.473]programming decisions, it appears that
[00:07:07.013]trying to match group's skill level with
[00:07:09.462]the difficulty of the music as well as
[00:07:11.700]pedagogical benefits for the players
[00:07:13.630]are the most prominent influences on
[00:07:15.855]arranging, composing, and programming
[00:07:17.819]decisions.
[00:07:18.705]And it is worth noting that the time
[00:07:20.934]available for rehearsals is also salient
[00:07:23.224]for programming decisions.
[00:07:25.538]Regarding the repertoire availability
[00:07:27.644]question, we can see that traditional
[00:07:30.438]Trinidadian music has the highest
[00:07:32.460]repertoire availability, while concerti
[00:07:34.849]has the lowest. The lasting conclusion is
[00:07:37.835]that traditional Trinidadian music
[00:07:40.470]clearly dominates every single category
[00:07:43.272]and, while we do need to honor the rich
[00:07:47.367]history and culture behind these
[00:07:49.600]instruments, I think it is important to
[00:07:51.792]have a greater variety in order to break
[00:07:54.028]the stereotype of this instrument being a
[00:07:56.660]'novelty instrument.'
[00:07:59.119]He (Dr. Haskett) suggested that someone
[00:08:02.039]looks at the demographics of composers
[00:08:04.676]whose music is programmed for steel band
[00:08:07.291]concerts. This study solely focused on
[00:08:11.500]U.S. steel bands. There are currently
[00:08:13.580]steel bands all over the world, not just
[00:08:15.968]Trinidad and the United States; all over
[00:08:17.856]Europe and Asia and elsewhere.
[00:08:20.567]And future research on the programming
[00:08:23.396]decisions of steel band directors of
[00:08:25.539]steel bands in those other countries
[00:08:27.559]should definitely be done. Finally,
[00:08:29.605]the genres and influences in my tables are
[00:08:32.199]not representative of all possibilities.
[00:08:34.969]I hope this study perpetuates the steel
[00:08:37.383]band research that Dr. Haskett began, but
[00:08:40.016]there is much more needed to: document
[00:08:42.715]history in the making, fill gaps in the
[00:08:44.539]literature, shed light on an under-
[00:08:46.778]appreciated art form, and find ways to
[00:08:49.118]further acculturate these instruments
[00:08:51.582]into our music.
[00:08:52.688]Before I sign off, I would like to
[00:08:54.740]acknowledge UCARE for funding my research
[00:08:57.436]on this unique, overlooked topic.
[00:08:59.370]I really appreciate that. And also, I
[00:09:01.544]would like to thank Dr. Brown-Kramer and
[00:09:04.162]Dr. Hall for being my advisors on this
[00:09:06.343]project. I could not have done any of this
[00:09:08.717]without you both, so thank you so much.
[00:09:11.959]And here is a quick glimpse of the
[00:09:14.169]references. I highly suggest checking out
[00:09:16.735]Angela Smith's book.
[00:09:18.217]Thank you.

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Programming Decisions of Steel Band Directors in the United States

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