VANESSA Headley may not be a hard taskmaster in the panyard.
But she’s no pushover either.
“My approach to teaching music in the panyard is based on a good balance between discipline and fun,” the San Fernando-born arranger told WMN.
“Playing music should never feel like a chore. It will never flow. But excellence requires dedication and discipline.
“I cannot function in chaos and I do not tolerate unruliness or delinquency in my workspace. That’s how I was taught and what has made me the musician I am today.
Vice-president and artistic director of the Golden Hands Steel Orchestra and Music School, Headley, 34, believes that in order to inspire her charges, they must be able to share her passion and excitement.
“I’ve found that playing alongside my players gives them that extra boost and I enjoy it just a as much.
Asked what she loves about the steelpan, Headley said, “As a composer and performer, I am intrigued and inspired by the steelpan’s versatility. Minor changes in one’s approach to the instrument can result in very impactful effects.”
This Carnival, Headley has taken her talents across the seas to Tobago as the arranger for Carnbee-based medium band NGC Steel Xplosion. In so doing, she has created history in becoming the first Trinidadian woman to arrange for a Tobago steelband.
Headley, who began rehearsing Voice’s (Aaron St Louis) Out And Bad with the band weeks ago, is excited about the project. BJ Marcelle, one of Trinidad and Tobago’s respected arrangers, recommended her to the band.
“I am truly excited at this prospect for several reasons. Foremost is that it has given me an opportunity to interact musically with the young steelpan musicians of Tobago. They are passionate, very skilled, open to new ideas and deeply appreciative of what I bring to the Panorama table.”
Headley was barely older than a toddler when her mother, well-known musicologist Franka Hills-Headley, a former school teacher and founder of the Golden Hands Steel Orchestra and Music School, introduced her to the instrument in 1993.
Hills-Headley, some years after completing a double major in biology and chemistry and post graduate diploma in science education, had shelved her plans for a masters’ degree to pursue a certificate of music (pan) at the University of the West Indies.
[caption id="attachment_997108" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Vanessa Headley has won the pan soloist competition at the TT Music Festival on many occasions. - David Reid[/caption]
She recalled Hills-Headley yearned to share her love for the pan with young people and as time passed many of her mother’s friends begged her to tutor their children.
“Mummy embraced this so much that she took all of her backpay government bonds and purchased steelpan instruments. She cleared our living room, set them up and Golden Hands was born.”
Under her mother’s careful guidance, Headley has won the pan soloist competition at the TT Music Festival on many o
