Ouachita’s steel drum bands to present concert Dec. 3
November 26, 2018
- Meagan WoodardOuachita Baptist University’s steel drum bands will come together to present their
fall concert on Monday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in Ouachita’s McBeth Recital Hall in
Mabee Fine Arts Center. The concert is free and open to the public.
“This will be the first Ouachita Steel Drum Band concert to feature not just two,
but four different steel bands!” said Dr. Ryan Lewis, associate professor of music
and director of the steel ensembles.
To begin, Tiger Steel, Ouachita’s advanced steel band, will perform “Jump in the Line”
by Harry Belafonte, “Oye Como Va” by Tito Puente and Carlos Santana and “Brown Eyed
Girl” by Van Morrison. Pan Harmony will then perform “Jingle Bells” and “Funkytown”
by Lipps, Inc. Pan Harmony is an after-school community steel band made up of students
from Peake Elementary School and led by Ouachita students. Next, Pan Jouvet, Ouachita’s
beginner steel band, will perform “Tay Lay Lay” by Lord Kitchener and “O Christmas
Tree.” Steel Kickin’, the first Ouachita faculty and staff steel drum band, will present
“Island in the Sun” by Harry Belafonte and “Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” by
Elvis Presley before Tiger Steel concludes the concert with “Chameleon” by Herbie
Hancock and “Pan in A Minor” by Lord Kitchener and arranged by Jit Samaroo.
While the Ouachita steel bands’ performance includes everything from rock and pop
tunes to Christmas music, roughly half of the songs are calypso and Soca tunes. Lewis
said he hopes the steel band concert will transport the audience to the Caribbean
while exposing them to a versatile instrument.
“We are playing instruments from Trinidad and Tobago, and we want to honor the people
there by promoting their indigenous styles of music on their national instrument,”
Lewis said.
“Dr. Lewis really makes it feel like you’re on an island in the sun listening to Caribbean
music!” said Hannah Saunders, a Tiger Steel member and senior musical theatre major
from St. Paul, Ark.
Hannah Terry, a sophomore Christian studies/Christian missions major from Texarkana,
Ark., assists with the after-school steel band Pan Harmony. “The kids have fun, and
you can see the joy on their faces. I think we all need a little bit more of that
in our lives,” she said. “I look forward to helping teach them and playing with them
each week.”
For more information, contact Dr. Ryan Lewis at (870) 245-5421 or [email protected] or visit www.obu.edu/percussion.
By Meagan Woodard
November 26, 2018
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