NINE-YEAR-OLD
CREATES HISTORY
AS PAN ARRANGER
Yvonne Webb
Guardian South
Bureau
Sunday Guardian
February 6, 2000
Page 30
Age
knows no boundaries.
Nine-year-old Atiba Williams is testimony of this truism. Standing just over three feet tall, and
weighing less than one hundred pounds, nine-year-old Atiba is a giant when it
comes to his musical prowess.
An
extraordinarily gifted child, Atiba, together with his sister Nubia, 21, have
created history by becoming the youngest arrangers of a panorama tune.
The
Williams siblings from Cocoyea Village, San Fernando, are arranging the
panorama tune, "Tenor Playe" by GS Soldier (Garth St. Clair) for
Panasonic Connections of Victoria Village, San Fernando.
The
players, the majority of whom are in the same age bracket as the Williams' do
not resent them, but respect their ability.
Atiba especially is an inspiration to many who hope to be just like him
one day.
Creating
history is not novel to the brother and sister team. Atiba, a grade 'A' student at Waterman's Preparatory School,
sings, dances and writes poems.
Although he is most renowned for his pan proficiency, he is an
accomplished musician, with expertise in paling the violin, piano, drums and
keyboard as well. He has a first grade
in music, but his musical ability transcends even university level.
His
sister Nubia, a graduate of the University of the West Indies and Trinity
College, London, holds a Bachelor's degree in Musical Arts (Upper Second) and
Grade eight, Music Theory.
She
created some history by becoming the first student at the Faculty of Humanities
and Education, to graduate as a Pan Major with regards to these qualifications.
Also,
she is the only local pan arranger with a specialist degree in pan. In an interview at the Pan Yard last week, Carlyle
Fletcher, band Manager explained the connection with Panasonic and the
Williams' siblings.
"When
Pan Trinbago decided on the one arranger per band, we thought we needed to get
an arranger, not just any arranger, but somebody who was musically trained. Nubia was recommended."
Knowing
her ability as a player and hr accomplishments as a musician, in spite of her
age, Fletcher needed no convincing. He
jumped at the idea.
"I
suddenly became excited once more about Panorama."
That
was two days before Christmas. So I
found myself at her home bright and early on Christmas morning. I spoke to her and her family about it, and
after some deliberations she agreed," Fletcher said.
It
was a little difficult to sell it to the band, but he was able to convince the
members they had a gold mine.
Nubia
never arranged for any big conventional steelband although at UWI, she did pan
arranging for different types of pan.
"We
had steelband exams and everybody had to perform, you know like recitals, where
we actually had to score arrangements.
In addition, I taught the UWI Discovery Camp for four years to children
in four age groups from 5-15 and I used to experiment on them. That was my first experience at arranging,
Nubia remembered.
"I
told myself, when I get out of school, I would bury myself in music, you know
listen to different idioms and let my musical vocabulary grow. I did not think I was ready, but listening
to the band now, listening to them perform the music that Atiba and I would
give out, it builds my confidence more and more."
She
was therefore pleasantly surprised by the confidence Fletcher had placed in her
ability to arrange for his band.
Fletcher
recalled, "When I spoke to Nubia, she said if she was going to do the
tune, she would need Atiba's help. I
was thinking it was just as a player.
But when I saw them work together, then I understood what she really
meant. He is like an assistant
arranger."
Nubia
exploring Atiba's role in the arrangement explained, "he is not just an
ordinary child.
He
is gifted. He had perfect pitch and he
has the ability to feel and to hear music in a way the normal average musician
is not able to." Apart from that,
she continued, "He would actually give me parts for the whole range of the
band. He would say let the tenors do
this, let the double tenors do that.
Other times I would have an idea and I would go to him with it and he
would say whether he likes it or don't like it and we would exchange ideas and
work along. I value his opinion,
because he hears music in his head."
Nubia
went on to explain that Atiba's proficiency with the steelband came about,
"because he grew up hearing the steelband, not because he could not play
any other instruments. It was the only
available instrument we had in our family, that he could have developed on in a
certain way and because he only has two hands."
Giving
an insight into his musical mastery, Nubia who also manages Atiba said of him,
"sometimes he would use four mallets or four sticks to play and that is
the fullest range he could get. And
there are times, he would be hearing a whole orchestra but he isn't able to put
it down. He would dabble on the key
boards and try to get the parts for ten fingers, but its still kind of limited
because he does not have the technical skills to perform the music he hears in
his head."
Using
this opportunity to arrange, she stated, has given him the outlet to vent that
kind of musical prowess.
Speaking
about the magnanimous task he has undertaken, the child prodigy said, "I
feel very proud, because I had never arranged a steelband before.
It
is a good opportunity, seeing that I can play different types of pan. I play the bass guitar, double seconds, and
tenor. I feel elated of the work Nubia
and I have done all these weeks. It's
sounding good already."
The
well-spoken and highly disciplined young man gets to the panyard about 6 p.m.
and does not leave before midnight most nights. Yet he is ale to get up at 6 a.m. next morning to get to school
and start the routine all over again.
Nubia
noted, "This is not very hard for him being involved in the arts from very
young. This is not a job or an extra
task; he loves what he is doing.
Sometimes
I let him stay at home because I think he needs the rest, but even when I get
back home from the panyard he is up reading or doing something. He has an energy that just keeps him
going."
Fletcher,
who has been with Panasonic for ten years, can't remember when last he felt
this excited about Panorama.
"Our
best year was with Ken 'Professor' Philmore in 1989 when we made it to the
finals. Since then we have not been
back to the finals, but listening to the band, I think this is definitely going
to be one of the best years.
I am
thinking panorama finals," he said confidently.