KRISTY RAM­NAR­INE

kristy.ram­nar­ine@cnc3.co.tt

Vanes­sa Headley-Brew­ster is the first fe­male arranger to cap­ture a ti­tle in the Na­tion­al Panora­ma Small Con­ven­tion­al Steel Or­ches­tra cat­e­go­ry twice.

The mu­si­cal and artis­tic di­rec­tor of Gold­en Hands took the steel­band to vic­to­ry with her arrange­ment of Lord Nel­son’s Mih Lover at Skin­ner Park, San Fer­nan­do, last month. The band tied with T&TEC New East Side Di­men­sion for first place.

In 2018, Headley Brew­ster be­came the first woman arranger to win the Na­tion­al Panora­ma Small Con­ven­tion­al Steel Or­ches­tra cat­e­go­ry with the tune Trou­ble which she com­posed, sang, and arranged.

“It’s an in­cred­i­ble ho­n­our, but more than any­thing, it’s a re­minder of the work still to be done in cre­at­ing space for women in this field,” she said.

“I’m proud of my achieve­ments, but I al­so see them as mile­stones for fu­ture gen­er­a­tions of fe­male arrangers. Break­ing bar­ri­ers is im­por­tant, but en­sur­ing that more women feel em­pow­ered to step in­to these roles is even more ful­fill­ing.”

While there are oth­er fe­male arrangers in T&T, the num­bers are still quite small com­pared to their male coun­ter­parts.

“Women have al­ways played a crit­i­cal role in pan, from per­form­ers to ed­u­ca­tors and ad­min­is­tra­tors, but ar­rang­ing re­mains a field where we need greater rep­re­sen­ta­tion,” she said.

“I hope to see more fe­male arrangers emerg­ing and be­ing recog­nised for their con­tri­bu­tions.”

Her ad­vice for women in­ter­est­ed in the steel­pan and ar­rang­ing is to first be­lieve in your abil­i­ty to con­tribute mean­ing­ful­ly to the art form.

“Ar­rang­ing is about hav­ing a voice, and every arranger brings some­thing unique to the ta­ble,” she said.

“Lis­ten to lots of mu­sic! Study the greats, ex­per­i­ment with dif­fer­ent styles, and de­vel­op your own mu­si­cal iden­ti­ty. Find men­tors and sur­round your­self with peo­ple who sup­port your growth. Most im­por­tant­ly, don’t be dis­cour­aged by the chal­lenges. Push for­ward, take up space, and trust that your work will make an im­pact. The pan world needs more fe­male voic­es, and there is room for all of us to shine,” Headley-Brew­ster ad­vised.

Grow­ing up in San Fer­nan­do in a deeply mu­si­cal house­hold, Headley-Brew­ster start­ed ar­rang­ing mu­sic for steel­pan at just 15 years old. “My for­mal jour­ney as an arranger be­gan in my teenage years, but I was im­mersed in the art long be­fore that, thanks to my moth­er, the late Fran­ka Hills Headley, and my in­volve­ment with Gold­en Hands as its first stu­dent.

“Over the years, ar­rang­ing has be­come sec­ond na­ture to me, both a pas­sion and a re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to the art form.”

The arranger has vivid mem­o­ries of con­tin­u­ous­ly prac­tis­ing her pan skills.

“Pan is more than just an in­stru­ment to me; it’s a voice, a lan­guage, and a lega­cy,” said Headley-Brew­ster.

“I am dri­ven by the end­less pos­si­bil­i­ties of the steel­pan, its abil­i­ty to trans­form emo­tions in­to sound, and its role as a sym­bol of in­no­va­tion and re­silience. See­ing young mu­si­cians de­vel­op con­fi­dence and dis­ci­pline through mu­sic keeps me in­spired.

“I’m al­so pas­sion­ate about push­ing the bound­aries of pan’s mu­si­cal ex­pres­sion, en­sur­ing that it con­tin­ues to evolve on a glob­al stage.”

With a Mas­ter of Mu­sic Psy­chol­o­gy from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Sheffield, Headley-Brew­ster con­tin­ues to be dri­ven by her pas­sion for cul­tur­al re­new­al and preser­va­tion.