Bertie Marshall Speaks on the Steelpan
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Berthram Kellman and Robbie Greenidge
Trinbagopan.com Staff Article
Interview Recorded: March 13, 2005
Posted: March 18, 2005
Berthram Kellman is an honest fellah. People don't trust him, but I find he is one of the most honest tuners they have around. You could listen to the conversation and pick him out. Now, remember I am a 'big man', I could recognize when a fellah playing the fool. It easy to recognize. It come like when a little child fooling parents. If you listen to your children properly, you must know something wrong. Not because is your child, this is sentimental business, you have to forget that a little bit, you must remember when you were small too, and there were little tricks you would try. People is big children, they does have a simple little stupidness, they come around you with that and you could detect it.
People are sentimental toward their family too and they forget these things and place their children on a pedestal, something high, that they don't realize that the common foolishness that you use to get on with, he attempting to get through to you with. So if you love your child, check them out and let them recognize that you know, you recognize the stupidness they are doing. Some people are so sentimental. Those people who killing one another up the hill, is partners. They killing one another because of a dollar, and their mother does be saying, "my child, my child doh be in dat," and next thing you hear, you child kill a man, or they kill him. All of them know one another because they from one place. Is so Laventille is. I know, because I was up there for years, don't mind I could still lose up there. I am from the Success Village side.
Robbie Greenidge could play pan since he small. He use to be over the banister saying, "Bertie, drop ah ole tenor for meh nah!." Now, a old tenor come like a gem for a little boy who like pan. He come out a real pan man in true. He understands how to play a pan, he plays soft. He has a little idea in tuning too. He must have realized that by pounding the pan it will send the pan out of tune quickly. Why people get excited? I shouldn't be asking that, I should know. I tell them that teaching children pan in school is good. Learning music is one thing, but playing music is something else, and they can't go on playing hard so. They shouldn't expose them to that kind of music, they should expose them to nice music, classics, where they have control. Most good pan beaters need training. They don't understand when I say training. What am I talking about? You can't start with a crescendo and then expect to be effective if you go to make a decrescendo. What will actually happen is, you would start too loud, because when you go to a crescendo note, you suppose to get louder, but, when you start loud, you would mash up the instrument and you would not be effective.
I was telling somebody, a little child could hear too you know. He might not be able to take a hammer like me and put the note in place, but you will feel your pants pulling if you carry him to hear something somewhere, and something wrong with the melody, don't doubt him because he could hear. He saying, "daddy something wrong with that tune, I don't know it so." Don't doubt him, you have to start to listen too, that is all. A person who playing a pan, suppose to know what the pan could take, use your discretion. The funny part of it is, they blame the tuner and do not know they should be blaming themselves with their careless approach. Pan-men does spin round and want to blame the poor tuner, and say is the tuner who not tuning the pan 'stiff' enough. The tuner's idea is to balance a pan; to have a pan nice. Tuners are all right players yuh know; they actually learn to play.
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