Lion Steel | Jumpin' Up Since 1990!

WOW, what an evening!  If you missed this year's annual Caribbean Dinner you missed out!  We had over 400 people in attendance at the Tallahassee Antique Car Museum.  We had a Seafood Buffet, a Silent Auction with over 40 items, and featured all of our Steel Bands.  The event exceeded our expectations for fundraising and I can't thank you all enough!  With these funds, Lion Steel will be purchasing about 10 new steel drum cases that the band needs for properly transporting our pans...as well as paying for our tuner, Alan Coyle, to pay us a visit and tune up the band this weekend!

Please check out the PHOTO tab up top to check out a few behind the scenes pictures! 

Don't miss our final concerts of the year!!!  Sunday, May 6th, 4pm and 7pm, in Leon's Auditorium.  -Free admission

Wow, I can't believe it's already April!  This year, Lion Steel added a new concert to our usual performance schedule, we were hoping to play on Leon's front lawn for all the incoming parents and students (as well as all of our current fans!) at the Curriculum Fair.  Unfortunately, the weather report was ominous and so we performed the first-ever "next to the gym/under cover" show!  Please click on our PHOTO tab to check out some of the great photos!  Personally, it was one of the most fun I've put on!!!

What's next?  The bands are preparing for our annual Caribbean Dinner Concert and Silent Auction.  If you haven't heard, Tuesday April 24th @ 6pm we will take over the Tallahassee Antique Car Museum and host 400 of our guests.  The Seineyard is catering this year and we will have all kinds of cool items for a Silent Auction...and of course, all our great bands will entertain throughout the evening!  If you haven't got your ticekt yet, act now, we are just about to sellout!!!  

Lastly, mark your calendars for Sunday, May 6th.  This is our regularly scheduled "End-of-semester" concert.  The concert will be held in Leon's newly renovated auditorium, and is free to the public.  There are 2 shows: 4pm & 7pm.  

Make sure you come out and see us this Spring!  We are playing a lot of classic Pop music this time around including tunes from Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, 311, Def Leoppard, ToTo, Michael Jackson, MGMT, A-Ha and more!

Hello again from Lion Steel!  We are gearing up to start our Spring Concerts and we are doing something a little out-of-the-ordinary this year. Tuesday, March 13th is Leon's annual Spring Curriculum Fair, where prospective students and parents check out our campus and see a little bit more of Leon firsthand.  What better place to showcase our Steel Bands!!!

So...We are going to perform an OUTSIDE concert that evening (out on the front lawn of the school).

Each spring in Trinidad, the National Competition of Steelbands is held.  They call it Panorama!  This year, some interested students from the Canboulay and Jouvert bands got together and watched the bands online -streaming live- right here in our classroom.  Students got to socialize, share snacks, and hang out listening to the sweet sounds of 100 member steelbands fill the night air.  Congratulations to the Trinidad All-Stars for their repeat win this year.   To see some of these performances for yourself you may visit: http://whensteeltalks.ning.com/video   -OR-   do a YouTube search for: Panorama 2012.

We've got a big week upcoming at Lion Steel!  Tomorrow (Monday, the 28th) we will have accomplished pan builder and tuner, Alan Coyle in our classroom tuning up all of our instruments!  We are very excited since we only have pan tuned about once-a-year.  If you've never seen this done, Alan will be taking hammers to our drums to beat them back into sounding beautiful!  It's really quite an amazing process!

Next up, THIS friday, we will welcome Dr. Chris Tanner to our campus from Oxford, Ohio, where he teaches the world-renowned Miami University Steel Band (and Mr. Wendeln- back in the day).  He will be here to rehearse in class with all the bands on Friday and of course, be part of the big shows on Sunday.

Lastly, SUNDAY (Dec. 4th) is the big day!  We will be performing 2 concerts, one at 4pm and also at 7pm.  They are FREE admission and in the Leon Auditorium.  Dr. Tanner will be performing will all the groups and our advanced band, Canboulay, will be premiering a brand new piece composed by Chris Tanner named “Borrowed Time”.  

Don’t miss it!!!

Today I pulled up to the panyard, and what do I see:  NEW A/C getting installed!  

From all of us at Lion Steel,... thanks Leon County! 

I hope everyone out there is having a great summer!!!  We at Lion Steel have been busy planning and organizing for the 2011-2012 school year.  

Some announcements:

We will again be welcoming a guest artist to Leon, this time for our upcoming December 4th concert.  Dr. Chris Tanner will be joining us as well as commissioning a brand-new song for us to premiere!  I am very excited as Chris was my first pan teacher back during my undergraduate work at Miami University (OH).  Dr. Tanner is also one of the foremost educators in the pan community and is an in-demand clinician and an extensively published composer of pan music.

Next, I am very pleased to announce that Lion Steel's Canboulay Band has been selected to perform at the 2012 Florida Music Educators Association Clinic/Conference!  The performance will be Thursday, January 12th at 8:00pm in the Tampa Convention Center.  Mr. Wendeln will also be presenting a session for other educators that are interested in the pan and starting a steelband.  This is a great honor for us, we can't wait to spread the good word of pan to Florida's music educators!

Lastly, we recently ordered another set of Double Seconds for the band.  The instruments will be delivered in the coming month and will be tuned up and ready for the school year.  This brings our number of instruments to 22!  Thanks should be given to all those who attend our concerts, hire us for gigs, purchase our t-shirts, DVDs, and CDs, come to our Caribbean Dinner, or otherwise support our band!  Every single dollar donated goes directly into new instruments and music for this program...THANK YOU FOR GIVING US THIS OPPORTUNITY!

This past weekend 37 of our students comprising of the “Canboulay” and “Jouvert” steelbands traveled to Virginia Beach, Virginia to compete in the 9th Annual PANorama Caribbean Music Fest.  24 steelbands from around the country played their hearts out in front of three big name judges for ratings and cash prizes.  This year's judging was the toughest in years, the panel comprised of Dr. Eugene Novotney, Kenneth Joseph, and Dr. Shannon Dudley.  The Leon bands both played beautifully with high energy and musical precision.  Mr. Wendeln was excitedly quoted as saying "both bands played so awesome!" 

The Jouvert Band received a bronze medal missing out on a silver rating by only one point!  Canboulay took one of only 4 gold medal ratings on the day as well as won 1st Place in the High School category.  The band received a $250 prize for topping the High School category.

In addition, on Friday, 10 of our student attended the workshop held by this year's judges.  The day consisted of a sectional rehearsal in small groups, a short lecture on steelband history, and a fullband rehearsal as they put together a brand new piece of music by Dr. Novotney.  These students also enjoyed the rare experience of playing with a 100+ piece band!!!

The steelbanders were also able to see and hear some of the other elite elementary, middle, high school, and community steelbands in the country and rocked out to some professional bands for their musical enjoyment both Friday and Saturday evenings.

Special Thanks should be given to all who made the trip to Virginia possible:  The Family Members, Chaperones, Truck and Bus Drivers who came along to help cheer brought another level of excitement to the performances!

Congratulations Lion Steel!!!