Assemblymember Brian Cunningham has introduced a New York City Caribbean steel pan educational music program bill (A1717) in the state assembly that would establish a music citywide curriculum centered around traditional Caribbean instruments and require school grounds to be available in summer months for bands and youth to practice for the popular West Indian Carnival on Labor Day.
Cunningham was raised in Flatbush by Jamaican immigrant parents and attended city public schools. In his youth, he was a sound engineer and spent time as a DJ as a teenager, sparking a lifelong passion for music and culture.
“I think a lot of folks are just really excited about the preservation of the culture—making our education system more culturally competent and expanding how we look at music classes,” said Cunnigham about the bill. He said the current assault and bans on Black/Caribbean history in education in other states make it important that New York always be a leader in that regard and make cultural programming in schools a priority.
Music is the lifeblood of various islands in the Caribbean region, each unique in their own way. In Brooklyn, the Caribbean community puts on the annual West Indian Carnival, leading up to and during the Labor Day Parade on Eastern Parkway, to honor as many island cultures as possible.
“Part of a lot of the gentrification that’s happening, particularly in our neighborhoods—there were more open lots. In the open lots, people would pay fees to owners to play steel pan and practice for the pageantry of the West Indian Day parade,” said Cunningham. “There’s a lack of space now because every site is being built on and there’s a number of noise complaints. A lot of these bands are not able to rehearse in the way they used to.”
Cunningham was elected to represent the Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Wingate, and East Flatbush neighborhoods in Brooklyn last November. His bill is co-sponsored by Assemblymembers Monique Chandler-Waterman, Manny De Los Santos, and Chantel Jackson. It also has the backing of Senator Kevin Parker, Councilmembers Rita Joseph and Farah Louis, Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, and Congressmember Yvette Clarke, not to mention the city’s steel pan band groups and educators. There’s also a huge backing by Caribbean organizations like Tropical Fete and Jouvert International.
According to the West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA), the origins of J’Ouvert, Mas, and the carnival parade are deeply rooted in enslaved African traditions, such as outdoor celebrations with elaborate costumes and music. As people have migrated to the city over the last several decades, so have their individual festivities, sounds, artists, dances, styles, languages, foods, politics, ideals, and enduring sense of pride for their native countries.
The steel pan was an instrument invented in Trinidad and then adopted by several islands, said Sesame Flyers Founder Winston Munroe. It is one of the last acoustic instruments created in the 20th century. The drum of a steel pan is circular and the instrument’s 32 note elements are situated inside. Seniors keep the culture going, he said, but it’s up to the youth to sustain it after they’re gone. Ideally, he’d like to see a curriculum that teaches not only the history of and how to play the instrument, but how to make and tune the drum, which is a bit of a niche art.
“The actual instrument is made out of an oil drum,” said Munroe. “…it’s burnt, and after it’s hot, it is hammered out and sunk. The drum then has a belly to it. The notes are hammered out individually and then tuned like a xylophone or saxophone.”
In the 1920s, Jesse Waddle, who was Trinidadian, organized one of the first local indoor carnivals in the city, but it wasn’t until the 1940s that Waddle filed the permits to hold an outdoor carnival during Labor Day. In 1964, the permit to hold the carnival in Harlem was revoked “due to a violent riot.” The celebration then found a home in Brooklyn in 1969, beginning at Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue and ending at Grand Army Plaza.
“The community was receptive. People were curious about the instrument,” said Munroe, who immigrated from Trinidad to Brooklyn in 1966. “We had more leverage in setting up steel bands, what we call camp, because there were so many dilapidated buildings around Brooklyn. It was easy to get into one of the buildings and make a home, so to speak. That doesn’t exist anymore.”
Munroe said that the neighborhoods started losing spaces during the time former Mayor Rudy Guliani was in office. His organization and others have been advocating since then to preserve steel pan culture in schools for the cultural and public safety value. He’s retired and living in Atlanta, Georgia, at the moment, but still plays in his garage late at night and is looking to expand his one-man band soon.
Brooklyn’s “Little Caribbean,” the parade down the parkway, and the Carnival Panorama steel band competition behind the Brooklyn Museum are still a huge draw for tourism in the city, generating millions in revenue every year despite some serious public safety issues in the past.
“They’ve been advocating to create curriculums, work in schools, as well as giving the electeds on the ground suggestions to advance the steel band movement in New York City,” said Rhea Smith, a member of the West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA) board. “Our hope is, and our advocacy work focuses on, having the bill, city, and state support steel bands and mas-making workshops as part of Caribbean culture programming in all of the public schools and CUNY and SUNY college campuses.”
Smith has worked with local musicians to get grants, licenses, and corporate sponsors. She said that steel bands are not only thriving cultural purveyors but also provide a safe space for youth after school and in the summer, adding to the promotion of public safety.
“We have a place where latch-key kids largely can go from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. in the summer—stay off the streets, learn to read music, learn to play music, be disciplined, have male role models in their lives teaching them how to be productive citizens that love their culture,” said Smith.
She also concurred that in previous decades, steel bands would practice in open fields, parking lots, or school gyms whenever possible. Nowadays, she said, bands have worked closely with the surrounding NYPD precincts to get permits and permissions for practice space, but issues persist with noise complaints.
“None are running illegal operations,” said Smith, “but we have neighbors—even though the permits are intact, they call consistently.”
The city’s Department of Education (DOE) has welcomed the cultural aspect of the music education program and appears to be unopposed to the bill.
“Celebrations like the West Indian Day Parade fill our streets with music, dancing, and joy, and we’re wishing all of our young people a safe and happy weekend,” said DOE Press Secretary Nathaniel Styer. “Arts education and music are central to the mission of the New York City Public Schools. Our schools are the centers of our communities, and our buildings are open to all community organizations.”
Styer suggested that community organizations interested in using school property should reach out to a school’s principal for guidance. Updated guidelines are available from the Schools Chancellor’s office from 2021 that allow for some practices on a case-by-case basis.
Some schools have already gone the distance and established their own cultural music programs. Principal Jamie Hendrickson implemented a steel pan band music program about four years ago at the Myer Levin IS 285 Performing Arts School (Beverley Road in East Flatbush). Others are throwing their support behind Cunningham’s legislation. Dr. Arlene Burnett, principal of the Parkside Preparatory Academy at MS 2, is excited about the possibility of offering her students a steel band curriculum and hopes others can do the same.
“Embracing the rich tapestry of Caribbean music in our public schools not only enhances cultural diversity, but also fosters a harmonious blend of education and artistic expression,” said Burnett. “AM Brian Cunningham’s bill is a visionary step toward celebrating our cultural roots, and I am a strong supporter of this initiative.”
Joseph, chair of the City Council’s education committee, said she strongly supports Cunningham’s bill because “it embraces the rich tapestry of steel pan music in public schools.”
Many good ideas get held up by funding, but this one might not face such a fate. Cunningham said that New York State has a lot of control over education funding outside of the mayoral control of New York City’s public school system. His plans for the music program would be funded primarily by the state and shouldn’t be affected by city budget cuts, he said.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member who writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.