[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n Saint Lucia, where the people boast about the brimming talents and eccentric cultures of the island, especially on Independence Day, the United States Embassy in Barbados, Eastern Caribbean and the OECS, through its Department of Cultural Affairs, decided to share America’s own musical gifts as part of our Independence celebrations. James Rodriguez, Public Affairs Officer of the US Embassy enthused, “A big part of the United States is culture. We really value culture and different aspects of culture.”
Huntertones, a live jazz and funk performance band, visited Saint Lucia as its first of four Caribbean island destinations on a world tour. Travelling most recently from Bolivia, Huntertones arrived on February 26 with five of its six-man band and, accompanied by members of the US Embassy, headed straight to the practice room of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Band. The group confessed to a fun and entertaining experience with the police band.
The next order of business was a much-anticipated Huntertones workshop at the Saint Lucia School of Music (SLSM). About 40 participants were in attendance on Monday morning: students and faculty of SLSM and various secondary schools. Richard Payne, Executive Director of SLSM told reporters that a part of the education offerings at the school is to “create opportunities through workshop sessions to have our students learn some very practical, real-world things”. He amplified: “As with every performance, we try to get the opportunity for our young musicians to be exposed to this talent so that they can be inspired and perhaps learn some things.”
The music workshop held by Huntertones was nothing less than inspiring, as some participants informed. The unstructured, free-spirited nature of the event allowed students to ask a range of questions and they also got some information from the US Embassy to source relevant scholarships.
Bandleader Dan White headed the proceedings and together the band encouraged workshop participants in a number of areas. There was advice as to career choices in music and necessary educational backgrounds. Getting solid foundation in musical theory, reading and classical piano lessons was reiterated numerous times by Huntertones members, especially for aspiring composers and orchestral performers. They also gave tips on best practices to take in and out of the practice room and how all of the aforementioned could make improvisational performances easy and fun.
The Huntertones musicians also expressed that the skills acquired whilst performing and practising music are useful in all other aspects of life. They encouraged younger students to keep their academic grades in equally high priority and denounced procrastination and rushing.
A topic that was constantly implied by participants’ questions was that of failure.
“Failure is a part of life; use it for improvement. Wake up the next morning determined not to mess up,” said White. “Rebound and make a note of: I’m not going to let that happen again.”
In between the rigorous questioning and note-taking by the workshop participants, Huntertones treated them with entertaining and lively performances.
The band’s bass player, Adam DeAscentis, did not accompany them on the Caribbean trip and, despite their astonishing performances, they expressed how much they missed him.
Other members of Huntertones not yet mentioned in this report are: Jon Lampley, Chris Ott, John Hubbell and Josh Hill.
Richard Payne further expressed, “Whenever there’s an opportunity for our students to get some real-world practical experience from very good touring musicians, we seize on that opportunity and we are very pleased to have them here sharing their knowledge with us today.”
As part of the visit, Huntertones hosted a live concert on Monday night in the grounds of the SLSM. The free performance was open to the public of all ages, to experience the American jazz culture, and was much appreciated by the sizeable audience. Declared Dan White, on behalf of Huntertones, “Our goal is to make people feel good after our shows!”
