‘Kind of a family.’ Concert to celebrate 25 years and hundreds of steel band students
It’s like a family reunion, but with significantly more drums involved.
The Tri-City Steel Band Association will host their 25th anniversary celebration this weekend, with alumni coming back to town to perform for current students in the group.
Alumni will get together for a rehearsal Friday and performance Saturday.
Steel drum association
Director Ben Leggett said the association is a nonprofit that involves a range of students from late elementary school to high school.
Leggett said he worked with hundreds of children learning to play steel drums since 1995, and the people who have come to play for the band throughout the years have invested a lot of time practicing, rehearsing and performing to help the organization.
“It’s kind of a family, and we’ve developed a lot of traditions over the years,” he said.
“The belonging to the organization helped mold their character in a certain way,” Leggett said. “We just wanted to have this celebration at 25 years to have a chance for some of these people to come back and celebrate what we have managed to accomplish over the years.”
Alumni drummers
Alumni have the opportunity to perform at the celebration at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Three Rivers Convention Center.
The piece Leggett has set for alumni is a Soca tune — a dance tune from Trinidad. It’s an easy one to learn, since some alumni haven’t played in 15 to 20 years.
“The current members would also be involved so they could see who their forefathers and foremothers are because everybody has contributed something along the way to make the organization what it is today,” Leggett said.
“The togetherness and family, that never really leaves,” said parent volunteer Michele York. “That family feeling, those connections that were made so long ago are still there.”
Leggett said he is looking forward to reconnecting with band members he worked with in the past.
“In some ways, I’m kind of concerned that I won’t be able to get around and say hi to everybody because there’s going to be so many,” he said. “But I’m just looking forward to seeing all those faces I haven’t seen in a long time.”
Tickets to the celebration are $25 on the TCSBA website.
This story was originally published May 19, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
