Using a handcrafted set of steel pans made up of leads (tenors), seconds, guitars, bass and dudup, Rachel offers one-off or courses of workshops for schools, corporate team-building, or for social events such as stag or hen events. Eleven people can be accommodated at one time on the pans, and up to four additional participants can learn traditional Trinidadian percussion such as shakers, scrapers and cowbells which give the band its rhythm and energy. Workshops can last from half an hour taster sessions for youngsters to whole days (with breaks!) if required. Workshops can be combined with a verbal introduction to pans and Trinidadian music, and solo performances if required. Please email to discuss your ideas and requirements. Rachel’s workshops are tailored to your needs and are very competitively priced.

If you are over 14 and interested in joining a pan-round-neck (walking) steel band in Sussex please see the Euphoria Steel Band website for details of our current courses which are held on Monday nights in Brighton.

Rachel has over 22 years experience teaching steelbands in a huge variety of environments, she teaches complete beginners to conservatoire-level players, from age seven to adult.

She taught pan in the London Borough of Barnet from 1996 - 2007, taking her groups to the National Finals of Music For Youth on numerous occasions - the Dollis Deep-Pans won a Highly Commended Certificate there in 2006. Under her direction they also performed at the Royal Festival Hall, and toured Slovenia (1999), where they played at the British Ambassador's Champagne Reception. She was Surrey County Steelband Co-ordinator and organised a fifty piece County Steel Orchestra which performed at the Woking Pops Concert (1999) and at the Albert Hall Gala Concert (1998). She has worked with excluded young people at South East Surrey Pupil Referral Unit and taught the award-winning Reigate Pilgrim Steel Band for over 10 years; she recently set up steel bands at the Hawthorns School, Bletchingley, and founded the UK’s only pan-round-neck band outside London: Euphoria Steel Band. She has also run taster sessions in shopping malls, day workshops, and week long residential courses. She also runs training days for music teachers wishing to improve their knowledge of pan.

Workshops can be tailored to the needs of an individual institution:

demonstration: talk and solo performance
workshop: technique and improving skills for established players and bands
advice on setting up a steelband project
arranging and teaching skills
percussion for steelbands
sheet music provided

Please Email me to discuss your requirements.