BY RYAN O’CONNOR
When Hopkinton music reacher Mike Alberici walked into the first day of school, he was as unfamiliar with steel pan music as many of the students.
“In front of everybody, (student Brittany) Hill looks at me and says, ‘You have absolutely no idea what you’re doing, do you?” And I said, ‘Well, not really,” said Alberici.
Hill, a Hopkinton High School senior who is in her second year of steel pan classes, was the only student with experience going into last semester.
Over the course of the first semester, however, Alberici and his dozen students have morphed into a steel pan music-making machine.
“We’ve grown so much,” said Zoe Skibbie, a sophomore. “We’ve developed into a cohesive community of loving musicians.”
Alberici runs the music department at Maple Street Elementary School and is filling in for Hopkinton Middle/High School teacher Paul Silverman, who is on sabbatical in Trinidad to further hone his steel pan skills.
“He’s gone to learn more about it and learn how to build the steel pan,” said Alberici of Silverman. “He’s basically down there living the steel pan island life.”
Silverman brought the program to Hopkinton about 15 years ago, said Alberici.
To learn how to play, Alberici spent the summer at home teaching himself how to play steel pan.
“I finally got in here and I’ve just fallen in love with the instrument,” he said. “It’s a fantastic thing. It’s a great program and it’s a really easy thing for kids to pick up on.”
The notes are labeled on the pan, making it easier for the average person to pick up than conventional instruments, said Hill.
In fact, she enjoys the style of music so much that she quit concert band and chorus to learn the new instrument.
“I really like steel pan a lot because it’s a different way to express yourself through music. And not a lot of schools have it,” said Hill. “It’s therapeutic because you can go practice for a couple hours and, when you finally get something down, it’s very rewarding.”
Gretchen Loft, a junior, said she has looked forward to learning the instruments since she was younger and saw Hopkinton students playing steel pans at the Hopkinton Fairgrounds.
“Even then I knew I wanted to play drums just so I could play the steel pan,” said Loft.
Sophomore Jeremiah Fortier is a man of few words, but his appreciation for the steel pan is evident.
“It rocks,” he said. “It legitimately rocks.”
Hopkinton High School’s steel pan musicians will be featured in concert Saturday, Feb. 3, at the New Hampshire Antiquarian Society to benefit students traveling to Central America for the Hands to Honduras program.
Students will also participate in the Berklee Jazz Festival in Boston on March 17.
Alberici said the music department is starting to raise money to start replacing the steel pans, which he said have exceeded their shelf life.
To raise money, the music department will offer adult steel pan classes on three consecutive Mondays Feb. 5, 12 and 19, from 7 to 9 p.m.
The cost is $110 and all proceeds benefit the Hopkinton Middle/High School Music Fund. Only one spot is left.
For more information, call Alberici at 746-4167, ext. 241 or e-mail him at malberici@hopkintonschools.org.