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Bertie Marshall Speaks on the Steelpan
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Award instead of Reward
Staff Article
Interview Recorded: March 13, 2005
Posted: March 18, 2005
Pan Trinbago had promised me fifty thousand dollars. They told the minister who was there at the time, Penelope Beckles, Patrick said that on the radio; I still have a recording of that. If I was them, I would have felt ashamed. They never gave it to me and they never called or anything. They never have money. That money was to help open a foundation so that I could have done further experiments. He gave me a set of certificates, no money. When I was asking for reward, which is money to help me with pan experiments, only awards I getting. I have so much awards, that if I put them to burn, the Fire Brigade would come and say, "wat kind'a fire is this mister, yuh know yuh suppose to get ah piece ah drum to make sure yuh have this fire controlled, yuh eh suppose to burn fire [in the open]." Look for yourself how much awards all around, it is not me who make this. People quicker give you award instead of reward. But it is the reward that help you to be so advanced, because simple as it looks, you have to eat and live and you have to buy instruments and materials, you must do that, otherwise they just joking.
My mother had never liked me to be a pan man. She sent me to learn shoe-making by Mr. Jones, who is dead now. I was a young fellah then. Long time people used to wear their own shoes so you used to get a lot of work. As soon as the soles needed fixing they want you to tack it. People long time too, didn't know much about shoes. They used the same shoes in the wet and the dry seasons so they always getting a problem. As long as you don't understand that shoes are built to suit the weather you are in trouble. I used to sew on welt too, long time my shoes had welt. You feel that is all I could do, pan alone?
I went and learn mechanic and I still can't drive. There were two professional chauffeurs in my band. That was Vincent Pompi who was working with the music band, and Rudy. They told me to go and take out a few pictures Bertie and come and learn to drive, but they use to hit the liquor so much I was afraid I would kill myself. I never got drunk enough to start up anybody car. Some fellahs get drunk and they would say, "pass de keys dey boy', and they start your car. I never get drunk enough to go and play the fool with people's car and mash it up and bring it back. I see that happen already. I say but how he could get drunk enough to take your keys and start up your car and go and bounce it. A car is not a toy, a car is an expensive thing boy, you don't do people that. In the first place he have no right handing you the key, he might be drunk too. Is only now the don't drink and drive come up. But all of that used to go on long time. I remember, because I was a rum shop man, so I know.
You don't make money when you are experimenting like I do. As a matter of fact you putting out money. You encouraging your sponsor to give you some money to help out with it. Well Rudolph use to do that. The tenor pan mainly resulted from my experiments because I was not satisfied with what I was hearing. You know the tenor pan is what you hear from a distance, that is the pan that carries around a band. But right now a want to open up the background because I was not satisfied with what I was hearing either. I use to go up and give Rudolph a help, but I never liked the Rocket pan. It was a good idea, but I said how you making it, he making it to chamber in the sound, as a chamber. I said, "but yuh have to felt up this entire thing, so that no sound could escape", and he put it in. You see, people don't understand the behaviour of a pan. Every note is an air pocket and I feel the only way you could change that is by introducing certain things. The rocket pan is really a chamber installed in front of the pan. For you to really hear that sound playing, you have to put your ear on the next side, close, because nothing is coming out. That is the idea I had. Well we experimented.
The quadrophonic is an extension second pan. We started from the low 'C' sharp, because he wanted to start it from the 'B'. I say, it is better you start it from the 'C' sharp. You don't want to put notes on pan that don't have any relevance to the pan. Carrying it too low, you know the sound, the sound will be too poor, better we forget that. It is my assistant Tony Slater, who first made that. He worked with Desperadoes all the time with me, right through. Rudolph did experiment and make a pan he called "The Marshall pan". The "Bertfone" now, was a pan to really elongate the notes, to carry out the sound. That is why a put springs on it. When you strike the notes, and I put conductors too so that the conductors could carry that sound that you are hearing, further to the spring, and the spring stretch, and I have a microphone picking up that sound. But when you do that too, you must also have a control, because what will happen, is that it will become more noisy. One note running into the next when you strike one, because it is elongated, so I put a peddle on it to stop that sound. Elongation is good, you will like it, but you have to be able to control it, otherwise you in trouble. The pan will be of no use.
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