Vanya Reid

Hi everyone. My name is Vanya Reid. I was born and raised in Tottenham North London. From the age of five I began to play the piano. At the age of seven I used to practice my piano at break time. During this time I would hear the beautiful sound coming from the main hall of steel pan and was immediately drawn to it. I then joined what was known at the time of St Paul’s and All Hallows Junior school band. Clyde Dias was my tutor at the time and allowed me to play all of the pans. During my primary school years, we toured all around England and entered many competitions of which we came first on many occasions. The band went to the Royal Proms of which we went three years in a row. Mr Dias was always very proud of us and allowed me to take lead in the band.In 1988, I was introduced to Dennis Osborne who was a Youth Leader and manager of Eclipse Steel Orchestra by Mr Dias who still mentors me. I then joined Eclipse and at the time Boots and Kurt Jagdeo were the tutors. I played my first Panaorama in 1989, which was a great experience but very daunting, as I had never played in such a big band.I continued onto doing my GSCE Music using my Secondary School and at St David’s and St Katherine’s arranging my first two pieces of music, which was 'Iron Man and Brazil'. I chose these because I enjoying listening to Renegades at that time. This was the first time pan was allowed to be used at GCSE level and I passed with flying colours.From 17 years old I was given responsibilities and was made a section leader for the tenor section. Kurt taught me all the skill I needed to playing and arranging on Pan. I then went on at 19 to arranging for the stage side and had more of an impact on the Panorama music of which I thank Kurt for allowing me to do so. This lead on to me doing gigs with other people taking part in steel pan workshops, teaching of young people and children and taking part in events around Europe. I used both my pan and piano to do gigs.After playing 14 Panorama's with Eclipse, I decided to go to Trinidad and play Panorama with Neal & Massy Trinidad All Stars which was the best experience I had of playing pan. They came first that year which made everything worth while going. The tune they played was 'Fire Storm' and felt so honored to have played with such a great band.I went on to work with young people at risk of exclusion and encouraged them to play in the band of which many of them now have become well established individuals through the support, advice and guidance that was given to them at the time. I have also helped to arrange for Gladesmore Youth Steel band and they came first in 2001 and 2003 in the Croydon Music Festival.I composed my own piece for Pantasia Steel Band in 2003 and took part for the first time in Pan Explosion of which we came second. The piece that I composed was called 'Phases' which was based on all the different phases of my life. It was a Jazz piece and it gave me the chance for other people to hear what I can do. I received a lot of positive feedback, which has encouraged me to continue to work on my own pieces. My influences are people such as Stevie Wonder, George Benson, Earth, Wind and Fire.In 2003 I went onto play with Metronomes and Mangrove for Panorama. I later that year joined Mangrove's stage side and is still with them to this day. I have been given the opportunity of teaching classes and arranging songs for the stage side. In 2006 I composed another piece with Mangrove and entered Pan explosion coming second. This piece was called 'El Quadeco' which was a Latin Jazz piece.Steel pan has been an inspiration for me as it has made me who I am as a musician and has kept me grounded as a person. It has also helped me to help other children and young people find talent within themselves, which they thought they never had.In the near future I would like to put a Pan Latin/Jazz album together. I would like to include some of my friends who are also musicians in this. I would also like to say thank you to those who all have supported me and helped me to get where I am today especially God. Peace and love x