The Art of Teaching Through Mas Making and Calypso

This calypsonian is a past student. He has become a calypsonian, music composer, and recording engineer. He runs a music studio in Tobago. He too performed in the Tobago School Calypso Tent.

These two dancers are past students of the our school in Tobago. They assisted us with choreography for our carnival bands, when they were 8-11 years old and did a very good job! They were both calysonians who performed in the Tobago Schools Carnival Tent as well.

Over the years I have designed 13 children's carnival 'mas' bands. It was a joy for me, as it was a chance to explore the many arts involved in carnival.

I included the students at every stage. They helped with some of the designs. They painted their own costumes, thus learning fabric painting, and they painted each other's faces while they explored face painting .

I had the students choreograph the dances for some of the bands. Luckily we had several girls in the school who were actively involved in dance, outside of the school. Their dance teacher, who came over each week from Trinidad, was Charlene Harris. Her patience and endurance is appreciated by all of us who were guided by this wonderful dance teacher. ( As an aside, two of these students are now involved in dance at the professional level. One is in the Ailey Dance School in New York and the other is in Toronto and has completed her dance training.)

The students were taught puppet making, stilt walking, wire bending, folk dances, drumming and fabric painting, as part of their school curriculum. They also participated in the 'mas camps' that were held at the school. Parents were also involved in these mas camps, along with other 'mas minded people', who assisted us with these carnival bands.

As part of my 'archival' effort, it seemed important to include some of these mas bands. Each explored a theme or a skill that the students would learn. We also used the creation of Carnival bands to teach topics that were part of our school curriculum, and of social significance.

We explored the pollination of plants in one band, called Polli- nation. The mas band, 'Shadow', looked took a deeper look at the Tobago calypsonian , The Shadow. One band called, "Mealy Bug" looked at the damage done to various plants and vegetables, by the Mealy bug. 'Power to the Douens', looked at the folk character, the Douen.

'Fireworks 2000', explored the millenium. ' Mas in the Forest' explored the need for environmental protection of our wild animals. In this band the characters, animals of the forest, came down from the hills and forests, to ask the people of Tobago to protect them.

'Dance de Bele' explored the cultural effects of two cultures confronting history. The dance was created as a result of the African culture confronting and reacting to the French culture.

The band 'Sebucan', was a re-enactment of a dance done by the island Caribs of Trinidad. It was a dance done around a central pole, where each member held a rope, and as they danced round and round the pole, they squeezed the poisonous juices from the cassava plant. It looked much like the maypole dance looks. And in the early days of carnival in Trinidad, Carib families from the Arima area, would do this dance around a pole, in the carnival.

In our presentation of the 'Sebucan', the students dressed to represent the various peoples who have come to Trindad over the years. The students were dressed in costumes to represent the Caribs, Spanish, African, Indian and European.

As they danced with their colourful ropes (ribbons), they wove a beautiful pattern together, that could represent the culture of Trinidad and Tobago of today. It was a wonderful way to teach the students this history, and the many cultures that are very evident today. Interestingly enough, because of this same history, we had students in the school from each of these groups, and the mas band helped them to understand that reality.

I am still amazed at how many skills can be taught in schools, by becoming involved with Carnival. And as a teaching tool, it is one of the most interesting and motivating.

I will never forget the time we took the students on a field trip to the swamp lands in Tobago. The guide for the field trip was the famous naturalist and photographer, Roger Neckles. He asked the student group if they could see the large bee that was buzzing nearby. And the students said, 'yes'. Then he asked them if anyone knew what this bee was very useful for. And one of the six year old students, gave him a full answer explaining in detail the pollination of flowers, and the making of honey. Roger was a bit surprised by her confidence and detailed knowledge, and asked her how she knew all of this. And she said, with great confidence, "Oh, we took it in Carnival".

The school was also involved every year, in the school Calypso competitions. The students were required to write their own calypsos and to create their own music. Assistance was given to the students with this process, by musicians who worked patiently with them, when it came time for the rehearsals for the carnival competitions and shows. NJAC Tobago has to be congratulated for the work they have done in Tobago, and in Trinidad, to continuously provide an opportunity for the young people to explore the skills involved in calyspo. Mrs. Cynthia White also worked tirelessly with the students, to help to prepare them musically for these shows.

We had students who were chosen for the Tobago Schools Calypso Tent. This was a tent of school children, who performed at various schools throughout the island of Tobago. It was a wonderful experience for these performers, to work with musicians, and watch as their music and lyrics were brought to the audience of other young children.

I feel I must add that all of these students have been very successful academically. Each has completed CXC successfully, and some went on to complete C.A.P.E. Others have completed training in Drama, Film making, Tennis, Teaching and Marine Biology and Medicine. Some have found their interest in Environmental Studies. One has become a Chef. Some have become entrepreneurs, starting their own businesses in a number of areas of their interest.

Teaching the curriculum, using the Arts, has had only positive academic results.

I will include pictures of some of these carnival 'mas bands' in the following blogs.