The musical notes of the steel pans often waft through the hallways early school  mornings, and this year even more often than normal as a result of the Pots and Pans steel pan band being invited to play at the Midwinter clinic in Minneapolis.

In February of 2013, Paul Holland, the band director at Lake City High School, gave the Cannon Fall’s band teacher, Joel Bryan, the idea of Steel Pan groups performing at the Midwinter clinic. Bryan sent in a recording of the group playing a song at the end of last year, and the Minnesota Music Education Association listened to it and accepted them for playing at next year’s convention. Bryan said that he was “excited and nervous. Most of the groups that perform at these are groups that meet every day.” Pots and Pans, meanwhile, met around two times a week. As Bryan also stated, “I knew we had some work cut out for us.”

“Pots and Pans” practiced all year long in order to be ready for the convention. They were invited to play at the Minnesota Association of School Administrators Convention about a month before the Mid-winter convention. It was the first time the Pots and Pans had played at conventions like these. As Pots and Pans member Rebecca Benson stated, “there (were) people walking around, and then just stopping and staring at us. “They [the conventions] were both something that we’d never really done before. It was a learning experience.”

At the convention, Cannon Falls High School Principal Tim Hodges introduced the group, and they played. Bryan said afterwards “Outstanding. “I thought it was the best steel band performance we’ve had since I’ve been at Cannon Falls”