Vessigny Secondary School (SONG)

Date for Entry: (Unknown/Forgotten; JULY 2012)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 28 July 2025)

Dear Diary,

    The following relates to the works associated with achieving accomplishment on works to the works of Vessigny Secondary School. Compilation of information for this journal entry began in 2025, and many dates from 2011 to the present may not have been recorded/recalled. Not all work (either used or outdated versions) may have been saved or video recorded for the presentation.

 

MUSIC REQUEST.

**  July 2012 **

This afternoon, there was a special visit from my Uncle Ram and Aunty Annmarie. At this point in my life, I was in Form Two at Hillview College. There was a request from Uncle Ram. He has asked to “do the music for this song”. I was given a sheet of lyrics and a disc. I learned from him that this was his school’s song.

    The challenge was accepted in my mind. I hoped at the time that I would be able to fulfil the task. Just before leaving, he managed to sing me a few parts of the song he could recall. The rest of the song would come by exploring the disc’s recording provided to me. The project became a ‘Universal Challenge’. This term did not exist at the time (probably until 2018 or earlier).

 

SONG’S TRANSCRIPTION.

** Unknown/Forgotten **

The recording provided to me by Uncle Ram was a vocal piece with piano accompaniment. The voice was sung by a female. I admired the depth that she went to in the chorus. Since my main task was to play the song on the Tenor pan, I worked on transcribing the melody alone. I made sure to insert the lyrics. I used the same recording to practice the music and follow the score I created. It was ready, but I was not sure when the time was to play it.

LINK(S):

• Recording from Disc. [Disc Lost]

 

PERFORMANCE.

** Sunday 20 October 2013 **

This afternoon, Aunty and Uncle came up from Princess Town in the cooler part of the evening. It was nice to see Joshua also. Daddy had to rush me home to meet them. I was helping mommy and her coworkers set up the polling station for the Local Government elections that will be conducted tomorrow. They were situated in the Curepe Community Centre.

    I got to share with Uncle the music that I did. Mommy suggested that I go through the song first. He was only interested in getting the steelpan music. Luckily, I had the idea to use headphones to hear the recording and play the pan.

    The first two attempts to record the pan playing were still quiet. On the third attempt, Uncle sat beside the pan and held his phone just below its belly. This time, the recording was clear enough. We learned that this recording would be used for a teacher’s retirement event. He also mentioned that the teacher was very fond of steelpan music.

 

PIANO SCORE.

** Unknown/Forgotten **

From 2013 to 2018, there were about five attempts to transcribe the piano part of the school song. It was my wish to have a complete score of the work for archival purposes and for the school to keep. The final attempt was the best that I possibly could, but sadly, it remained a nightmare. I’m not sure when the next attempt will be made.

STEELBAND ARRANGEMENT.

** May 2017 **

During the summer of 2017, I completed my Certificate in music. The final semester ended with a course in the Fundamentals of Steelpan Arranging. I decided to take the knowledge gained from the course and begin a trial of transforming my previous work into a steelpan arrangement.

    Just like the attempts of the piano score, the same occurrences occurred. I would not have known how many trials there would have been needed to get to where it is today. In total, there were eight attempts made, and they were finally accomplished.

    The final attempt that brought the completion was done after my degree in music at the University of the West Indies (UWI-DCFA). There were two more steelpan arranging courses in that programme, which had me return to the song for another review. 

STEELPAN ARRANGEMENT (V1).

    Towards the early beginning of the Summer Vacation, after the completion of my Certificate program at UWI, I decided to visit the piano and voice score that I made and attempted to do a steelband version. I thought that if the school had a Steelband, maybe they might have wanted that too. The idea came after I had finally been able to get Hillview College's anthem written out for Steelpan in 2015. 

    In the case of Hillview, even though I knew the steelpan tutor said "nobody wants to have that," I saw the necessity to have it. I also received appreciation from the boys in the band when I made copies for them.

STEELPAN ARRANGEMENT (V2).

    I think that at the end of my Steelpan Arranging 1 course (in the degree programme), I decided to revise and fix the entire score I did in version one. The second version brought a huge improvement. The song still remained incomplete in my view. I found it not pleasing enough to be shared. 

    I was still satisfied to some small percentage, knowing that the song was one step closer to completion. I was not going to give up that easily. I knew that someday it would be reviewed again. 

STEELPAN ARRANGEMENT (V4).

** Monday 11th October 2021. **

At this period in my life, I completed with Degree program at UWI. It was on Thursday 3rd of June 2021 that a plan was made to review the Vessigny Song again for the fourth time. My mind was not so focused on the project, and the ideas for tackling this fourth review were unfortunately not so numerous as I had hoped, resulting in a longer completion date. 

    One morning, I sat down from 12:00 AM until 5:00 AM and got the entire fourth version completed. I must admit Sections C and E were super challenging. I was now proud of myself for being able to accomplish them, along with the entire arrangement. 

    There were still a few insecurities (about less than five), which may have left me feeling as the first version. However, it was good to share with aunty Anmarie and Uncle Ram.

    On the Wednesday of that same week, I was able to send an email to Uncle copies of the separate parts. Getting pitch names levelled was a challenge. It was my first time using the inspector feature in Musescore to do this. Thanks to the kind people in the Musescore Facebook group for their assistance.

    In case the school chooses to use this arrangement, I hope that it brings them enjoyment and the proud, amazing feeling that I would have gotten when singing Hillview's anthem at the school. Version four was the same as version three. Minor changes were made to the ending.

STEELPAN ARANGEMENT (V5).

** Thursday 8th December 2022 **

A matter with the school’s logo was difficult. We did not have an electronic logo to work with. I was only able to find one on their school’s website and use it. This created the steelband arrangement and all of its accompanying parts to become version five.

    I saw that the shape of the ‘shield’ was not shown properly, but was darkened out to the lower portion. It was inserted and sent over by email. For some reason, I still found myself not feeling satisfied with the work. 

 

STEELPAN ARANGEMENT (V6).

** Monday 19th December 2022 **

    I saw another version of the same Vessigny logo given to me by Aunty. It was pixelated lightly, but I believed it was workable. However, the image was stained with a grey colour. The shape of the symbol in the lower portion had to be edited.

    It took about two and a half hours in total to clean the image and fix the shape of the ‘shield’. My biggest insecurity was spoiling the image in the process of trying to fix it. Because of this new change to the score, all separate parts had to be regenerated and relabelled.

 

SONG BOOKLETS.

** Thursday 16 December 2021 **

At that time, the COVID-19 pandemic was causing terror around the world. It may have been nearing its end around the date mentioned. On that day, I was visited again by Aunty Annmarie and Uncle Ram during the Christmas holiday from their trip up north. I had already prepared copies of the song booklets to bring to the school.

    There were twelve copies in total: one for myself and another for my aunty and uncle. The remaining booklets were copies that would be shared around the school’s compound. It was sad that I could not go with them to meet the Principal, and also to play the music myself at the school. I hope that in time these gifts from me will become useful to the students.

    Just as my working on anthems for other schools, the song needed a title. This was the only time that a person who was credited for creating a song was still alive. I was able to ask Miss County-Henry, through Uncle, to provide a name for the song. Within a few days, she named it “Our Very Own”. I was pleased that I did not have to decide on naming the song myself, as with all the other songs I previously worked on.

YOUTUBE VIDEO.

** Monday 28 July 2025 **

A few years of waiting had passed after the completion of the steelpan arrangement. I was requested by Miss County-Henry to wait until certain arrangements could be achieved before the video could be uploaded to YouTube.

    After waiting three years, I decided to move ahead with the YouTube video, which would then complete the work and finally bring an end to this project. The only difficulty at first was sourcing a workable logo and editing.

    Usually, at the end of the video, I liked inserting a picture of the school and its name printed clearly, but it was not provided. Instead of that image, the logo with a white background was used. I pray that after all these years of work, the video will be a beneficial teaching resource to the school and its students.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Tunapuna Presbyterian Primary School (SONG)

Date for Entry: (Sunday 27 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (2024)

Dear Diary,

    The journal entries below correspond with my work on the school song for Tunapuna Presbyterian Primary School Song.

 

MEETING THE “UNIVERSAL CHALLENGE”.

** Sunday 27 October 2024 **

    This evening, I had a scheduled meeting with John in person at home. At first, it was requested that some music notation be made. I was excited to see what kind of song he was bringing for me to work on. Before the work began (at 3:30 PM), he told me that Tunapuna Presbyterian Primary School had a school song, and they got a recording in the school from a visitor named Mrs Myrtle Panday. She once taught at the school.

    I got a copy of the lyrics sheet that he had prepared before moving to the computer. He asked to play the piano and said that the melody had been taken from the song “The Happy Wanderer.” This was my first time hearing the melody. At the end of the single verse that he played, I mentioned that it would have made a great tune for a steelpan arrangement. I think he was hoping that would have been done, too.

    He also shared with me a copy of the “Happy Wanderer” score from a songbook called “Let Us Sing”. I chose to YouTube the song too to follow the words from the songbook and the gentleman playing his guitar. Once we got to the Chorus, he mentioned that the words were to be replaced with the words created by his wife, Allison.

    By opening the lyrics sheet he had created, I realised that the school song was originally strophic (only with verses) and the chorus has now been given a Chorus by Allison in 2024. The melody was copied from John’s “Let Us Sing” songbook for both Verse 1 and the chorus into Musescore. I had it copied and passed for the other three verses.

    When it was time to insert the words from the school song, it was then that John had sent me the recording of Mrs Myrtle Panday singing. His melody was in C major. She sang in the key of G major. I had the tune transposed and began working on the changes. Hearing several changes, it was best to open a new score on Musescore and transcribe the recording from scratch.

    After scoring the first verse and the first chorus, it seemed to me that their verses were shorter than the original melody. The chorus was shorter by eight crotchet beats (or two bars) of music. Moreover, looking at the chords in John’s book (using them as a guide), I knew there was going to be a lot more I needed than what was provided. This was also mentioned to him.

    Within three and a half hours, the entire lead sheet was finished and ready to become a steelpan arrangement. The first lead sheet and a recording were sent to John and Allison. When looking at the temporary result, I noticed the name. The given ‘name’ was “My Alma Mater”.

    Again, as with other school songs, it had to have a name. This was the final challenge of the night with the song. John’s suggestion was “Your call I’ll Always hear” from the first verse. I was sharing how it had to be something that stood out the majority of the time, as with Tunapuna Secondary School, when choosing the name “Thy Light is Come”. Looking at the Chorus that Allison created, I took the sentence “You Truly are the Best” for the name.

    I also wrote down some more information for him on a short piece of paper about things I needed for the project. We had a joke about the paper being ‘homework’ for Allison. There was a list of ‘homework’ for John, too, in hopes of it becoming another possible music project that I can work on.

Link(s):

• Happy Wanderer Score. **
• First Lead sheet Attempt. (*Destroyed)
• Happy Wanderer (YouTube). 

 

STEELPAN ARRANGEMENT: THE VERSES & CHORUS.

** Wednesday 30 October 2024 **

    Tonight, a strumming pattern and bassline were given to the first verse and chorus. They were attempted on the same night as the first attempt to create a lead sheet (Sunday 27 October 2024) but that attempt was not successful.

    After three hours of working on the strums (from 6 PM to 9:13 PM), I was able to find something that worked. It was immediately copied and passed to the other three verses and their choruses. From the last beat of the verse into the chorus, minor changes were made to accommodate the transition.

    I was wondering if an introduction would be appropriate. I had a big, scary fright, not knowing what to do at all. John told me to create something nice. This most definitely would have had to be left for tomorrow, then. The three hours had tired me out. While listening back to what I did for the night, I began to hear more possibilities for the chorus. A note was left in the Musescore file for tomorrow.

 

STEELPAN ARRANGEMENT: THE COMPLETION.

** Thursday 31 October 2024 **

    Today is Divali. From about 8 AM this morning, work on the introduction began. I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to create a short melody from scratch. Sadly, the verses or the chorus did not have much that I could use to work with at the time. I decided to keep it short within four bars and then find a way to make it flow into the first verse.

    By 1:43 PM, the first version was sent as a recording to John by WhatsApp. It was discarded immediately. I found it necessary for an F-A-C chord to be used in the last two beats of the introduction before the first chord of verse one.

    Once the introduction and the verse worked best to my liking, the chorus followed similarly. However, the possibilities for the chorus were tried, and it worked. Only the tenor pan part will carry it. My wish was to do the same in the lead sheet, but having separate voices created an untidy visual. The arrangement was finally completed by 1:58 PM and sent back to John.

    By 2:30 PM, the lyrics sheet was taken and created in uniform styling to the previous books. The cover page for the book was created, and the ‘Book Matter’ document was prepared. I will have to find the school logo to generate the parts of the steelpan arrangement and have the documents ready for compiling the booklets.

 

SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS.

** Saturday 02 November 2024 **

    Today, I was given the images of the school. The quality was excellent. The only issue was that there was a date stamp. I had to find an online programme to assist me. It was not easy until I found the right platform. More technical work was required, but Praise God, I was able to accomplish the task.

    Seven images were sent to me, and after a very long and careful process of elimination, I came down to four good images for being used in the YouTube video of the school song. The most important things for these images would be showing the front of the school, the name of the school on the building, and most importantly, the Aramalaya Presbyterian Church that crowns the hill at the top of the street. I still have to see if the four images will be used or if another will be eliminated by that time.

Link(s):

• Photographs of the School.

 

SCHOOL LOGO.

** Wednesday 06 November 2024 **

    Tonight, I was able to get the school's logo. Unfortunately, the status of it was a photograph of a professionally created one. This professionally created one was not sourced. It took me three hours of trying and hoping that the internet would be able to assist me. I discovered a site called Canva that was able to alter the witness of the background, the darkness of the lines in the image and other editing necessities.

    The black and white version was the first that I had created for the evening. This was my favourite out of the two versions. The second one was a light black and blue-coloured version of the lines. I tried to make a coloured version to match what was provided to me.

    However, black was the only colour being given. I wish there had been a way to go back and change the colour to light blue like the Presbyterian Church’s colour. These images were sent back to John for the school to have copies of them and decide if they would like to use them.

DELIVERY OF SONGBOOKS.

** Tuesday 11 February 2025 **

    Today was a sick day from school. Daddy was very surprised when I told him I wanted to visit the school. Fortunately, I was still able to meet the principal. There was a special surprise that the principal is now Mr Hanooman.

    I got to share a recording of the steelpan arrangement from Musescore to him and Mrs Ramesar at the school’s office. The booklets prepared for the school were handed over when the song was finished.

    As soon as I got home, I tried to email the scores to the school’s email, along with the recording that was played today. A separate email was sent to the school with the updated image of their school logo that I was able to enhance and fix for the printing of the scores.

    I recalled that while coming to the school in the car, there was a nice Bollywood song playing on the radio. I recorded the last seven minutes of the song. Later that night, Google told me it was called “Raah Mein Unse”, and I got the YouTube recording too.

 

YOUTUBE VIDEO.

** Wednesday 02 July 2025 **

    Tonight, I was successful at creating the video for Tunapuna Presbyterian Primary School. I had a very long delay in doing this work since the program I used for creating my previous YouTube videos was updated and became too complicated.

    I did more research to find something easier. I came across a new software called “Wondershare Democreator.” My experience with this new application has been better than the previous one. It took care of the extra technical work for me.

    I felt glad that the updated school’s logo, which I did myself, had a good fit as a thumbnail for the video. I’m slightly insecure that the image is too blurry. Hopefully, it would not be a problem.

    I hope that this work of mine will become an asset to the school and a wonderful experience for the students when they sing their school anthem with this steelpan arrangement. 

    This steelpan arrangement was completed on Thursday 31st October, 2025 (Divali Holiday). Special thanks again to Mrs Myrtle Panday for assisting us with recalling the melody.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali