PanKind
Hands-on Handpan
The idea for PanKind came to me one afternoon as I was drawing up a shell for a new handpan at the PanAmor workshop in Exeter back in 2019. It occurred to me that not only did I love playing these instruments and was fortunate enough to be involved in making them, but that I was also a qualified teacher who had taught various percussion workshops for several years. I had recently lost my mum to cancer, and had taken my handpans into the hospice that she was in to play for her and the other patients, so I was also becoming increasingly aware of the therapeutic potential of these instruments. I shared the beginnings of this vision with Laura, my wife that evening.
In the following months this idea blossomed into something quite extraordinary. Since January 2019 I have worked with handpans in a huge range of educational and therapeutic settings, ranging from schools to PRU's, hospices and care homes, and even a secure psychiatric facility, all with extremely positive results.
Laura and I run a not-for-profit music organisation called 'We Need Music CIC', of which PanKind is a main project. Profits from our work are reinvested back into We Need Music to help subsidise music sessions in our community.
Lyndon
For the past 20 years Lyndon has played, performed and taught West African percussion. He spent his childhood and early adolescence living in 4 African countries and has always loved the music of this extraordinary continent. He studied West African percussion with Senegalese Master Drummer Cheikh Diop throughout his twenties.
In 2015 he bought his first handpan and a new journey began. Lyndon worked freelance for 2 years with a superb company, PanAmor Handpans, helping to build these beautiful instruments. He was a PanAmor customer well before he worked with them, and has huge respect for the quality and precision of their workmanship.
Lyndon has a teaching qualification and has worked with adults with special educational needs and mental health issues for several years. He also regularly performs at gigs, festivals, weddings and other events, and has had his recorded music played on BBC Introducing in the South West and BBC3's 'World on 3' show.
