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Vance Umphrey says, \\u201cMusic was there before I can start remembering anything.\\u201d His mother was a singer and his grandfather was a choir director. Vance began playing with the family\\u2019s electric piano when he was 5 and started lessons when about 10-11. He joined the middle school band and took percussion. So, when he went to Humboldt for college, he ended up with a double performance major in percussion in piano, but more importantly, he was introduced to the steel pan and it\\u2019s fair to say his life has never been the same.

Vance has played the steel pan ever since. It is really a complex diatonic instrument, and is often played in large steel pan orchestras, with up to 120 pan players! The steel pan was originated in Trinidad and Tobago, where the African population was prohibited from playing drums from the 1880s until the 1940s or so, and based on the need to play, they came up with the steel pan instrument made out of the hammered bottoms of steel oil drums.\\xa0

\\u201cWhen I hear a steel orchestra,\\u201d says Vance, \\u201cI hear the elements of triumph and overcoming oppression.\\u201d Vance says, playing the steel pan is \\u201csuper meaningful\\u201d and that, \\u201cI am just following music; \\u2026 music is directing me. \\u2026Most of my decisions are actually guided by music.\\u201d
He says that the philosophy of Victor Wooten as brought out in The Music Lesson has really impressed and influenced him; \\u201cit opened my eyes to the enchantment and magic of music.\\u201d

\\u201cInternationally, pan has been a huge gift of bringing people together. \\u2026 Everyone is trying to become one in the band.\\u201d He says music gives an appreciation for different cultures. Vance also likes the community aspect of music, and has a vision for music-based community centers for people.