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Inclusion and the music examination boards
The steel pan is a musical instrument. Why not just add it to the list of instruments examined? Sure, the instrument has a cultural significance, and the adding of non-white culture to the educational spectrum is a kind of recognition that not everything derived from a white heritage, but the pan is also a viable musical instrument which can be played in a range of styles at a range of levels (say Gd 1 to Gd 8?).
Some years ago (1994, I think) I co-presented a case to senior members of ABRSM & Trinity for simply creating a syllabus of pieces at different grades and allowing pan players, taught by pan teacher or class teacher, or private teacher, to chase Grade qualifications. Both boards agreed in principle, and the ABRSM actually went as far as to commission sample lists of pieces and scales for each grade. But then they seemed to get over-concerned about cultural heritage, and moved on to Music Medals.
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I work for Drake Music, a charity which makes music with physically disabled/ SEN musicians (www.drakemusicproject.org). My special remit is to develop curriculum opportunities. We are currently in discussion with Trinity Guildhall about making grade exams accessible to disabled musicians who use assistive music technology instruments. One of our students has recently learnt to play part of a Bach cello concerto using her head and a motion sensor. As yet, we haven't found discussions easy or supportive. Their response was that they could not assess our student against current criteria without a loss of integrity to the exams. We have responded and look forward to working with them, and other boards, to increase the inclusivity of their syllabus.