The director of Prospect Park Tennis Center reminisces about his childhood in the Caribbean and loves playing steel pan drums.
Growing up in Barbados, Adrian Clarke was surrounded by two things: tennis and music, and when he moved to Brooklyn as a young man in 1973, he took these two passions with him.
The 67-year-old East Flatbush resident now works as the director of Prospect Park Tennis Center by day, but plays the steel pan drums by night.
“When we’re playing music, people are usually smiling,” Clark says, “and most of the time, we’re bringing joy to a lot of people, and that’s the best part.”
Long before he learned to play the steel pan, Clark began playing tennis at age 12 in Barbados and went on to play professionally, reaching the qualifying round of the 1983 U.S. Open.
“I wasn’t that keen on school, but I needed something to focus on, and tennis became that,” Clark said.
Adrienne Clarke. Photo: BK Reader Katie St John.
During a tennis tournament in Trinidad, he attended the annual steel pan tournament Panorama. He had been listening to calypso music since he was a child, and watching the performers at Panorama inspired him to want to play the steel pan drums himself.
“I’ve always loved this instrument,” Clark said. “Just looking at it makes me excited.”
After purchasing a steel pan drum set, he practiced and learned music diligently, and now he performs all over New York City.
On November 17, Clarke performed at Flushing Town Hall with bassist Hilliard Greene and keyboardist Richard Henry, a night filled to capacity with people eager to hear classic and contemporary Barbadian music.
The Brooklyn resident said Clark’s two passions play major roles in his life and often overlap in importance.
“Playing music gives people joy,” he says. “Teaching people tennis gives them something they really need.”
