Steel Drums of Trinidad

           While the steel drum is often associated with the Caribbean islands and piña coladas, it is an instrument native to Trinidad.   The roots of this instrument can be found with African American slaves. Many of them had been separated from their culture and their only remaining link was music.  Slave owners placed rules and regulations on African drumming from fear of the slaves communicating secret messages and forming a rebellion.  This fear drove the slave owners to place a ban on drumming.  To work around this ban, slaves replaced their drums with tuned bamboo sticks called Tamboo Bamboo.  These instruments also became banned due to fights that emerged between rival gangs.  Street bands transitioned to consist of tin pans, biscuit drums, dustbins and other steel items.  When Carnival was forbidden during World War II, the earliest development of the steel instrument was expanded.  Around 1950 the small pans were replaced with 55-gallon oil drums that were discarded by oil refineries.  From this, the first steel drum with twelve notes of the chromatic scale was developed.  The concave shaped allowed for more notes. Ellie Mannette is known as the father of the modern steel drum as he wrapped rubber around the pan sticks to mellow the sound.  This instrument requires a talented musical ear.  The steel drum is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago.

      

Here is a picture of Ellie Mannette tuning a steel drum. 

This clip demonstrates the construction of a steel drum.  Lots of welding involved! Grids are involved to ensure that the pitches are specific.  Up to fifty hours are dedicated to hammering specific pitches into the drum!

Kurry gives us a basic steel drum lesson.  He emphasizes the importance of sensitivity to an instrument.

Here is an example of two “pannists” playing together.  Note the player in the back demonstrating the technique of playing two drums at once and how each note must be played with a specific hand.

These 2015 steel pan champions clearly demonstrate the physical dedication to performance.  All of the players physically engage with the rhythm.

This is really important because it's really fun.