Steel drums were invented on the island of Trinidad around the time of W.W.II. One can trace the roots of these instruments back to the African slaves who were placed on the island by Spanish and French plantation owners as early as the 16th century. The elite classes were notorious for setting specific rules including hours for African drumming. They were fearful the drums would incite the slaves to rebellion. Some of the elite believed that hidden messages were being sent through the African drumming. Over the years the upper classes would ban the lower classes' instruments, the lower classes would simply invent a new performance instrument called the tamboo bamboo. These instruments were constructed by cutting varying lengths of bamboo sticks, stomping the larger sticks on the ground, and striking the smaller ones together. The next important step in the evolution of the steel drum was metal beating bands of the early 1930's as a gradual replacement for the banned tamboo bamboo. These bands consisted of players using all metallic instruments and were sometimes referred to as "iron bands" or "pan bands". It was soon discovered that these non-pitched metal instruments changed pitch after they had been beaten for a while.The very first pitched steel drums were made from smaller metal containers and were convex in shape. The performer would carry the smaller metal drum with one hand and beat the metal with the other. These instruments were crude; they were still in their experimental stages and had no intentional pitches. In the 1940's and 1950's pan innovators experimented with the stylings or note patterns, and improved upon the tuning. Today the drum is constructed from the bottom of a 55-gallon barrel, sunk down in a concave fashion, and tuned with precision.
This is a video on how to make steel drums.
Here is a demonstration on how to play the steel drum.
This is a video of Harry Belafonte Jump in the Line calypso on steel drums.
This is a video of steel pan competition.
Just for fun, this is a video of my high school playing steel drums.
Bibliography
It must take a lot of patience to create a steel drum. I love the sound because it is very relaxing. I could literally listen to it all day.
ReplyDeleteI'm torn between wanting a steel drum ensemble and a sheng ensemble. I like how versatile these drums are being able to perform such a wide range of music.
ReplyDeleteSo A. Im extremely jealous of the fact that Flowery Branch has a full Set of Steel Drums. And B. They Did a great job performing that piece. They've always had a great percussion program over there. Despite being amateur steel drummers, the technique and balance across the ensemble was nice.
ReplyDeleteThe part that amazes me about steel drum ensembles (Specifically ones like in the 4th video here), is how such a large group of people can stay together with such erratic and varying tempos. Most percussion ensembles struggle with this.
ReplyDelete