Steelpan
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| Music of Trinidad: Subjects | |
|---|---|
| Canboulay | Calypso |
| Chutney | Steelpan |
| Calypsonian | Calypso tent |
| Picong | Parang |
| Soca | Rapso |
| Pichakaree | |
| Timeline and samples | |
| Anglophone Caribbean | |
| Anguilla - Antigua and Barbuda - Bahamas - Barbados - Bermuda - Caymans - Dominica - Grenada - Jamaica - Montserrat - St. Kitts and Nevis - St. Lucia - St. Vincent and the Grenadines - Trinidad and Tobago - Turks and Caicos - Virgin Islands | |
| Other Caribbean | |
| Aruba and the Dutch Antilles - Cuba - Dominican Republic - Haiti - Martinique and Guadeloupe - Puerto Rico | |
Steelpan (also known as steeldrums or pans, and sometimes collectively with the musicians as a steelband) is a musical instrument and a form of music originating in Trinidad and Tobago.
The pan is a pitched percussion instrument, tuned chromatically (although some toy or novelty steelpans are tuned diatonically), made from a 55 gallon drum of the type that stores oil. In fact, drum refers to the steel drum containers from which the pans are made; the steel drum is correctly called a steelpan or pan as it falls into the Idiophone family of instruments, and is not technically regarded as a drum or Membranophone.
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[edit] Origins and controversy
There is controversy concerning the steelpan's origins. Although it is reported that Winston "Spree" Simon took an old biscuit tin, and beat it with a corn cob to form a steelpan, the history of the evolution and development of the steelpan is more complex and nuanced than that. While Simon may have been the first to use biscuit tins, it quickly turned to ash cans and the steel drums made unintentionally available by the United States. Bunches of young African men can be credited with contributing to the steel pan. Only having scraps as their primary resources they used what they had to preserve aspects of their culture in the space of the Caribbean. Clearly being influenced by the mixture of those on the islands along with the desire for African drums, steel pan was formed. The development of the pan took place largely during WWII, the first record of a pan band in the press being in a report of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival in the Trinidad Guardian dated Tuesday, February 6, 1940.
One of the oldest steelbands in the world is The Neal & Massy Trinidad All-Stars which celebrated its 72nd anniversary in 2007.
Early bands were essentially rhythm bands. However during the 1940s discarded 55-gallon steel oil drums became the preferred type of pan and, perhaps noticing that constant drumming changed the tone of the pans, techniques were developed to tune them to enable melodies to be played. During WWII, tamboo bamboo bands, who usually performed during Trinidad's Carnival began using steel drums discarded by the US military (see Destroyers for Bases Agreement) to make advanced versions of their instruments. Ellie Mannette is credited as the first person to use an oil drum in 1946. By the late 1940s the music had spread to neighbouring islands.
In 1951 the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra (TASPO) took the music to the Festival of Britain in the United Kingdom - pan music still features in the annual Notting Hill Carnival.
In 1957, Rear Admiral Daniel V. Gallery formed what became the US Navy Steel Band, which toured the world as ambassadors for the U.S. Navy until 1999.
During the 1960s the tuner Anthony Williams developed a pan - the fourths and fifths - that has since become the standard design used today.
Two Americans, George Whitmyre and Harvey J. Price, have secured a US patent for "the process of formation of a Caribbean steelpan using a hydroforming press". This patent is being challenged by the Trinidad and Tobago Legal Affairs Ministry, since many Trinbagonian drum makers have used similar methods for years.
Steelbands in the early years were looked down upon by upper class society, and the panplayers were seen as undesirables. This view has completely reversed to the point where there are many more church steelbands than conventional bands.
[edit] Construction
Pans are constructed by pounding the top of the oil drum into a bowl-like shape, known as "sinking" the drum. The drum is tempered over a fire until it is "white hot" and allowed to cool. Then the notes are laid out, shaped, grooved, and tuned with a variety of hammers and other tools. The note's size corresponds to the pitch - the larger the oval, the lower the tone.
The size of the instrument varies from one pan to another. It may have almost all of the "skirt" (the cylindrical part of the oil drum) cut off and around 30 soprano-range notes. It may use the entire drum with only 3 bass notes per pan, in which case one person may play 6 such pans. The length of the skirt generally corresponds to the tessitura (high or low range) of the drum. The pans may either be painted or chromed.
[edit] The pan family
There are 10 instruments in the pan family:
- Tenor/Lead (There are many variations of tenor pans: Spiderweb lead, 4ths and 5ths from C and D, 3rds and 5ths, invader, left handed, etc...)
- Double tenors
- Double seconds (extensions can be added to form quadduet)
- Double guitars
- Quadrophonic (four pans)
- Triple guitars
- Cellos (Three and four pan variations)
- Tenor bass (Three and four pan variations)
- Six bass (and numerical variations)
- Nine bass (with numerical variations up to 12)
[edit] The future of pan
The world of steelpan is still thriving. Many ensembles have emerged in recent years which combine the steelpan with other styles of music. More and more artists have begun including the instrument in various genres of music.
From a classical perspective in December 2006, (Liam Teague) and the (Vermeer Quartet) performed Deborah Fischer Teason's five movement "Cadences" for tenor pan and string quartet at the Northern Illinois University concert hall on a program with Schubert's Quartettsatz in C minor and Beethoven's Quartet in A minor, Op 132. The concert was repeated at Chicago's Symphony Hall. Teague also premiered Jan Bach’s Concerto for Steelpan and Orchestra with the Chicago Symphonietta in 1995. Other works in this genre include a concerto for double tenor pan by (Rachel Hayward) which was premiered by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (1988). Many contemporary composers, such as Hans Werner Henze, Javier Alvarez, Simon Limbrick, Grisey, Brian Elias, Libby Larson and Felix Cross have also written pieces featuring solo steelpan parts. Famous Pan players include, Chris Tanner, Tom Miller, Len "Boogsie" Sharpe, Jeff and Andy Narell, Joe Munzenrider, Robert Greenige, Alan Lightner, Ray Holman, and Russel Henderson. New upcoming young pannists include Ben Zweig who unvealed his talent in the festival of steel workshop in 2006, and Johanne Chuckeree who has been trained by Boogsie Sharpe as his mentor.
[edit] See also
- Panorama (Steel drum competition)
- List of musical genres
- List of musical instruments
- List of steelbands
- Manuel, Peter (2006). Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae (2nd edition). Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 1-59213-463-7.
