Steelband
It doesn't have to be just tropical music!
"The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes,
collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra)
is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan
musicians are called pannists."
Source:
Wikipedia
What is a steelpan and how does it work?
The modern pan is a chromatically pitched percussion instrument made
from 55 gallon industrial drums. Drum refers to the steel drum
containers from which the pans are made; the steel drum is more
correctly called a steel pan or pan as it falls into the idiophone
family of instruments, and so is not a drum (which is a membranophone).
Some steel pans are made to play in the Pythagorean musical cycle of
fourths and fifths.
Pan is played using a pair of straight sticks tipped with rubber; the
size and type of rubber tip varies according to the class of pan being
played. Some musicians use four pansticks, holding two in each hand.
I can only speak for our steelband group, but we have four different
types of drums in our lineup:
- First - a single drum which plays most of the melody, tenor/soprano voice
- Second - double drums which plays both harmony and melody, alto voice
- Guitar - usually double drums which plays a lot of harmony and some melody, baritone voice
- Bass - five or six whole barrels, plays the bass notes of the music
My journey of playing steelband
I've been playing steelband since the 7th grade, so I'm coming up on 17
years. I don't think I've ever done anything for 17 years straight,
except maybe... breathing... or playing video games. But it's safe to
say that I greatly enjoy doing it!
It started as an elective in 7th grade. It was one lesson block a week,
over lunch (if I remember correctly). I honestly do not remember why I
signed up for that class. But I think it was a bout of "Come on, Steph,
you gotta do something at least!" And that's how I ended up
with a life-long hobby and how I ended up meeting my best friend!
Even back then we played songs that were not what is generally
considered "traditional" steel pan songs. Because when people hear the
sound of steel pans, they generally think "Caribbean". But oh, no no, we
were playing classics like "I can see clearly now", "Eye of the Tiger",
"He's a Pirate", "Every breath you take", and "Billie Jean". During the
holidays, we even played "Feliz Navidad" in the local church,
accompanying a choir.
After I graduated from 9th grade, I signed up for the steelband classes.
It's basically the same thing, except now it's adults who play and pay
for it. We have the same instructor and are practicing in the same room
(under the school's auditorium).
I started out playing First during my school years. Now I've migrated
towards Second and sometimes Bass, depending on the piece we are
playing. I like Second a lot because it's more low-key and has a more
baritone sound than First. Bass is a lot of fun as well, but it puts
quite a lot of pressure on you, since you're the only one playing and if
you mess up, people are definitely going to notice.
One of my favorite things about playing in our current steelband group
is that everyone is there to have a good time. That, and we keep
learning new and interesting songs. Just yesterday, we started with
"Agosto" by Alvaro Soler. I can't wait to play that one all the way through for the first time!
