Steel Pans

By Jacob Svenkeson

History

• Invented during WW2 times on the Island of Trinidad

http://www.hobotraveler.com/blogphotos/190-01-map-of-caribbean-trinidad.jpg

African Roots & Rhythms

• Slaves were brought over from Africa in the 1700s. Part of the culture they brought over included the playing of hand drums.

• Hand drums became the main percussion instrument in the annual Carnival celebrations.

• British government banned the playing of drums in 1877, but the slaves would use whatever they could find to invent new instruments.

Tamboo Bamboo

• When drums were banned, Slaves used bamboo sticks to imitate the drum sound.

• They hit the large hollow sticks on the ground, and the smaller sticks were hit together.

• Called it Tamboo Bamboo.http://www.tntisland.com/images/tamboobamboo03.jpg

Transition to Metal

• In the 1930’s, Tamboo Bamboo bands incorporated scrap metal objects that were hit with hands or sticks.

• The bands slowly translated over to a metallic sound, and bamboo sticks were pretty much abandoned.

Metal Instruments

• Cans

• Pots

• Tin pans

• Biscuit tins

• Hubcaps

• Dust bins

http://www.trinisoca.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=102340

The Pan is Born

• People soon found that metal pans changed pitch after they were beaten, and through trial and error the steel pan instrument was formed.

• This was during WW2 times, and Trinidad produced a lot of oil, so there was an abundance of empty oil drums to turn into steel pans.

True Pan Development

• It wasn’t until in the 40’s and 50’s that steel pan inventors started to experiment with note patterns and tuning.

https://hdc1.mysecureserver.com/smartypansmusiccom/images/Photos/workshop2.jpg

Steel Pans Today

• Today, the steel pan is constructed of a 55 gallon steel barrel, concave on the bottom end and precision tuned with a hammer.

http://www.musicalmetal.com/images/bass_pan2.jpg

Chromatic Pans

• Today steel pans can be tuned with such precision as to have a full chromatic scale in one pan.

http://www.dianemichaels.net/images/webpan2.jpghttp://86.3.122.228/CrazyAboutPans/SteelPanNote3sec.gif

Bass Pans

http://www.kdsteeldrums.com/images/385_bass_newest_best.GIF

http://www.stthomasallstars.com/images/pans/bass.gif

Tenor Pans

http://www.stthomasallstars.com/images/pans/tbass3.jpg

http://www.stthomasallstars.com/images/pans/tenorbass.gif

Double Guitar

http://www.stthomasallstars.com/images/pans/guitar2.jpg

4 Pan Cello

http://www.stthomasallstars.com/images/pans/cello1.jpg

References

• http://www.steelpan-steeldrums-information.com/steel-pan-history.html

• http://www.isu.edu/stdorg/special/csdb/history.html