The steelpan, also called a pan or steel drum, is a musical instrument that came from Trinidad and Tobago. People who play the steelpan are called pannists.
In 1992, Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago named the steelpan the country’s national instrument. This action made the steelpan a symbol of pride and culture, honored both in Trinidad and Tobago and around the world.
In 2023, the United Nations General Assembly chose August 11 as World Steelpan Day. The next year, the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago officially confirmed the steelpan as the nation’s national instrument.
Description
The modern pan is a percussion instrument that can play all the notes in order. It is made from large industrial drums that hold 200 liters of liquid.
The word "drum" refers to the steel containers used to make pans. These containers are more accurately called steel pans or pans because they belong to the idiophone family of instruments, which makes sound when struck. This is different from membranophones, which are instruments with stretched membranes. Some steel pans are designed to play music based on the Pythagorean musical cycle of fourths and fifths.
A pan is played using two straight sticks with rubber tips. The size and type of rubber tip depend on the type of pan being played. Some musicians use four sticks, holding two in each hand. This style of playing developed from Trinidad and Tobago’s early 20th-century Carnival groups called tamboo bamboo.
The pan is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago. It is shown on the country’s current coat of arms.
Origin
Steelpans began to develop in the early to mid-1900s, but their origins trace back much earlier to West African cultures, where talking drums were used for ceremonies and to send messages over long distances.
The transatlantic slave trade brought African slaves to the Americas, including Trinidad. In the 1780s, French colonists arrived in Trinidad and Tobago and introduced street festival traditions. In 1785, plantation owners in Trinidad held the first Carnival. Many white plantation owners dressed as slaves and marched through the streets, mocking African clothing, singing, and dancing, including beating talking drums. Enslaved Africans were not allowed to join these events. In response, they created secret Carnivals in their homes and backyards. They used masks, feathers, beads, and drumming, inspired by their own traditions.
In 1789, the Spanish governor of Trinidad, José María Chacón, ordered enslaved Africans to follow Roman Catholic religion and observe Christian holy days. This was meant to erase West African culture and beliefs. However, enslaved Africans preserved their traditions by hiding them within Christian celebrations. For example, on Sundays, enslaved people wore their best clothes and attended drum dances in yards or on land where they grew their own crops. They danced to the rhythms of skin drums and gourd rattles.
In 1834, slavery was abolished in Trinidad and Tobago due to the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. However, segregation and forced labor continued. After emancipation, Africans celebrated Canboulay, a harvest festival with calypso drumming. In 1881, riots occurred during the Canboulay festival, leading to bans on stick-fighting and African percussion music in the 1880s. These were later replaced by bamboo sticks, which were also banned.
The first instruments in the development of the steelpan were tamboo bamboos, tunable sticks made of bamboo wood. These were struck on the ground and with other sticks to make sounds. Tamboo bamboo bands also used a (gin) bottle and spoon for percussion. By the mid-1930s, metal percussion items, such as automobile brake hubs ("iron") and biscuit drums ("boom"), began to replace the bottle-and-spoon and bass bamboo.
In 1937, percussionists in Laventille transformed into an orchestra using frying pans, dustbin lids, and oil drums. In 1941, the U.S. Navy arrived in Trinidad, and steelpan music became popular among soldiers, starting its international spread. At the time, steelpan music was associated with violent or unruly groups, and women were not allowed to participate. As the instrument became more accepted, women were eventually allowed to join, and the stigma faded. In 1939, the first all-steel band, Alexander's Ragtime Band, was formed, and by 1940, it became the preferred music for young men during Carnival.
In 1947, the 55-gallon oil drum was used to make steelpans. The Trinidad All-Steel Pan Percussion Orchestra (TASPO), created to perform at the Festival of Britain in 1951, was the first steelband to use only oil drums. They performed on July 26, introducing the steelpan and a new music genre to the world. Members of TASPO included Ellie Mannette and Winston "Spree" Simon. Hugh Borde led the National Steel Band of Trinidad & Tobago at the Commonwealth Arts Festival in England and the Esso Tripoli Steel Band, which performed at the World's Fair in Montreal, Canada, and later toured with Liberace. They also appeared on an album with him.
In 1954, three steel pans were used onstage in the Broadway musical House of Flowers. When Trinidadian-born dancer Geoffrey Holder joined the cast, he suggested hiring three drummers from his dance company—Michael Alexander (who made the instruments), Roderick Clavery, and Alphonso Marshall. These drummers also acted in the show.
Anthony Williams designed the "fourths and fifths" note arrangement, known as the circle of fifths. This became the standard layout for lead pans. Other developments include the tuning of harmonic overtones in individual notes, created independently by Bertie Marshall and Alan Gervais.
In the United States, steelpan instruments were sold as early as 1961.
The Caribbean Research Institute (CARIRI) studied ways to mass-produce steelpan raw forms using pressing machines in the 1970s. Much of this work happened in Sweden with the Saab Company. Although early results were promising, the project was abandoned due to lack of funding and support from Trinidadian pan tuners. Another method involved spinning the pan on a lathe-like device with a roller, which created pre-sunk pans but often left scratches and grooves.
A Swiss company, PANArt, researched fine-grain sheet steel and developed a deep-drawn raw form hardened by nitriding. This process and the new instruments, called pang, were presented at the International Conference of Steelpan and Science in Port-of-Spain in 2000.
Electronic steelpans have also been created. One example is the E-Pan, invented by Salmon Cupid, who holds patents for it. Another is the Percussive Harmonic Instrument (PHI).
Construction
The size of the note relates to the pitch—the larger the oval shape, the lower the sound.
The size of the instrument can differ between pans. Some may have most of the "skirt" (the cylindrical part of the oil drum) removed and include about 30 notes in the soprano range. Others may use the entire drum and have only three bass notes per pan, allowing one person to play six such pans. The length of the skirt usually connects to the drum's tessitura (high or low range). Pans are often painted or chrome-plated. Other finishes, such as nickel plating, powder coating, or hardening, may also be used.
Although steelpan is a newer instrument in the percussion family, tuning methods have improved quickly. Strobe tuners are very useful for this task. Seeing the first few overtones is important, so a strobe tuner is needed for steelpan tuning. Steelpan makers have used strobe tuners since adjusting the overtones (first, second, and third partials) made the pan's sound seem brighter than before.
A steelpan can go out of tune in several ways (most often due to hitting it too hard or not holding it properly). It is common for steelbands to have their instruments tuned once or twice a year. A tuner must have strong skills to make the notes sound good and correct. Many tuning tasks are done with hammers.
Classification
At the start of the steelband movement, musicians played only one pan at a time, which are now known as around-the-neck instruments. Later, some steelpans became able to play all the notes in a scale by using several pans together, especially for the lower sounds. This is because the lower notes require larger pans, which have fewer notes on each pan. Here are some of the most popular instruments:
Music and competitions
The steelband has a wide range of music it can play. In Trinidad, steelbands often change or adapt the current year's calypsos for carnival performances. Calypsos from earlier years are rarely played during carnival or the Panorama competition. Bands that perform throughout the year, both in Trinidad and around the world, take pride in being able to play many types of music, including Latin and jazz songs, film music, and other popular tunes. Steelband musicians also have a tradition of playing classical music, which began in 1946. This music is sometimes played in calypso rhythm, called "The Bomb," or in a more traditional style during concerts or festivals. In these settings, playing the music accurately and staying close to the original version is very important.
An international event called the World Steelband Music Festival has taken place in Trinidad since 1964. At this festival, steelbands perform a test piece (sometimes a specially written song or a chosen calypso), a piece of choice (often a "classic" or European music work), and a calypso of choice, all in a concert-style setting. Panorama, the largest steelband contest in the world, happens during Trinidad's carnival celebrations. In 2020, the first online steelpan competition, called PanoGrama, was created by Nevin Roach. Since 1978, a national Panorama competition has been held in the United Kingdom as part of the Notting Hill Carnival. In Brooklyn, New York, where many West Indians live, a steelband Panorama contest has been held every year since 1972 as part of its Labor Day Carnival.
In the 1970s, musicians like Dave Samuels and Othello Molineaux introduced steelpans to the jazz fusion genre. In the 2000s, Jonathan Scales also played a role in this. Steelpans are featured in the early jazz fusion album Morning Dance by Spyro Gyra.
Pannists
A pannist (also called a panist or panman) is someone who plays the steelpan. A professional pannist may perform by themselves, play with a steel band, or support singers or other musicians.
Pannists often perform with their bands in large competitions and usually memorize all the music they play.
The highest position for a pannist in a Panorama steelband is the captain. These large groups often have section leaders: skilled pannists who oversee different parts of the music.
Important pannists include Ellie Mannette, known as the "Father of the Modern Steel Drum" and a talented panman, and Winston "Spree" Simon, who created and played the "Ping Pong" pan.
Musicians Jimmy Buffett and Lord Kitchener are known for writing songs later adapted for the steel pan. Notable pan tuners and producers include Darren Dyke, Mappo, Bertrand Kelman, and Herman Guppy.