Kevin Martin, musician and instructor, has a passion. For years, he has been
studying, performing with, composing for, and building the only instrument
created in the 20th century: the steel drum. Kevin's talk and performance gives
us insight into the social history, the musical potential, and the future of this
melodic, percussive instrument.
In the early 1940s, Kim Loy Wong was a member of the first teenage steelband
in Trinidad, East Side Kids.
He later moved on to other steelbands before starting the HiLanders in the 1950s.
In 1956, while with the HiLanders, he was approached by famous US folklore singer,
Peter Seeger, who was interested in how the steelpan was made.
[Information about Kim Loy Wong supplied by
"Best of Trinidad".]
Smithsonian Folklife Festival has published a
Youtube video
where pan pioneer Ellie Mannette presents his involvement in the beginnings of pan.
Ellie Mannette, born in Trinidad in 1927, is considered
"the father of the modern steel drum."
Mannette worked for 75 years to develop and popularize the steel drum,
creating seven of the ten instruments used in steel drum bands today.
Videography by Charles Weber, John Wetmore, Marinna Guzy, Michael Headley, Andrea Curran.
Edited by Julia Narrow.
Published on YouTube 19 Apr 2013
The steel pan, the tuned steel drum, is one of the few genuinely novel
acoustic instruments invented in the twentieth century. Its origin is
believed to be dustbins, used as rhythm instruments by the traditional
Carnival bands of Trinidad & Tobago in the 1930's. During its 50-year
history the steel pan has evolved from a multi-pitched percussion
instrument to the mellow-sounding melodic-harmonic instrument of
today.
The history of the steel pan is a story of prohibitions and compulsion.
Its invention was in fact induced by the ruling colonialists trying to
suppress the strong rhythmic heritage of the black Africans. Here are
some milestones in the history of the pan:
1883
The use of drums in street parades was outlawed since the
colonialists feared that passing of secret messages by means of
drumming might become the impetus for social unity and revolt among the
black. Riots and conflict between the natives and the authorities led
to the banning of drum processions after the carnival this year.
1900 - 1934
The ban of drums led to the use of tuned bamboo sticks in street
parades. During the 1930's biscuit tins were included as rhythm
instruments in the Tamboo Bamboo bands.
1934
Tamboo Bamboo bands were forbidden due to street clashes among
rival groups.
1935 - 1938
A gradual change to steel instruments in street bands.
1938 - 1939
Are considered to be the "birth" years of the steel drum. Tamboo
Bamboo bands finally switching over to steel. Alexander's Ragtime Band,
led by pioneer Carlton Forde, is said to have been the first known band
with an ensemble exclusively consisting of steel instruments.
1942
Carnivals forbidden during World War II for "security reasons",
which gave people more time for acoustic experiments with the emerging
"steel drum".
1939 - 1945
The first melody pans with three to eight tones was introduced. The
pan crafting process was improved by sinking, grooving and tempering.
Sticks damped with rubber tubing were starting to be used. The
instruments were grouped into categories as iron, boom, dudup,
ping-pong.
1945
In a spontaneous Carnival at the end of the war there were several
bands consisting of only steel pans - the first real steelbands.
1946
The Invaders steelband, led by Elliot "Ellie" Manette, was reported
to be the first steelband to participate in organised "mas".
The last years of the small melodic steel pan; in 1948 the 55
gallon oil drum finally replaced the biscuit tin as main raw material.
The first fourteen-note steel drum with chromatic tones was
developed.
The early rhythm steel drums were usually made from paint tins or
biscuit tins, one foot in diameter and two feet long. It was discovered
that bulges of different sizes in the bottom of a tin could produce
sounds of various pitches. Some of the more inventive players started to
tune the tins and play melodies on them. Several sources point out
Winston "Spree" Simon as the inventor of the first melodic steel pan.
An oil industry as well as an U.S. naval base had been established on
the island of Trinidad. Leftover oil drums were often cut in two and used
as dustbins. These dustbins successively replaced the biscuit tin as the
raw material for pan making. The bottom of the dustbin was hammered
outwards to a convex shape (i.e., the opposite to a modern steel pan) and
then small dents for the different notes were made in it. In the later
part of the 1940's, pan tuner and arranger Elliot "Ellie" Manette changed
the design to concave with convex note-dents and increased the number of
notes in the pan.
Through the fifty years following the second world war, the steel pan
has been further developed by panmakers through sophisticated
experimentation with the physical parameters of the metal, using
intuition, trial and error experiments and a good musical ear. The
development is still in progress; refinements are made and new crafting
techniques and constructions are tested. A number of pan types with
different layouts have evolved from this experimentation. Some problems
that have not yet been finally resolved are the standardization of the
note layout on the various pan types and the evaluation of the
effectiveness of the different existing crafting techniques.
Read more about the steel pan in my book:
Steel Pan Tuning - a Handbook for Steel
Pan Making and Tuning