The History of the
Steel Pan
Amy Garner,
Sarah Holland,
Meggie Humphreys,
Rochelle Gann
The steel pan was invented in Trinidad
and Tobago in the 1930’s
 The steel pan, or otherwise known as
the steel drum, is the only instrument
invented in the 20th century

Traced back to African slaves on the
island in the 16th century
 Music was their only link to Africa
 The Africans stomped on bamboo, and
they called themselves tamboo bamboo
bands
 The upper class banned the instrument

Craftsman discovered that dustbins
made of metal provided sound when
hammered
 The first steel drum performers would
carry a small drum in one hand and
beat the metal with the other hand

After WWII, steel drums were made
from discarded oil drums
 The craftsmen would pound the flat
metal into convex and concave profiles
which created various pitches

Selection of Sounds
Four Cello
Register: Tenor
Musical Function: Low Harmony &
Melody,
Reinforce Bass
Six Bass

Register: Bass
Musical Function: Bass Lines, Bottom
Chord Tones
D Lead
Register: Soprano
Musical Function: Melody
http://www.mathsyear2000.org/mus
eum/gallery1/steeldrum/
Register: Alto
Musical Function: Melody,
Countermelody, Harmony
Creation of the
Steel Pan
Phase 1- Supplies and
Stretching
 55-gallon oil drum is
selected
 40-pound sledgehammer is
applied to the bottom of
the barrel
 stretch metal evenly
without tearing
 use the “tempering”
process before moving on
to next phase
Phase 2-Note Placement



template is used to mark placement of notes
lines are drawn to guide tuner
each note is “grooved”
Phase 3-Tuning
 barrel side, or “skirt”, is cut
 uses hammers of various sizes and “pongs”
the notes from underneath of pan
 stretching and smoothing of the bubbled areas
for tuning purposes
 each note is tuned in relation to the other notes
 http://www.toucans.net/multimedia/PanTuning160x120-15fps.qt
Phase 4-Painting
• each steel pan is painted according
to how the person feels
• it can be colorful or just chrome
• this detunes the pans so tuning is
done once more
Hopetown Lighthouse
Duo featuring Larry and Janet
Introduced to Steel Drums by Dave Beery
First Performance in 1995
Ob-la-de, Ob-la-da
Their Music
 Traditional
tropical songs
 Old Caribbean folk tunes
 Favorites from Jimmy Buffet
 Jazz Selections
Don’t Worry Be Happy
Other Steel Drum Musicians
Sir Cedric Luces
 Bob Lyons
 Panjive
 JT’s Island Steel
 JR
 Jim Wist

Red Red Wine by JR
Http://www.isu.edu/stdorg/special/csdb/history.html
Http://www.steeldrummusic.net/history.htm
Http://www.firstact.com
Http://www.panyard.com/pans/dblsec.asp
Http://www.toucans.net/Toc/makePan.html
Http://www.hopetownlighthouse.com/index.html