My fingers are sore from ma’ geetar playing. Makes me think of at the end of Helter Skelter (Beatles) Ringo yells “I’ve got blisters on my fingers!!” (in a nice Liverpool-accent of course). But I’m feeling musical, and have had “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” stuck in my head all day, so:
A little history lesson (this was a high school research project):
Located north of Venezuela is the island of Trinidad and Tobago, one of the larger of the Caribbean islands and the home of the relatively recent development of a musical culture. They have many names: steel drums, steel pans, pan drums or simply pans. Interestingly enough, pans are new to the musical instrument repertoire, as they were just developed in the twentieth century. The ring that comes from the shaping and molding of thin metal, like on a can, is unique only to steel drums. Few people do not recognize the sound; it is so wide spread in the modern music society. All around the world there are groups of steel drummers, sharing the festive music and spreading its fun-loving culture. To think that it started with the “tamboo bamboo” bands off the streets of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Making of the Tuned Coffee Can
Some accounts as to the origin of the introduction of metal containers as instruments in the tamboo bamboo bands go back as early as 1911, but they were not a regular occurrence until around the 1930s. The tamboo bamboo bands consisted of various pieces of bamboo each producing a different pitch, much like the modern steel drum. Slowly, Trinidadians began experimenting with different sounds. They hammered on various coffee cans and paint cans (Story). It is hard to point directly to whoever tuned a can first, but there are many legends regarding the original “tuner.”
One such legend gives reference to Carlton “Lord Humbugger” Forde and the Newtown tamboo bamboo band. According to Forde, a bamboo bottle broke at a carnival, causing people to scatter at the fear of a fight. Thus Forde and a fellow band member picked up a paint can to replace the bamboo. They kept the can for future playing because it had such an interesting sound. Other legends say that cans slowly became preferred instruments because the bamboo was always breaking and the cans produced a richer sound (Stuempfle). Although, there is a controversy over whether the first all-steel band performance was in Trinidad or the Port of Spain. Forde recalls that his band went “all-steel’ in 1936, but newspaper articles from the Port of Spain show evidence of the same with their bands. Most likely, the spread of steel drumming innovations was so quick that there was hardly a “first” and it will never be black and white as to who might have been first. The fact is there were several neighborhoods that were experimenting with paint and zinc cans all over the island, developing new sounds and creating bands. And by the 1940s, the annual Carnival and other parades were subject to the “improvised musical instruments” such as “bottles, spoons, [and] pans” (Stuempfle).
The basic band consisted of a “cuff boom or slap bass, which produced one low sound of indefinite pitch,” a lead pan called a “kittle...typically made from a zinc or a paint can...[with] three notes...played over and over” and the middle instrument was a “bass kittle or dud-up...[and] and iron was struck as a time-keeper” (Stuempfle). Members would suspend the drums around their necks and they performed in the Carnival and in parades. Pan creators transferred rhythms and songs from their tamboo bamboo bands to steel bands and the result was a unique melody and the beginnings of a new culture in Trinidad.
Experimentation during War Time
Unfortunately, the Carnival was banned in 1942 until the end of World War II. Bands were subject to experimenting because they could not perform. A huge breakthrough came with the development of the ping-pong by Spree Simon, who hammered the bottom of a soda drum into a concave shape, producing four pitches. He then got eight notes out of a small oil drum by 1945. At the end of the war, the bands performed once again and new calypsos and melodies were heard. V-E Day, May 8, 1945, was the first official performance of the steel drum bands. The Carnival resumed the following year, in 1946, and steel bands were essential members of the festivities (Steelpan). Musicians began wrapping their sticks with rubber, producing an even richer, fuller sound than before. As time passed, Ellie Mannette introduced oil drums to be used for a ping-pong, which were larger and of better quality than paint cans. This idea spread like quicksand and soon most bands were using 44 and 45-gallon sized oil drums. Tuning procedures increased as well with the “sinking of a pan with a hammer, the grooving of individual sections of different sizes...the tempering of steel by heating the pan in a fire, and the actual tuning of notes by carefully hammering sections” (Stuempfle). Competition between pan makers allowed this all to happen, as they constantly wanted to out do each other.
Inside a “Panman’s” Mind
For the most part, the individuals who originated the steel pans were young African men, often called “panmen.” They lived in poor neighborhoods, where about the only thing to do was make music in the tamboo bamboo bands. Many people had trouble finding work and some chose a lifestyle filled with gambling and prostitution. Those who were deeply devoted to pan disliked this lifestyle, and found escape in their music. Movies were a favorite past time and often, the songs that pan bands played were inspired by scores from movies. With the coming of V-E Day, the ban on pan performances was lifted for a two-day holiday, and the bands saw an opportunity to share their music with the public. Although the war had left an economic slump for Trinidad, there was a hope in the resurgence of the Carnival, and steel drumming was in the center of it all.
Unstoppable Melody
The post-war years left many middle and upper class people in fear of the rising steel band movement. They disliked the “noise” from the long hours of practice time and viewed the panmen as “a threat to social order” as their demonstrations lead to violence and chaos (Stuempfle). New laws were placed on the Carnival participants, telling them they could not dress immodestly or dance vulgarly. The growth of tourism did not help the situation, as now the Carnival had to be “cleaned-up” for tourists. The early days of steel drumming were a struggle for panmen, who were only concerned with producing a new and better pan. Despite these conflicts, the steel band movement kept spreading, even beyond Trinidad to Tobago to other islands. By the 1940s and 1950s the movement was well organized and on its way to success. After Trinidad and Tobago gained their independence from Britain in 1962, steel bands were there, ready to celebrate.
Modern-Day Conclusions
Even through war and depression, social conflict and revolutions, steel drums have consistently thrived and prospered without fail. Pan drums can be found in the schools, the malls, at parties and the annual Carnival, and even a few church worships. Granted the pans have different names (bass, cellos, guitars, double seconds, and lead or tenors), plus there has been the addition of the “Engine Room” consisting of drum set, shakers, and various added drums and instruments to give it that Caribbean sound we know and love. Filling the neighborhood streets that originated the music, pans play as a constant reminder to the Trinidadians of troubling times when they prevailed over their hardships and forever fills the souls of man with the lively melodies and entertaining music. To think it started with a coffee can replacing some bamboo.
And thus ends the music history lesson...
A little history lesson (this was a high school research project):
Located north of Venezuela is the island of Trinidad and Tobago, one of the larger of the Caribbean islands and the home of the relatively recent development of a musical culture. They have many names: steel drums, steel pans, pan drums or simply pans. Interestingly enough, pans are new to the musical instrument repertoire, as they were just developed in the twentieth century. The ring that comes from the shaping and molding of thin metal, like on a can, is unique only to steel drums. Few people do not recognize the sound; it is so wide spread in the modern music society. All around the world there are groups of steel drummers, sharing the festive music and spreading its fun-loving culture. To think that it started with the “tamboo bamboo” bands off the streets of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Making of the Tuned Coffee Can
Some accounts as to the origin of the introduction of metal containers as instruments in the tamboo bamboo bands go back as early as 1911, but they were not a regular occurrence until around the 1930s. The tamboo bamboo bands consisted of various pieces of bamboo each producing a different pitch, much like the modern steel drum. Slowly, Trinidadians began experimenting with different sounds. They hammered on various coffee cans and paint cans (Story). It is hard to point directly to whoever tuned a can first, but there are many legends regarding the original “tuner.”
One such legend gives reference to Carlton “Lord Humbugger” Forde and the Newtown tamboo bamboo band. According to Forde, a bamboo bottle broke at a carnival, causing people to scatter at the fear of a fight. Thus Forde and a fellow band member picked up a paint can to replace the bamboo. They kept the can for future playing because it had such an interesting sound. Other legends say that cans slowly became preferred instruments because the bamboo was always breaking and the cans produced a richer sound (Stuempfle). Although, there is a controversy over whether the first all-steel band performance was in Trinidad or the Port of Spain. Forde recalls that his band went “all-steel’ in 1936, but newspaper articles from the Port of Spain show evidence of the same with their bands. Most likely, the spread of steel drumming innovations was so quick that there was hardly a “first” and it will never be black and white as to who might have been first. The fact is there were several neighborhoods that were experimenting with paint and zinc cans all over the island, developing new sounds and creating bands. And by the 1940s, the annual Carnival and other parades were subject to the “improvised musical instruments” such as “bottles, spoons, [and] pans” (Stuempfle).
The basic band consisted of a “cuff boom or slap bass, which produced one low sound of indefinite pitch,” a lead pan called a “kittle...typically made from a zinc or a paint can...[with] three notes...played over and over” and the middle instrument was a “bass kittle or dud-up...[and] and iron was struck as a time-keeper” (Stuempfle). Members would suspend the drums around their necks and they performed in the Carnival and in parades. Pan creators transferred rhythms and songs from their tamboo bamboo bands to steel bands and the result was a unique melody and the beginnings of a new culture in Trinidad.
Experimentation during War Time
Unfortunately, the Carnival was banned in 1942 until the end of World War II. Bands were subject to experimenting because they could not perform. A huge breakthrough came with the development of the ping-pong by Spree Simon, who hammered the bottom of a soda drum into a concave shape, producing four pitches. He then got eight notes out of a small oil drum by 1945. At the end of the war, the bands performed once again and new calypsos and melodies were heard. V-E Day, May 8, 1945, was the first official performance of the steel drum bands. The Carnival resumed the following year, in 1946, and steel bands were essential members of the festivities (Steelpan). Musicians began wrapping their sticks with rubber, producing an even richer, fuller sound than before. As time passed, Ellie Mannette introduced oil drums to be used for a ping-pong, which were larger and of better quality than paint cans. This idea spread like quicksand and soon most bands were using 44 and 45-gallon sized oil drums. Tuning procedures increased as well with the “sinking of a pan with a hammer, the grooving of individual sections of different sizes...the tempering of steel by heating the pan in a fire, and the actual tuning of notes by carefully hammering sections” (Stuempfle). Competition between pan makers allowed this all to happen, as they constantly wanted to out do each other.
Inside a “Panman’s” Mind
For the most part, the individuals who originated the steel pans were young African men, often called “panmen.” They lived in poor neighborhoods, where about the only thing to do was make music in the tamboo bamboo bands. Many people had trouble finding work and some chose a lifestyle filled with gambling and prostitution. Those who were deeply devoted to pan disliked this lifestyle, and found escape in their music. Movies were a favorite past time and often, the songs that pan bands played were inspired by scores from movies. With the coming of V-E Day, the ban on pan performances was lifted for a two-day holiday, and the bands saw an opportunity to share their music with the public. Although the war had left an economic slump for Trinidad, there was a hope in the resurgence of the Carnival, and steel drumming was in the center of it all.
Unstoppable Melody
The post-war years left many middle and upper class people in fear of the rising steel band movement. They disliked the “noise” from the long hours of practice time and viewed the panmen as “a threat to social order” as their demonstrations lead to violence and chaos (Stuempfle). New laws were placed on the Carnival participants, telling them they could not dress immodestly or dance vulgarly. The growth of tourism did not help the situation, as now the Carnival had to be “cleaned-up” for tourists. The early days of steel drumming were a struggle for panmen, who were only concerned with producing a new and better pan. Despite these conflicts, the steel band movement kept spreading, even beyond Trinidad to Tobago to other islands. By the 1940s and 1950s the movement was well organized and on its way to success. After Trinidad and Tobago gained their independence from Britain in 1962, steel bands were there, ready to celebrate.
Modern-Day Conclusions
Even through war and depression, social conflict and revolutions, steel drums have consistently thrived and prospered without fail. Pan drums can be found in the schools, the malls, at parties and the annual Carnival, and even a few church worships. Granted the pans have different names (bass, cellos, guitars, double seconds, and lead or tenors), plus there has been the addition of the “Engine Room” consisting of drum set, shakers, and various added drums and instruments to give it that Caribbean sound we know and love. Filling the neighborhood streets that originated the music, pans play as a constant reminder to the Trinidadians of troubling times when they prevailed over their hardships and forever fills the souls of man with the lively melodies and entertaining music. To think it started with a coffee can replacing some bamboo.
And thus ends the music history lesson...
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