A steel pan history I use in my Caribbean Music Class at the Barbados Community Collge.

1. Steel Pan History
and Evolution
www.stefanwalcott.com
Caribbean Composers’ Handbook – Amazon.com

2. Trinidad
Trinidad is where pan was born and grew up.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, Trinidad had developed into a full-scale
plantation society structured by hegemonic European derived cultural traditions and
alternative African-derived traditions." (Stuempfle 14).
The high points of Afro-Trinidadian social life were the dances held during periods
outside the plantation work routine: times of leisure (Saturday nights and Sundays) or
times of festivity (especially Christmas and Easter)." (Stuempfle 15).

3. A perspective
The various legends about the origin of the steelband cannot be verified, but they are
suggestive of the types of chance occurrences that may have encouraged the use of
metallic percussion." (Stuempfle 33)
Just as it is difficult to pinpoint an original steelband, it is unlikely that any particular
individual can be designated as the first person to tune notes on a pan." (Stuempfle
37).
However, there is a general consensus that Alexander's Ragtime Band first came out
with untuned pans, which suggests that Wilson's 'notes' were perhaps originally
simply rough variations in pitch which he subsequently developed." (Stuempfle 38).

4. Tamboo Bamboo
Steel pan men and the movement came out of the tamboo bamboo bands.
Tamboo' came from the French for drum, tambour." (Batson 196).
The bull became the boom; 5 feet long and 5 inches wide, it was stamped on the ground and became
the bass. The foulé, middle mother, kept its name and character, now broken into two pieces of
bamboo each 12 inches long, 2 to 3 inches thick and struck together end to end. The cutter still
improvised, now made of thin pieces of bamboo of different lengths, held on the shoulder and struck
with a stick (Gonzalez 1978). (Batson 197)

5. Suggestion for Transition
The bamboo voice, while strong, was found to be easily stilled as the bamboo would
burst after repeated pounding. In the search for a louder and longer-lasting sound,
young men added metal to the bands. They found that pitches could be made and
changed by constant beating. All manner of sound makers were sought: brake drums
from cars, dustbin tops stolen from housewives, paint cans, cement drums, cow bells,
chac-chacs, and mouth bands (where all the sounds of a brass band were recreated
using only the mouth - sometimes real brass buglers played at the front of the bands).
(Batson 197)

6. Metal emerges
In this way, a louder, more durable and more tuneful sound was created. The bamboo
was discarded. The rhythms of the drum ensemble were incorporated into these
steelbands viewing with each other throughout the island. Simultaneously, persons
found that notes could be created on these metal cans and old biscuit tins. One-, two-
, and three-note instruments were created. In 1939 and 1940 Alexander's Ragtime
Band was the most popular of the new metal bands. (Batson 197)

7. Spree Simon and Mannette
In the course of the 1940s the basic steelband was expanded and tremendous
advancements were made in the tuning (fashioning) of pans. The most important
breakthrough was the development of the ping pong, which replaced the kittle as the
lead pan. Spree Simon was one of the key innovators of and performers on this
instrument." (Stuempfle 40).
Another ping pong pioneer was Ellie Mannette who was a member of Oval Boys."
(Stuempfle 40).

8. Getting Organised and Tapso
"In 1951 the Youth Council sponsored a national steelband of eleven members
selected from the best pan men in the country to perform at the Festival of Britain.
Rehearsals were held for the first time under a qualified musician, Sergeant Joseph
Griffith, who was director of music in St Lucia and a former member of the Trinidad
Police Band." (Batson 201).
instruments were chromaticized, simple orchestral scores arranged, and the panmen
taught to read a score with the note names identified by Arabic numerals. The band,
the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra (TASPO), debuted at an open-air
performance on the South Bank Exhibition Ground on July 26, 1951." (Batson 202).

9. Members of TAPSO
The success of TASPO improved the image of the steelband movement in Trinidad.
Among the members of the original TASPO was Ellie Mannette, who in his zeal to
return to Trinidad to continue work on the instruments turned down the offer of a
music scholarship in England. Mannette now teaches and works on the research and
development of the instrument at the University of West Virginia in the United States.
Sterling Betancourt stayed in England and in 2002 received an MBE for his sterling
work in the development of the instrument. (An MBE is a British honour - Member of
the Order of the British Empire.) Anthony Williams invented the spider web pan
which is today used as the basis of the fourths and fifths tenor. Other members were
Dudley Smith, Patsy Haynes, and Granville Sealey, who still plays pan at the
Deliverance Temple in Port of Spain. (Batson 202)

10. Organisation
The Steelband Association was later renamed the National Association of Trinidad and
Tobago Steelbandsmen and finally in 1971 renamed Pan Trinbago, today under the
leadership of Tobagonian Patrick Arnold." (Batson 202).
Mention, for instance, the defunct Sun Valley steelband to any aficionado, and he will
recall how the band won the first island-wide competition in 1946." (Johnson 208).

11. Panorama
The Panorama steelbands usually ranged in size from fifty to one hundred members
or, at the height, one hundred and twenty. Panorama arrangers with a proven track
record became viable" (Batson 203).

12. Arrangers
Ray Holman, one of the first to write and arrange his own music, Len "Boogsie"
Sharpe, a phenomenal player, arranger, and composer, Jit Samaroo, whose work with
his family band Samaroo Jets and the Renegades Steel Orchestra has won him
international kudos, and Clive Bradley, gifted teacher and brilliant arranger. Tuners
such as Bertram Kelman, Bertie Marshall, Tony Slater, the late Leo Coker, Roland
Harrigan, Michael Kernahan, and others have been and are in demand as bands
struggle to achieve a good sound. (Batson 203)

13. Evolution
Pan has evolved over the years and is now played globally.

14. Sources
Batson, Dawn. “Voices of Steel : A Historical Perspective” Carnival: Culture in Action :
the Trinidad Experience. Milla C. Riggio. New York: Routledge, 2004. 195-203. Internet
resource.
Cowley, John. Carnival, Canboulay, and Calypso: Traditions in the Making. Cambridge
[England: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print.
Johnson, Kim. “Notes on Pan” Carnival: Culture in Action : the Trinidad Experience.
Milla C. Riggio. New York: Routledge, 2004. 204-212. Internet resource.
Stuempfle, Stephen. The Steelband Movement: The Forging of a National Art in
Trinidad and Tobago. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995. Print.