The
steel drum originates from the island of Trinidad, in the Caribbean (off the
coast of South America) in the 30's and 40's. The first large drums
were created from used oil drums, which had been left over from WWII, when
the United States had a Naval base in Trinidad. The islanders had been
using dented biscuit cans that someone discovered could produce simple tones
and melodies by striking different parts of the indentations. Through
experimentation and use of better materials, it was found if the metal was
stretched and heated with fire (tempering the steel), the notes could be
tuned. A Lead Pan (Soprano/One Pan) can have over two
octaves (26 notes) and is used for playing the melody and some
harmony. The next range are The Double-Seconds (Altos/Two Pans),
and the notes are larger in size which produce a lower tone for melody and
harmonies. Next come The Cellos (Tenors/Four Pans), and are
used for harmonies. At the lowest end of the tone range are The
Basses (Bass/Six to Eight Full-Size Drums). Because of the size
required to produce bass notes, each drum has only three notes each.
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Photos of Cellos & Basses taken at the Panyard, Akron,
Ohio (www.panyard.com).
Jeff performs on an Extended 'A' Lead and Double-Seconds,
created and tuned by ...
the craftsmen at The Panyard - Thanks to Ron, Steve,
Shelly, Dan, Angel, Ronnie, and Mike
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