Steel Drums


In the late 1700s, French settlers and their slaves emigrated to Trinidad. With their arrival came the tradition of carnival—a celebration that takes place before the Catholic Lent season. However, the slaves were not allowed to join in on the upper-class carnival tradition and, therefore, had to create their own carnival festivities. Their festivities included masqueraders, bands of Kalinda stick fighters, chantwell singers, and drum bands. After the Canboulay Riots, the stick fighters and percussive bands were banned in Trinidad. Soon after, they were replaced by bamboo sticks which were to be beaten against one another. The bamboo sticks were soon banned due to the fights and violence surrounding them. Later came about Tamboo-Bamboo bands. These were bands of sticks that were tuned to different pitches that were struck against the ground.

The steel drums originated in Trinidad during the 1940s. The steel drums descended from and replaced the Tamboo-Bamboo instruments. Originally, the steel drums were made using biscuit tins, coffee cans, or any other scrap metal found. Due to their metallic construction, the steel drums carry sound better than the Tamboo-Bamboo. The steel drum is a chromatically pitched percussion instrument that comes in many sizes. It is the only instrument that is made to play in the cycle of fourths and fifths. The pitches are created by making divots in a concave, bowl-shaped, metal body. Each divot creates a different pitch. Each bowl or “drum” has multiple divots with different pitches. The notes are sounded by striking particular divots with sticks that have a rubber tip.


Over the past few decades, the steel drum has moved from an instrument solely played in lower class areas of Trinidad to one that is also played in concert halls and performing arenas globally. C]In particular, competitions are a huge deal for steel drum bands. Performers work year-round to get ready for competition performances. The World Steelband Music Festival has been held since the 1960s in Trinidad. Ensembles play a wide variety of music ranging from newly composed works to calypso songs to orchestral works.



Here is a longer clip with some background and history, but this video shows steel drums in a traditional Trinidadian setting.







Both of these videos show steel drum bands performing in competitions. Competitions are a huge part of the instrument's performance tradition. The bands in both of these videos consist of large numbers of members and different varieties of the steel drum. 



This video shows a solo performance of Trinidad and Tobago's National Anthem. The steel drum can not only be used in a large ensemble setting, but transfers well as solo instrument, also.



The beautiful sound and melodic structure of the instrument allows for a broad repertoire to perform. This also makes it a fun instrument to perform other performing forces' repertoire.



And just for fun...here are some cute kids playing Michael Jackson on the instrument. (:

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