Berklee today is the official alumni publication of Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a forum for contemporary music and musicians.
Issue link: http://berkleetoday.epubxp.com/i/67927
THEWOODSHED Steelpan Magic By Ron Reid I can't tell you how many times I've been asked, "How do you get "that sound out of those cans?" Undeniably the sound has been described as happy and magical— even ethereal—but the captivating sound that comes from these transformed oil barrels has been in evolution over some 60 years of a tumultuous yet colorful history. Steeldrums, the North-American name for "pan" or "steelpan" as it is called through- out the Caribbean islands, was created on the island of Trinidad in the early 1940s. As they channeled their ancestral Associate Professor Ron Reid, a steel drummer and bassist, has arranged and composed music for legendary steelbands. He performs on double-second pans with the jazz-infused Sunsteel sextet. Visit www.ronreid.com. rhythms throughout various stages of steelpan's development, high school–aged boys and young men created a new sound. Because colonial authorities in 1900s-era Trinidad and Tobago feared the religious practices associated with hand drumming, they banned public celebrations and ritu- als that empowered and connected post- slavery black and "mixed" inhabitants to their African homeland. During the 1930s, participants in carnival celebrations substi- tuted various lengths of bamboo, creat- ing a chorus of percussion instruments that became known as "tamboo bamboo." Metal containers such as paint and garbage cans, pots, and unidentified metal contain- ers became the more durable replacements for the bamboo instruments that often broke during intense celebrations. Today's steelpan instrument is still largely made from the standard 55-gallon oil drum, an abundance of which became available due to demand for oil supplies dur- ing World War II. Through creative recycling and desperate need, these empty barrels were fashioned into musical instruments. In the spring of 2011, Berklee officially incorporated the steelpan as a princi- pal instrument. Chair of the Percussion Department John Ramsay said he was enthused that students could now follow eight semesters of steelpan curriculum as performance majors. As an adjunct pro- fessor in the Percussion Department over the past 10 years, I have primarily taught two classes: the Steelpan Lab and Steelpan Ensemble. These courses are offered sequentially, with the lab offered in the fall and the ensemble in the spring. Our intro- ductory lab class focuses on basic steelpan techniques of sticking, rolling, methods for learning scales, and groove interpretation. 30 Berklee today I create simple arrangements and through teaching these arrangements in manage- able sections, work with the students to master the areas of focus discussed previ- ously. The ensemble class then works on original arrangements and transcriptions or adaptations of larger ensemble pieces in preparation for an annual concert. The sidebar "The Steelpan Family" (below) and example 1 (page 31) give descriptions and ranges of the instruments. Ssu Yun Wang, a 2012 graduate and marimba principal who has chosen the double-second steelpan as her secondary instrument says, " I have finally learned how to relax my body while playing and have now shifted my career goals to include leading my own band performing Caribbean music." Most of our enrolled steelpan principals have performed in well- known steelbands and have memorized (a common practice among established steel- bands) intricate arrangements of calyp- so and soca tunes. They have, however, needed to develop their reading, comping, and improvisatory skills as they look into careers as solo artists, bandleaders, and session musicians. Through a detailed list of requirements for each semester level (eight levels for performance majors) stu- dents must do the following: • learn and perform major, harmon- ic, melodic and natural minor scales (Examples 2a and 2b demonstrate varia- The Steelpan Family The tenor pan is the lead steelpan and plays the melody. Though called the tenor pan, it actually is closer to the range of the soprano voice. The role of the double tenor pan is to support the tenor pan. It is six to seven inches deep and can be used to double the melody or play harmony to the melody. The double-second pan, like the double-tenor, is typically used to reinforce the melody, most often at the octave. It can be used to play harmony. The guitar pan primarily plays guitar-like strumming patterns and as well as guide- tone lines and countermelodies. The triple cello instrument extends the range of the guitar pan and is used like a strumming instrument. For a four-note voicing, it plays the lower two voices as the guitar pan plays the upper two. It also plays guide-tone and contrapuntal lines. The four-pan set* is used for strumming and for doubling bass lines and melodies, adding weight to the midrange pans. The quadraphonic pans* are a four-pan set with a wide range that can support the melody and play harmony, countermelodies, strumming patterns, and bass lines. The tenor bass is a four-pan set designed to double the bass part, usually up an octave. The bass is typically a six-pan set of complete barrels that plays the bass part. Large steelbands often use 9- and 12 bass sets in competitions. *These pans are not typically used in small steelbands. tions of major scale patterns I use with tenor pan students); play a blues melody and/or a melody based on rhythm changes • comp the chord changes of a 12-bar blues or standard tune; and • perform an étude either composed or adapted for steelpan. As these students develop their skills through a more concentrated study of modes, II-V-I patterns, characteristic jazz phrases and licks, and solo transcriptions, (example 3), they can choose from the Latin-jazz repertoire or from compositions and/or recordings by steelpan soloists and composers including Robert Greenidge, Ray Holman, Len "Boogsie" Sharpe, Andy Narell and Othello Molineaux for their proficiency performance selections. I envision the program evolving to include the study of classic steelpan arrangements and the transcription of these works for combined contemporary ensemble. The electronic steelpan—a modi- fication of the tenor pan model—has been introduced to the market enabling players the flexibility to perform melodies ranging from tenor pan to bass and as a controller for accessing sampled sounds. It is my hope that our aspiring compos- ers and arrangers will begin exploring all the complexities and sonorities of this unique instrument, the steelpan. The results will undoubtedly be magical. Don West