M A E L S T R U M
S t e e l D r u m E n s e m b l e
MAELSTRUM members performing for Keep Brazos Beautiful.
A Brief History of the Steel Drum...
Steel drums- commonly referred to as “pans”- are melodic percussion instruments formed from 55 gallon barrels. The tops of the barrels are hammered into a bowl anywhere from three to 12 inches deep depending on the drum. This bowl is then partitioned into multiple small areas by means of etching. Individual notes are then formed by hammering each of these small areas from the underside of the bowl until the resulting “bump” sounds a specific pitch. Higher pitches require less surface area, lower pitches more. This is why a single lead pan can have as many as 26 notes while it takes six barrels at three notes apiece to create the 18 note range of the bass pans.
The steel drum was born in the tiny island nation of Trinidad, part of present-day Trinidad and Tobago. In the late nineteenth century Trinidad was under British colonial rule. The British imposed a ban on the country’s traditional instruments, African drums, and in response the people of Trinidad began making music using common items such as biscuit tins, bottles, scrap iron and bamboo. It was in this spirit that the first steel drums were created. As the country’s social climate began to change, street fights between rival gangs gave way to festivals in which whole neighborhoods competed for the title of best pan band.
It is the purpose of MAELSTRUM to bring this unique and culturally significant form of music to both the students of Bryan ISD as well as the community at large. Our goal is to continually expand the ensemble to include a greater number of students and offer a more dramatic musical experience. It is our hope that, with the support of the community, we can achieve this goal.
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