Steel drums are percussion instruments from Trinidad that were developed in the 1930s and 1940s and are often made from 55-gallon oil drums. Steel pan, steelpan, or just pan is the technical name for the instrument; steel drum is the material that it is made of. Despite this, the instrument is commonly referred to as a steel drum. They were first used in Carnival celebrations, which take place on the Tuesday before Lent begins.
A steel band is a group of people who play steel drums. The ensemble may also include rhythm instruments such as a drum kit, congas, and other percussion, some of which are standard and some of which are recycled, such as irons made from brake drums.
Steel drums are pitched idiophones, or vibrating instruments that produce sound. Idiophones can be played in a variety of ways, including striking, scraping, plucking, friction, and blowing. Steel drums are pounded with mallets that have a rubber tip.
The bottoms of oil drums are formed into bowls and then tuned to make steel drums. The pan in each drum has a number of surfaces that vary in pitch. The tenor drum, which is the highest pitched, has a range of about two and a half octaves. Tuning in the traditional sense is chromatic.
Winston “Spree” Simon, a member of the John John steel band, is credited with being the first to create a pan. Despite the fact that steel drums’ typical repertoire includes calypsos and other Latin American forms, Simon created steel drum arrangements of “Ave Maria” and “God Save the King.”
Steel drums, which are the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, remain popular. Still linked to Carnival, the focus has shifted to the Trinidad and Tobago National Panorama competition, which pits steel bands against one another for prizes and culminates on the Saturday before Carnival. In the largest band category, the maximum number of players is 120.
The steel drums are judged in four categories in the Panorama competition: music arrangement, general performance, tone, and rhythm, with 40 points available in the first two categories and 10 points available in the last two. Panorama began in 1962, shortly after Trinidad and Tobago gained independence from the United Kingdom. Steel drums have spread throughout the Caribbean since then, and are now popular in communities all over the world, including those without a Caribbean population.