Steel Pan and National Anthems
Defining Terms
Steel DRUM or PAN? “Both terms are used to describe the same instrument. This may seem confusing but it is an accepted inconsistency in the steel band (steel drum band) world. The development of this instrument was very informal and involved many persons working independently of each other” is an elegant way to sum up the experience of a pannist in America (Steel Pan (Steel Drums)-Information, Tips and Advice on This Musical Instrument, n.d.). The instrument is called the Steel Pan BUT the material that creates the instrument is a 55 - Gallon Oil Drum. The instrument is an idiophone, which are “instruments that create sound through vibrating themselves,” which differs it from a drum which is a membranophone, which “produces sound by vibrating a membrane” (UW Ethnomusicology Archives). So, if you can remember anything, remember that it is a Steel Pan!
Panorama - A yearly competition across multiple regions of varying sizes (20 - 100 players). A 6 - 10 minute slot is allotted to all participating Steel Bands to perform an arrangement of the song of choice, which usually is derived from popular songs within the soca / calypso genre or compositions made for pan referenced as ‘pan tunes.’ There is usually either 3 phases (preliminary, semi-final, and final) or just one phase.
Pannists - Term to reference players of the instrument.
Arranger - Musical director for creating the music for the steel band to perform.
Ernest D. Brown, professor of music at the University of Washington (who deceased on April 3, 2012), wrote an in-depth document on the relationship of steel pans, panorama, Carnival, Calypso, and Jouvert. Not only did he articulate the relationship but he meticulously explained the tropes of those relationships by documenting the reality of people who engage in these spaces. I deeply appreciated his thoroughness in articulation of the art.
Joshua Ray Frans, a doctor of musical arts from 2019, wrote his dissertation on an historical account of Panorama in Brooklyn, New York. He gives continuity of Panorama from Ernest D. Brown’s document. Joshua Ray Frans identified for me the Peace Preservation Ordinance of 1883, which “banned drumming and noisy instruments for fear that these celebrations and gatherings would lead to revolt” (Frans, 2019, p. 20). That ordinance is not digitized but is the historical truth that sets up the creation of Tamboo Bamboo, the predecessor of steel pan. Joshua includes interviews of leaders in the Brooklyn pan community as well as a synthesis of the inner workings and struggles of this yearly event.