Steel Pan Drumming: A Beginner's Guide

Playing the steel pan drums is similar to playing the drums, but with an important difference: you can produce a melody as well as a rhythm. The steel pan drum has the whole chromatic scale, or the musical alphabet, and this must be learned, just as you would for any other instrument. It's best to start off with a lead or tenor pan, but it's important to play with others and get into the culture of it. You should never hit the drums hard—a light touch is all that's needed to produce a clear note.

Basic steel pan techniques

Playing the steel pan (steel drum) is challenging due to its unique circular shape. The following techniques will help you develop speed and evenness of sound.

Standing Position

Stand directly in front of the instrument with your body approximately 4-5 inches away from the skirt of the pan. Distribute your weight evenly on both feet and keep your elbows at waist level or slightly above. Avoid shuffling your feet from side to side; if you need to reach a note, keep your feet planted and pivot slightly from the waist.

Hand Position

Keep your hands close to the playing surface at all times. This is key to playing with speed and accuracy. When moving the stick from one note to another, your hands should glide above the notes.

Mallet Grip

There are several ways to grip the mallet, but the most common way is as follows:

• Hold the mallet with a fist and press it with your index finger.
• Hold more than one-third of the mallet with a light grip.
• Wrap your remaining fingers lightly around the shaft so that your fingertips touch your palm.
• No more than half an inch of the mallet should protrude below your little finger.
• The grip should be fairly loose, tightening when playing higher-pitched notes to maintain sound intensity.

Strokes

The two main strokes used to play steel pan are the down-up stroke and the flick:

• Down-Up Stroke: Using your wrist, lower the pan stick to strike the note and immediately return to the starting position to produce a clear note.
• Flick: Move your wrist in a flicking motion to move the stick from lower to higher notes in a smooth motion. This helps create melodic sounds.
• Single Roll: This technique is used to sustain a tone and is common in percussion music. Rapidly alternate right and left-hand down-up strokes, ensuring they are even and quick. Start slowly and increase speed as you gain control.

With these basic techniques, you'll be on your way to playing the steel pan like a pro!

Learn the musical alphabet

Learning the musical alphabet is an essential part of playing the steel pan. The pan offers the whole chromatic scale, and you must learn this scale, just as you would for any other instrument. The notes are sometimes written on the different indentations in the pan, but not always, so you need to keep practising until you memorise where they all are.

The steel pan, also known as a tenor pan, offers a wide range of notes, and it is important to familiarise yourself with the layout of the notes. Each indentation on the pan corresponds to a different note, and by striking these indentations with the sticks, you can produce a range of pitches.

The size of the oval-shaped indentation on the steel pan corresponds to the pitch of the note. Larger ovals produce lower tones, while smaller ovals produce higher pitches. This visual representation of the musical alphabet can be very helpful in learning and understanding the layout of the notes.

Additionally, the steel pan is played using a pair of straight sticks tipped with rubber. The size and type of rubber tip vary depending on the class of pan being played. Some musicians use four sticks, holding two in each hand. This playing style evolved from Trinidad and Tobago's early 20th-century Carnival percussion groups, known as tamboo bamboo.

Learning the musical alphabet on the steel pan involves understanding the layout of the notes, the relationship between the size of the indentation and the pitch, and practising striking the notes with the appropriate force to produce the desired sound.

How to hold the sticks

Holding the sticks is a crucial part of learning to play the steel pan drums. You can choose from different techniques to hold the sticks or mallets, but it's important to do it properly.

The grip you use is called the "Matched Grip". Both hands are the same, they "match". So start by using your dominant hand and then repeat with the other hand, mirroring the look and feel.

Firstly, grip the stick with your dominant hand on the back end, with the bead pointing away from you. Pick up the stick with the bead facing away from you and with your hand comfortably behind the stick's balance point, closer to the end than the front. Place your hand in the same spot each time you play, using the stick's identifying markings.

Next, lightly squeeze the stick between the pad of your thumb, while wrapping your index finger around the stick. Your other fingers should also wrap around the stick, but the pinkie and ring fingers should only add a small amount of pressure. Keep your wrists relaxed and loose, and try to keep them straight. They shouldn't be arched up or down, or deviated left or right.

Finally, repeat the above steps with your non-dominant hand. Your hands will mirror each other in the matched grip. The drumsticks will start to feel like natural extensions of your arms as you get more comfortable. This will take time, so don't be discouraged.

Tuning the drums

Tuning a steel pan drum is a complex process that requires a good sense of pitch discrimination. The fundamental pitch and the upper partials (harmonics) must be adjusted independently, which is more complicated than tuning traditional musical instruments such as string, brass, and wind instruments. The tuning process can be broadly divided into three main steps: coarse tuning, fine tuning, and blending.

Coarse Tuning

Coarse tuning involves softening the metal of the notes and adjusting them to the correct pitch before fine-tuning. The softening of the notes and the tuning of the pitch go hand in hand. While softening the metal, the tuner listens to the pitch and tries to stretch the metal adequately. As the metal softens, the tuner focuses on the pitch and adjusts the octave simultaneously. This continuous flow of work is important to keep in mind.

The tuning process should start with the procedure that affects the metal the most and has the greatest impact on the sound. The tuner then moves towards finer adjustments. This is because the stretching of the metal during tuning will affect the surrounding notes. It is important to work in a circular manner, tuning the inner and outer notes multiple times until they are all in pitch.

To raise the outer notes during softening, a bent iron, similar to a crowbar, or specially shaped wooden wedges can be used. The softening process involves flattening and restoring the notes multiple times to loosen them up and give them a tone independent of the surrounding notes. The number of repetitions depends on the ease of tuning, with inner notes typically requiring fewer repetitions.

Fine Tuning

Fine tuning involves making adjustments to the pitch and timbre while the pan is hanging in its playing position. The prime tools for fine-tuning are a small hammer and a rubber-tipped tuning stick. The hammer is used to tune the fundamental pitch, while the stick is needed to focus on the upper harmonics. The type of hammer used depends on the size of the notes, with heavier hammers used for larger notes and lighter hammers for smaller ones. The tuning stick may be heavier and harder than a regular playing stick to better determine the stability of the note.

The tuner alternates between the hammer and the stick, hitting the note with one stroke of the hammer followed by two or three hits with the stick to clearly hear the timbre of the sound. This process is repeated until the correct pitch and timbre are achieved.

Blending

Blending is the final tuning step, ensuring that the pitches on the pan are in tune with each other and matched with the other instruments in the steel band. Special tuning hammers are used to tap both the underside and tops of the notes until the correct pitch and timbre are reached.

Steel pans can go out of tune with frequent use, and the fine-tuning and blending process may need to be repeated several times throughout the life of the instrument. It is recommended to contact a trained professional for tuning and blending rather than attempting it yourself.

Playing with others

You can also play along with a DVD or song booklet to learn how to play the steel pan drums. These often come with steel drum kits and provide a structured learning path. Playing along with a DVD or song booklet can help you improve your technique and learn new tunes.

It is important to remember that the steel pan drums are a unique instrument that can play any style of music. Whether you're interested in jazz, classical, calypso, reggae, soca, salsa, or any other genre, the steel pan drums can be a great instrument to play with others and create beautiful music together.

Frequently asked questions