Hi all,

Sort of a random survey by country:
Curious to know how many folks play the steel pan or have knowledge of it.

Cheerio mates...

There's a primary school not so far from here which has a steel band - it's quite well -known locally.

Maggie

QUOTE (maggiemay @ May 21 2005, 11:10 AM)

There's a primary school not so far from here which has a steel band - it's quite well -known locally. Maggie

erm So sorry to edit my post after yours - Apologies....

What country is it? No detailed address, just the country.

QUOTE

erm So sorry to edit my post after yours - Apologies....

no probs

UK south-east.

M

Why thank you maggiemay
You sure are super swift today LOL

I was in a steel band at secondary school. It was fab!

Click on this link if you're interested in Steel pan in the Caribbean.

Barbados Steel Pan Festival

Here is another link to steel pan for those who might be interested.
Wonder when the ABRSM will start Exams for this instrument? I know for a fact that it is being taught at some Universities.

by the way - do you know it was the only instrument invented in the 20th Century?

Global Steelpan Music News - GSMN

I have knowledge of it in terms of I know what one is/have heard/seen them being played - but nowt beyond that (UK South West btw!)

I think lots of people have heard them. I saw them on TV, and we have a CD of Caribbean music.

With the usual type of drums if you want play one octave you need a lot of drums but you only need one steel pan!!! Why is that? It's because they hammer the pans until they are tuned to the right sound, so you could even colour the pans with a different colour for each pitch. That would be colourful!

I like it because it has a great sound, and it sounds a bit like electronic music even though it's not an electronic instrument. I love the sound....

I live in Japan. There is even somebody who makes steel pans in Japan

We have steel pans in our school but we never play them!! Probably because the chavs in our group would end up smashing them in or something.

Ah well. Life goes on.

I think it was novel how they took discarded oil drums and cut and tuned them to make music.
Intriguing I'd say.

BTW - A few years ago there was a Steelpan competition in Barbados and there were steelbands from USA, England and somewhere else I think Ireland.
I think the one from England was called The Kineton Calypso Steelband - If anyone knows about them please contact me.

Cheerio mates

There's one here - mid-Cornwall UK.

Is this the one you were thinking of Sara-flute?

Quite possibly - my grandparents lived in Devon so it may have been whilst visiting them that I saw a steel band...? Long time ago though.

QUOTE (grand choeur @ May 23 2005, 03:10 PM)

by the way - do you know it was the only instrument invented in the 20th Century?

what about the vibraphone?

still, it is surprisingly little in 100 years!

I was going to get you with the "glass harmonica" having heard Alasdair Malloy play some of the Harry Potter music on it, but then I found out it's been around for ages - even Mozart wrote for it. It fell out of fashion when listening to it became associated (wrongly) with mental ill health and also with people like Mystic Meg.

Then there was the thing they use to play the star trek theme tune - is that a "Helmholtz resonanator"? but I think that was invented before 1900 too.

QUOTE (zoda @ May 24 2005, 02:01 PM)

QUOTE (grand choeur @ May 23 2005, 03:10 PM) by the way - do you know it was the only instrument invented in the 20th Century? what about the vibraphone? still, it is surprisingly little in 100 years! I was going to get you with the "glass harmonica" having heard Alasdair Malloy play some of the Harry Potter music on it, but then I found out it's been around for ages - even Mozart wrote for it. It fell out of fashion when listening to it became associated (wrongly) with mental ill health and also with people like Mystic Meg. Then there was the thing they use to play the star trek theme tune - is that a "Helmholtz resonanator"? but I think that was invented before 1900 too.

Thanks for the correction - according to http://www.jazzvibe.com/vibraphone/vibe.html it tells me it was invented in the USA in the early 1900s.

Pardon me for any misleading information.

Cheerio mates...

How about the theremin? Far as I can find out it was invented in 1919 or thereabouts. Not exactly an orchestral instrument obviously, or a common one - but still, a 20th C invented instrument as far as I can work out.

One could argue for the synthesizer as well I guess...

I wonder if anyone will invent any - or has already - in the 21st?