Hallo to this honorable board of music-lovers

As a just born newby to this forum I won't start without giving you at least some basic information about my person:
My name is Werner, I'm a music-teacher from Dortmund/Germany, working in communal musicschool for more than 30 years now, teaching elementary classes, recorder, clarinet, saxophone and bass. I'm Jazz-Rock-musician by heart with a classical training.

And here is my request:
Do you think, that it's time to recognize the steelpan as a complete family of musical instruments, worth to be studied like all the other instruments of the ABRMS-syllabus?
I don't want to go into details at this stage of the discussion - which will be a very long and detailed one, because I'm well aware of the fact, that I'm starting a cultural revolution right now - but to give you the opportunity to learn about an instrument that is the direct offspring of the British Commonwealth here is an URL:
http://hotpans.se/pan/

And now the next chorus is on you

With best regards, WerNer
http://www.pan-kultur.de

I just found out that there is already a discussion about steelpan. It started May 21 2005, called "The Steel Band/orchestra, How many are they around?", by grand choeur.
But up to now there is no "official" reaction to these inputs. Is it ignorance or arrogance? Can we really dare to neglect a new musical culture?

I'd love a Steelpan syllabus! I play Carols on it at Xmas for my family etc. I'd do exams in it!

That's correct bassman. I understand that Japan is mass producing them and I think some N. American company is securing a patent for them though they were invented/developed in the Caribbean.

I think there is a Trinidadian youngster who is a doing a degree in it. Think his name is Liam Teague (sp?). He has a CD titled 'Hands of Lightning'.

Thanks for the links mate.
Nice to see how the steelpan is growing in Europe.

We have some at school, but we're not allowed to use them. I mean, they're just sitting there!!

And then they get mistreated because of the 'chavs', they start wacking them

And it's like.... NOOO stop, they cost loads to get tuned!!!!

EDIT:- (YAY! 1000th post)

My county has a steel pan ensemble!

What a nice surprise: It seems there is a discussion getting started.
Just some replies to your postings:

- To grand choeur:
Liam Teague is indeed a very good example for the new breed of panman. They call him "The Paganini of the Steelpan" and if you hear his music you'll understand why. Here is an interview with the man himself: http://www.basementrecordings.com/nap/inviews/teafin.htm

- To Oddball:
It is true that pans are difficult to tune and actually from the scientific point of view it should be even impossible But nevertheless the Trinis did it and gave us this beautiful new orchestra, the Steel Band. Living in the UK it won't be difficult to find experienced tuners and teachers in your area, because besides all problems: there pans are made for being played

- To saxlover:
Welcome aboard
Just go for it and you will find out that pans are worth spending a lifetime...

- To nicki_flute:
In which country do you live? If it is in Europe did you know there is an organisation called "Steelpan European" that builds up a network for all the bands here?
Info: http://www.steelpaneuropean.org/

And as grand choeur already told us in his own topic: If you want to know what steelpan is all about today, do what Dessy tells you: "Just go to http://www.panonthenet and click where it says <Launch Pan Radio> and you will hear Panmusic without compromise, 24-7"

Finally: If you like to hear some examples of PanMusic I could upload some on my server and tell you how to access it.

Best regards, WerNer

I like steel pans. One school I once taught in had a super steel band who used to get invited to play at lots of outside events in the summer. The problem, as already stated, was keeping the things in tune!

Lzi

If once tuned perfectly, and that's what good tuners do, steelpans stay tuned unless they are exposed to brute force. The instruments of our club in Dortmund (PanKultur e.V.) are played for hours every day and they just sound perfect. The only time a tuning problem will arise is when a pan is dropped during transport, but this is the same with ervery instrument
And if an orchestra needs tuning or blending there are tuners available all over the world. They come to your place to do the work at an affordable price and when they leave your band sounds like being born again

Best regards, WerNer

Yes; primarily as a self contained ensemble, because their timbres are such that they probably sound best in a tuning other than 12-note equal temperament with a 2:1 octave.

No; or not yet. Other instrumentalists are examined in solo repertoire, perhaps with piano acompaniment. For the present, AFAIK, this is a minority use of pans. A lesser problem is that traditionally not only are steel pans played from memory, but the music is normally taught by demonstration, without notation, so an exam would have to be more like the jazz exams than the old instrumental ones. Do your players use notation?

Hallo, kenm,

maybe we are not talking about the same thing?
Just download this and listen (2,8 MB):
http://www.nuetzpunkt.de/Sounds/allegro-FH_Fiocco.mp3
Then you might want to post once again
By the way: It's Liam Teague...

Enjoy the music, best regards, WerNer

I changed the URL.
Now it is: http://www.nuetzpunkt.de/ProPan/
To enter you have to fill in:
First line: listento
Second line: steelpan

I live in England. Just need to say, I am not actually in the ensemble, but I know one exists in my county. I had never heard of that organisation, but maybe that is because I am not involved with the ensemble. Thanks for letting me know though.

I thought you meant the set of prepared oil drums, hit with rubber mallets, invented in Trinidad in the 1930s. I played the bass pans in a beginners' band for a week at Wavendon All Music in 1985. AFAIK, what we did was the traditional way of using the instruments (though Duke Ellington might not have been traditional repertoire). Modern practice may differ, of course.

Sorry, that will have to be later. I'm listening to the Berg Op. 6 on the Prom at present.

What's that?

Well, there are always those who think they know and those who know they can still learn a lot If you want to open up your horizon go to the page I prepared for your information:
http://www.nuetzpunkt.de/ProPan/
To enter you have to fill in:
First line: listento
Second line: steelpan

Best regards. WerNer

Hallo, kenm,

even if your knowledge of steelpan dates back to the year 1985 it was not uptodate at that time. Recordings from the fifties sometimes give you a sound that is closer to marimbaphone, very dry. But during the sixties and seventies the tuning progressed to a point that nowadays pans have tempered tuning in the tradition of Werckmeister and a single note can go up to the third overtone, that means an octave is an octave like on the grand piano.
(Once again a would refer to the recording of Liam Teague.)
And concerning to notation:
I've been through this arguments with saxophone, electric guitar and electric bass, and if you go back 500 years you will find that every time a new instrument appeared on stage, there was always someone reproducing this sentence. So I grew I bit tired of it.
But once again: The way how music is taught and played does not depend on the instrument, but on the musical culture and the player and of cause the teacher.

Best regards, WerNer

Just uploaded some more examples of SteelPan-Music, because statistics show, that you are interested
Go to http://www.nuetzpunkt.de/ProPan/
using the two words I told you: <listento> and <steelpan>.
There will be more to come...

Best regards, WerNer

Hallo,
It's easier now to hear the pans playing:
The new URL is:
http://www.pro-pan.de

Then:
First line: listento
Second: steelpan

There are 10 sound-files online now...

And don't forget: They are live on the street during Nottinghill Carnival 2005!
Info: http://www.carnaval.com/london/2005/index.htm

Best regards, WerNer

Very good playing on all those tracks, but the only one I would want to hear again was the Phase II Pan Groove: "I see Aysha", partly because it was, IMO, the most interesting music by far, with complicated rhythms impeccably coordinated, but mainly because it was so well integrated in timbre. In many of the others the arrangements seem to emphasize the unpleasant high partials of the treble pans, perhaps because there were fewer (or just one) instruments being struck too hard.

Hallo, kenm,
Thanks for listening to something completly strange...
Your choice shows that you are a very tasteful (I hope it is the correct expression?) and experienced listener. "I see Aysha" is indeed one of those tunes that will stand the test of time. Len "Boogsie" Sharpe is not only a pan-virtuoso but also a top class composer and master-arranger. His band Phase II Pan Groove won the T&T Panoram this year, and this was not for the first time in their history! In his community he goes by the name of "The Mozart Of Pan" - and believe it or not, he doesn't read music. He memorizes all his arrangements and then teaches what he has in his body, heart and mind to sometimes more than 120 musicians.

To the high partials of the SopranoPans:
To understand the importance of "sweetness" in pan-music it is good to know how these instruments sounded till the second have of the fifties. I uploades a historical recording, that I edited a little bit soundwise. You find the link at the bottom of http://www.pro-pan.de

And to all of you who had the patience to read my arguments:
We shouldn't forget, that this discussion is not in first place about the music but about the steelpan as an instrument and the question:
Why is such a professional instrument totally neclected and what can we do the make the ABRSM realize it?

Best regards to all you music-lovers, WerNer

I think the point you just admitted, that Sharpe doesn't read music, supports my view that the time is not yet. You need composers who are familiar with both the instrument and the context (solo with piano) and who write good music, to produce suitable exam material. Personally, I am dubious about the combination. To my ear, it suffers the curious combination of lack of blend and lack of sufficient contrast, and I would not want to compose for it. The full band is far more satisfactory.

Hello, kenm, just a quick reply

I uploaded a Track by Andy Narell and Calypsociaton, as a reply to "blending" and "contrast". I'll answer your lines later on.

Best regards, WerNer

Yes, Japan IS mass producing them. And yes, Patents HAVE been gained by North America, and as a Trinidadian i think it is absolutely ridiculous! But such is life. The people of this country are far too caught up in other trivial matters to pay attention to their own national instrument and to make serious steps of development in its name. I did an entire sith form Internal Assessment on this! So it's a heated topic for me!

I would like to see an ABRSM syllabus for Steel Pans, but I don't think it'll happen for a good while yet unfortunately.

I wonder if they could be incorporated as an option within the Percussion syllabus?

Apparently Steel Pans are being investigated and researched as an option for Music Medals by the ABRSM, which would be great Can anyone from the board confirm this?

How FAB!!!

My local music service has some great steel pan ensembles - I was fascinated recently at the last concert (my daughter was in another group) to hear them play an arrangement of Barber's Adagio for Strings - it was stunning

Steelpan and the ABRSM-Syllabus: 3 years later
Three years have pasted and nothing happened concerning steelpan, at least here at the ABRSM forum since my last posting. But out there in the real life pan is growing:

• Hundreds of children in and around Dortmund made their first steps into music behind their TeacherSteelPans: http://www.teacherpan.de
• The PanKids of PanKultur e.V. became a steel orchestra: http://www.pangang.de
• We are hosting our first SteelPan-Festival here in Dortmund with Band from Europe and th USA: http://www.pan-kultur.de

So pan is getting stronger, don't miss it!
Can you imagine how many people are practising steelpan every day in GB? Do you know how many steelbands are performing in your country??

Just one of the 2008 pan events in Great Britain:

Go to: BASFDF 9th Annual Pan Explosion

• Ebony Steelband
• Contrast Steelband
• Ebony Steelband Protegez
• Croydon Steel Orchestra
• Eclipse Steel Orchestra
• CSI Community Group
• Harlow Steel Band
• Kyron Akal
• Dan Sadler
• Jenny Gilberg
• Charlotte Benson

ABRSM:

I've just found this interesting thread, following bassman's new postings.

So far, the only one of the examples I've listened to is Liam Teague's performance (allegro). I have mixed reactions to it. But even after listening several times, I can't lose the first, immediate, reaction that this is akin to those old Walter/Wendy Carlos synthesiser LPs like "Switched On Bach" and "Well Tempered Synthesiser" - and now I'm thinking I might dig out my decades-old copies of those, and, to be frank, I think I'll probably like those more than this particular Liam Teague recording.

As I recall, even though those Carlos LPs were good musical performances, the over-riding appeal (for me, anyway) was their novelty. To me this kind of use of the steel pan also comes across as more of a novelty than a serious performance, and I can't say I particularly enjoyed the music. I suppose, if I listened enough to steel pans used in a solo-with-accompaniment format, I might get accustomed to the sound and see it more as a musical genre in its own right, though I'd probably be far more receptive to music that sounded like it was written for the instrument and was somewhat contemporary, and didn't sound like a transcription of old classical music. I don't quite know why, but, so far, I've never gone out of my way to find music like that, and I've had no expectation of hearing steel pans used other than in a familiar ensemble context.

I can see, though, that this recording certainly demonstrates the performer's ability, and, being removed from an ensemble context, probably lends itself to conventional ABRSM exams in a way that ensemble performances don't - and bassman has been saying he wants the ABSRM to consider treating steel pans like other instruments for examination purposes.

Another time, I'll download examples of the ensembles. I expect I'll like those more.

Although I've never yet gone so far as to buy CDs of steel-pan music, I generally like the ensembles when I hear them live, though this tends to be infrequently, eg: what I think of as "traditional" sounding, many years ago at the Notting Hill carnival; about 5 years ago, outside at a fete at my daughter's primary school, where an ensemble played jazz standards with jazz-style improvisations; and in recent years, the steel-pan ensemble that my daughter plays in at her high school - with the teachers' own arrangements passed on by demonstration (nothing written down).

(Incidentally, those high-school instruments, especially the bass ones, have sounded out of tune, and stayed untuned - because of the expense, we're told - for at least five years. And my understanding is that, as someone said in an earlier post, the the tuning gets suddenly worse when young children get access to them and hit them too hard.)

For me, steel pans have always had an image which means - and perhaps this is something that annoys bassman - that the idea of steel pan exams seems strange. Whether learners, amateurs or slick and professional sounding, the ensembles to me have always seemed about enjoyment, exuberance, entertainment and fun - whether or not high skill levels are discernible. Somehow, it has never entered my mind that the players would want to be "measured" by an "official body" - just as I've assumed that rock and pop bands just want to do well in either their own or other rock/pop lovers' eyes. It seems almost a contradiction to be looking for recognition by "the establishment". But now I know from bassman's posts that that image doesn't tell the whole story.

Steelpan and the ABRSM-Syllabus: 2010
But: 23-24th October 2010 The 3rd International Conference on Steelpan at the University of East London

Hi,

It's great to see so much interest for steelpans being shared on this forum. I've spoken to Nigel Scaife, Syllabus Director, and we are keen to promote an exciting new steelpan organisation that we have recently been working with. Here is his message:

ABRSM has recently sponsored the setting up of a new steelpan teacher organisation - SPETA (Steelpan Educators and Tutors Association). This is initially being facilitated by SV2G (St. Vincent & the Grenadines 2nd Generation) - a community interest organisation, based in High Wycombe. The intention is that over time, SPETA will establish itself as an organisation similar to ESTA, EPTA, ERTA etc. and members of it will gain worthwhile professional benefits. Membership will be free, at least in the first year or two, and we are therefore keen that as many steelpan teachers as possible are alerted to this opportunity and are able to join SPETA.

We would be very grateful, therefore, if anyone that teaches steelpan could send us their contact details - ideally, name, address, tel. and email - to: cebennett@abrsm.ac.uk. Also, if you could disseminate this information in any other way to schools or other interested parties, that would be great! We can then let teachers know about SPETA, regional meetings, and related matters.

Our hope is that SPETA will be a broad society, bringing together teachers from all parts of the educational landscape. As a chanel through which ABRSM and other organisations can sustain a dialogue with a wide range of interested parties, it has the potential to make a real difference to steelpan learners. We hope as many teachers as possible will join and contribute to this important and exciting initiative. I should also mention that ABRSM has been liaising with the University of West Indies with a view to our being able to offer their steelpan syllabus in the UK, and this is something that we will be working with SPETA on, as well as other initiatives.

This is good new!!!
And it's exactly why I started this discussion in 2005.
Let's see and hear how thing develop from now on.

Some hours later:
Five years are a long time on the internet. All the given links weren't active any longer, because meanwhile I changed the file system of my server. But I updated it and now you can use ProPan to listen to the .mp3 files.
Just fill in:
User: listento
PW: steelpan

Been to London, heard the people from SPETA - and now?