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What is Pan?
Posted : Apr 11, 2005 : 1:09:00 PM |
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Pan has its origins in the skin drums of Africa and the tamboo bamboo bands. Through experimentation with empty milk cans, large paint pans, butter tins, garbage can covers, caustic soda drums, motor car hubs and bits of steel, the steel drum was formed. It is the only new acoustic instrument of the 20th century and is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago.
Although there is still much controversy over who invented the pan, the man credited with its innovation is Winston Spree Simon of John John in Laventille, Trinidad. Simon, through his own experimentation, was caught by the varying sounds the different tins produced when struck with different objects. His first pan was a simple, one-note kettle drum. The earliest pan, or ‘ping-pong’/tenor pan, had a very limited range. Through the early struggles of such great legends as Spree Simon, Ellie Mannette, George Goddard and Neville Jules, pan has been able to reach beyond the shores of Trinidad and forge its way around the world, now appearing year-round in London, Switzerland, and even Japan. In 1951, TAPSO, or the Trinidad All Percussion Steel Orchestra, took pan music to the Festival of Britain in the United Kingdom.
Pan is a percussion instrument made from 55 gallon drums, which vary according to depth and skirt length. Sinking is deeper for pans with high notes such as the tenor pan, and is shallower for pans with deeper notes such as the bass.
There are many different types of pan which include the Tenor (Soprano), Double tenor (Alto), Double second (Tenor), Quadrophonic pan, Four pan, Guitar pan, Cello pan and Bass pan. This is an instrument that is in continuous development, with such new innovations as the Ying Yang Pan, the Bore Pan and the Quadrophonic Pan. Collectively, with the musicians, these would make up a steel band. |
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