Steel Pan History

According to dictionary.com, a steel pan is a percussion instrument originating in Trinidad, made out of an oil drum with one end beaten down and divided by grooves into sections to give different notes. Though steel pans (steel drums) were created on the Caribbean island of Trinidad in the 1930s, the steel pan history can be traced back to the enslaved Africans who were brought to the island during the 1700s. They carried with them elements of their African culture including the playing of hand drums. These drums became the main percussion instruments in the annual Trinidadian carnival festivities. In 1877, the ruling British government banned the playing of drums in an effort to suppress aspects of Carnival which were considered offensive.
Steel pans are all hand-made. A single pan might take up to 5 days or more to be made, and cost up to 1500USD. (Steel Pan Creation, 2017) First, a 55-gallon drum is selected for the quality of its steel. A large metal hammer is then applied to the bottom of the barrel, stretching the metal into a concave bowl or dish shape. This is called "sinking the pan" and is the noisiest and most physically exhausting part of the process. It is very important to stretch the metal evenly without tearing it or deforming the rim. After sinking the pan, the steel must then be tempered to increase the resilience and strength of the metal. Using a fire or a torch, the pan is heated until the metal glows red-hot. At just the right moment, the metal is rapidly cooled off with a splash of water or a quick dunk in the ocean. This process (called tempering) makes the metal much stronger, and the barrelhead is now able to withstand the rigors of the tuning process. (Steel Pan Creation,
The pan maker takes his hammers of various sizes and pongs the traced notes up from beneath, making them stand out like bubbles from the interior of the pan. This gives the note the approximate tension and shape it needs to vibrate at the correct pitch. Next, the panmaker uses a tuning device, like a melodica or a stroboscope, and carefully hammers at each note from the top, stretching and smoothing the note area so that it will vibrate precisely. Each individual note on the drumhead must be tuned in relation to the other notes, or the pan will not play correctly. Often a pan maker will tune each note several times before the whole pan is fully melded together and all the molecules are running in a line (as our pan-maker Boots says). Finally, the finished pans are either painted in bright colors or dipped in chrome to make them shine like silver. The hot chrome bath detunes the drum slightly, so it must be tuned again after chroming. Once the drum is checked and hung, it's ready for playing. (Steel Pan Creation,