September 13, 2000
Drummers upbeat about steel pan sound
Sun Radius Steel Pan Band spreading sounds of Caribbean
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
After jazzing up a Friday Night Live this summer, the Sun Radius Steel Pan Band is hoping to spread the sounds of the Caribbean to listeners around northwest Michigan.
Playing happy, upbeat music that brings visions of sandy beaches and sparkling water (hmmm, sounds familiar), the band consists of area high school percussionists and musicians. The band debuted at last year's Give'Em 40 Conference in Traverse City and has already played gigs in Petoskey and Harbor Springs.
Sun Radius International owner David Warne decided last year to teach some of his best drumming students the steel pan sound. He bought the instruments and gathered some music, much of which he arranges himself. He believes the sound is on the verge of catching on locally and also plans to cut some recordings of their music.
"In this cold climate, steel pan drumming brings back memories of the south," Warne said. "It warms the heart and gives people the feeling of the tropics."
Band members are all veteran percussionists who play in their school's marching band and music programs. Despite this, learning the steel pan presented a challenge to these players. To help, Warne paints the notes onto the drums to help beginners but they are still adjusting to a different style of play.
"It is just kind of a different sound and you have to do a different kind of sticking," said Chloe Funkhouser, a junior at Traverse City West High School. "Pretty much all of the music theory I have learned has been from steel pan, I didn't really learn it from school."
Warne became intrigued with steel pan drumming when he took a class in 1995 with Phil Solomon, a renowned steel pan drum maker and instructor who then taught at Central Michigan University. Warne invited Solomon to Traverse City several times to conduct steel pan making and drumming workshops.
Solomon, who now lives in Pittsburgh, hails from British Guyana and is the musician who put this style of music on the map, Warne noted.
"Solomon developed the standard tuning in the cycle of fourths so that the pans are all uniform now," Warne said. "Before that, each person had their own tuning. Solomon is sort of a national icon of British Guyana, they were sort of mad when he left."
Steel pan drumming is not a Latin sound; it began in former British colonies in the Caribbean. It sprang up almost simultaneously in Antigua, British Guyana and Trinidad.
Steel pan drummers first used biscuit tins in which the British sent food to Caribbean residents. During the 1930s, poor kids who could not afford musical instruments began playing music on the dents in the tins. Players soon began denting the tins differently to make new sounds and then bands began forming.
Just like with the history of jazz, prostitutes loved the music and brought steel pan bands into whorehouses to play. The music quickly became more popular with the rest of society and players began using caustic soda drums instead of biscuit tins. These larger drums allowed a bigger variety of notes but they also caused the skin to peel off of the players' fingers. During World War II, British troops dropped off 55-gallon oil drums to the islands and the modern steel pan movement began.
"You can get 2.5 octaves comfortably on the solo pans," said Warne, who also included a guitar player, singer and bassist in the band. "Playing these drums are relatively easy to learn, but, like anything else, if you extend it to a more difficult repertoire it can be quite demanding."
By popular request, Warne started a 'Moms' steel pan group' this summer. Getting together sporadically, this group of women, mostly mothers, is taking steel pan drum lessons and hopes eventually to play gigs. Their level of musical knowledge varies widely but all are enthused about playing.
Cara Colburn has been with the group since it began. The steel pan drums immediately intrigued her after noticing them one day while dropping her son off for drum lessons.
"I always loved steel pan because it is such a happy sound," Colburn said. "I always wanted to play but didn't know how to go about it. My kids think it is funny that I play the steel pans, they get a hoot out of it."
Colburn is not daunted by the challenge of learning a musical instrument from scratch. She has no formal musical training and cannot read music but follows Warne's simple training techniques and keeps plugging away.
"It's very challenging for me because I don't think like a drummer," Colburn said. "I find it a very hard workout on my brain. But it is fun, we laugh a lot."