Classical Steel

Taking Steel Drums to a new level in Trinidad
This 42 minute documentary from 2011 was produced with funding from the Trinidad government to show how the training of music students playing the steel drums (called "pans") is giving them exposure to European classical music. While most tourists to the West Indies think of the steel drums as the main instrument of calypso, music educators are trying to raise the level of music styles in the nation. We see examples of 12 -25 piece pan "orchestras" (with no other instruments playing Bach and Rossini among others. But these are excerpts and a good amount of time is spent interviewing music teachers and composers in Trinidad. The classical pieces are played without the use of sheet music. Many of the musicians cannot read music. There seems to be a controversy as to whether training a pan musician without teaching them to read music first is a good thing. The interviewees are divided on the subject.

I did learn a lot about the pan and was pleasantly surprised to hear the...





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