Watching a professional is enhanced after attempting their craft.
For Christmas, we gift each other experiences because a memory lasts a lifetime. For Christmas 2018, we gifted each other classes. This class was 1 hour of getting to grips with the basics of the steel pan.
Our teacher, Abdul Williams - who has over 20 years’ experience, taught us the basics of the truly fascinating instrument. The steel pan (often referred to as a steel drum) might be the only instrument made from industrial waste! It has become an icon of Trinidadian culture and is their national instrument.
Experts like Abdul hammer into the shiny metal surface creating a series of dents. Each one creates a different note, subtly different from the ones around it, according to their position and size. Beginners (like us) are often taught Under the sea as an introduction to the steel pan:
However, Abdul saw that we were excited by the mysterious shiny instrument in front of us and believed that we were up for a challenge. He went onto explain that his family and friends back home were getting carnival ready by listening to Farmer Nappy’s latest hit called Hookin Meh. So, he played us the song. At first listen we thought it was okay, but we were more confused about how we would learn and then play this song. The song doesn’t have a single steel pan note. Abdul enjoyed our puzzled faces for a second and then took a couple of minutes to compute the notes in his head.
He taught us the notes and some simple playing techniques. It was then time for us to put what we had learnt into practice:
What grade would you give us?
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