The Steel Pan
History of the Steel Pan
• AKA Steel Drum• Originated in Caribbean• Other variations used from late 1880’s• Developed during World War II• In 1940’s, used 55-gallon steel oil drums
• Ellie Mannette- 1946• Anthony Williams 1960, “fourths and
fifths”
The Making of the Pan
• Choosing• Sinking• Marking• Backing• Grooving• Levelling• Cutting• Tempering
Choosing the Drum
• Standard 55-gallon steel drum• 23 inches diameter• 24.8 inches long
• Thickness- • 1.2 mm bottom• 1.0 mm sides• Thinner skirt = better “ring” sound of
the pan
Sinking the Drum
• Marking• Lowering • Shaping• Smoothing
Marking the Notes
• Marking Outer Notes• Marking Inner Notes
Backing
• Lowering the surface between notes
• Done with backing hammer
• Outer then Inner notes
Grooving
• Note areas acoustically separated from each other and rest of surface
• Confines vibrations that produce sound to their own sector of drum surface
• Note is able to vibrate freely
Levelling
• Playing surface formed to final shape• Each octave pair of outer-inner notes goes
through 4 steps: taking out the fat, flattening the grooves, final shaping, and adjusting the notes to be level with each other
Cutting the Drum
• The lower the tuning of the pan, the longer the sides (gives more resonance to the sound of the lower tuned pans)
• Hammer• Jigsaw • File
Tempering the Pan
• Pan is heated/burned over a fire for 10-15 min
• Pan is then cooled by either self-cooling (most common now), cold water or cold oil.
• Anneal• Oxidation• Hardening
Tuning the Pan
• Pitch and timbre adjusted indepedently
• Tuner has to control the fundamental AND the upper partials while tuning • Coarse Tuning• Fine Tuning• Blending
Tuning the Pan (cont.)
• Soften metal, tuning of fundamental, octave tuning
• Tuning done in circular manner, going around pan several times
• Use hammer (inner) and bending iron (middle) to soften and wedge (outer) to raise the note
• Surface of note usually hammered 5-6 times• Regions for raising fundamental around
outside, for lowering on the inside.• Adjust the octave of the lower note to match
the fundamental of the high note
Hanging/Fine Tuning
• Pan hung at 15-20 degrees for playing• Holes on each side of skirt 5 cm apart• Now enabled to hear pitch and timbre
effectively• Concentrating on fundamental, octave, and
timbre• Same rules apply as coarse tuning
Finishing
• Sound of pan affected by rusting; need to preserve pan• Common method: electroplate with
layer or zinc or chromium, • Add thin layer of wax to protect the
surface from moisture (which causes rusting) and to make it shiny
Blending
• Pitch, Timbre and Loudness of various notes are adjusted after the finishing.
• Mostly “blended” with other pans (i.e., in a band) to ensure all pans are balanced in these areas.
• Also adjusted in octave pairs then matched to fundamentals
The Pan Family
• The Pan Family:• Tenor/Lead• Double Tenor• Double Seconds• Double Guitars• Quadrophonic• Triple Guitar• Cello• Tenor Bass• Six Bass• Nine Bass