Steelpan

Also known as steel drum

The steelpan is a pitched percussion instrument made in Trinidad and Tobago from the hammered head of a steel drum, with each note a shaped dome struck by a rubber-tipped stick. On the lead pan the notes are laid out in a ring so that neighbours sit a fourth or fifth apart.

Play the preview About this tradition

Steelpan: photograph by Kip1234 — Photo: Kip1234, CC BY-SA 4.0, source on Wikimedia Commons

Live previewPlay

Runs in your browser, works offline once loaded.

How to play

Each round pad is a note of the pan, set out in the order of a lead pan's ring: neighbouring pads are a fourth or fifth apart.
Notes fall toward the line: strike the pad for each as it lands.
Choose a scale walk, a syncopated calypso lilt, or a run round the whole ring of notes.
Each tune plays through twice.

Rules at a glance

Twelve notes, one octave of semitones, set out in fourths and fifths.
A stroke within a fraction of a beat is perfect; a close one is good; extra strokes cost points.
Three stars need nearly every note on time.

About the tradition

The steelpan grew in Trinidad and Tobago in the 1930s and 1940s out of street percussion made from bamboo and then from oil drums. Pan bands of dozens of players rework popular tunes every year for the island's carnival and its band contests.

Origins

Usually placed in the era of Age of Contact and Craft (about 1500 to 1800), although its exact origins are uncertain, within the cultural world of The Americas: Caribbean.

Credits

Instrument: Trinidad and Tobago tradition; patterns written for this game
Photo: Kip1234, CC BY-SA 4.0, source on Wikimedia Commons
Text: CC BY-SA 4.0, World Heritage Games.

Sources

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steelpan_Instruments_at_Trinidad_and_T

Get the app

Steelpan is one of 10 drums and rhythms in the Drum Music of the World app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Live on Google Play. Submitted to the App Store; in review, and the store link appears here the day it goes live. One app, many traditions, no account needed.

See all 10 drums and rhythms in the app

In review on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play

More games to play

Bandoneon and tango rhythm
Argentina +1 · Musical instrumentsPlay preview · in the Drum Music of the World app
Bodhran Frame Drum
Ireland · Musical instrumentsPlay preview · in the Drum Music of the World app
Mbira
Zimbabwe · Musical instrumentsPlay preview · in the Drum Music of the World app
Tabla Bol Rhythm
India +3 · Musical instrumentsPlay preview · in the Drum Music of the World app
Balafon Gourd Xylophone
Mali +2 · Musical instrumentsPlay preview · in the Drum Music of the World app
Calabash Water Drum
Niger +1 · Musical instrumentsPlay preview · in the Drum Music of the World app