|
by LAURA TABOR
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
The resonant sounds of steel pan drums are an everyday sound on the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago.
The same music is performed at Appalachian State University by the Steely Pan Steel Band.
On Friday, Sept. 26, the band performs in Farthing Auditorium.
 Senior music education major Zawadi J. Morrow plays the double seconds during the Steely Pan Steel Band's twice weekly class rehearsals. Photo by Holt Menzies |
Tickets are $7.
Dr.
Scott R. Meister, conductor of the band, and students from the Hayes
School of Music began the band in fall of 1984, when they made their
first steel pans from old orange juice barrels, according to their Web
site.
“We’ve
never received money from the university,” Meister said. “We charge for
our concerts so that we can buy the instruments we need and support the
band.”
The
band’s pans are no longer homemade from juice barrels – the band plays
on instruments made by Ellie Mannette, “the father of steel drums.”
They have been performing for 24 years, and have a following at Appalachian and North Carolina.
“We perform over 30 off-campus shows each year,” Meister said. “And more organizations invite us every year.”
Emily K. Fox, junior elementary education major, has heard the Steely Pan Steel Band since childhood.
“I had seen them since I was in elementary school, because they came to my hometown,” Fox said. “They are a
huge part of my life, and I knew I wanted to try to join when I got up here.”
Fox
joined the band her freshman year, and has played for the past three
years with 19 other band members on the 40 steel pan drums.
One of the highlights of the experience, Fox said, is learning about the culture of the drums and the music they play.
“These
drums were created in Trinidad and Tobago,” Fox said. “Every church
there has a band, every school has a band; on their currency, they
don’t have a picture of a dead president, they have a picture of a
steel pan.”
The Steely Pan Steel Band has taken trips to the Panorama Competition in Trinidad and Tobago.
“Each
band has someone who will compose their songs [for the competition],”
Fox said. “Some of those, we get to play for Steely Pan Band.”
When the
students are not directly studying steel pan culture, they perform many
North Carolina shows, like their line-up of nine shows in three days
over fall break.
The upcoming show is one of their only on-campus performances.
Attendees
can expect collaboration with the Gospel Choir and the Treble Choir, as
well as some special guests from the band, Meister said.
“You can expect surprises at the concert,” Meister said. “We will show the variety of things that we can do.”
Trackback(0)
 |
Lifestyles 
TrackBack URI for this entry
Show/Hide comments
