Steel Pan Books, Articles, Videos and Web Sites

Books

Ad Hoc Specification Committee on Steel Pan (1989):
"Proposal for a Trinidad and Tobago Standard - Glossary of Terms Relating to the Steel Pan. TTS 1 45 000.", Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards.
Blake, Felix I. R.
The Trinidad and Tobago Steel Pan: History and Evolution. ISBN 0-952-52280-9 (hc). Order from: 16 Leybourne Street, London NW1 8BX.
Fletcher, N & Rossing, T. (1991):
"The Physics of Musical Instruments", ISBN 0-387-96947-0. Springer-Verlag, New York.
Goddard, George (1991):
"Forty Years in the Steelbands. 1939-1979." Edited by Roy D. Thomas. Karia Press, 41 Rheola Close, London N17 9 TR. ISBN 1-85465-034-3 Pb.
Grant, Cy (1999):
Ring of Steel - Pan Sound and Symbol. Macmillan Education, London. 1999. ISBN 0-333-66128-1. 128pp. Price £15.
A book on the history, culture and development of pan.
Johnsson, Kim:
Renegades!: The History of the Renegades Steel Orchestra of Trinidad & Tobago
ISBN 0-333-73311-8. Editors: Helene Bellour and Milla Riggion. Photography: Jeffrey Chock.
Renegades! tells the story of the steelband movement in words and images, focusing especially on the history of one which, perhaps more than any other, has come to symbolise the success of steelband music: The Renegades.
Joseph, Terry:
Remembering 'Spree' Simon. April 18, 2001 in TriniSoca.com
Kronman, Ulf (1992):
Steel Pan Tuning - a Handbook for Steel Pan Making and Tuning.
Part of the series: Musikmuseets skrifter, ISSN 0282-8952.
The one and only book of it's kind - fully published on the net! Here presented in full format, including pictures and drawings. Hypertext presentation done by the author, with courtesy of the publisher, Musikmuseet in Stockholm, Sweden. Printed copies of the book may be ordered from Panyard, Inc.
Molineaux, Othello (1988):
Beginning Steel Drum. ISBN: 0-89724-973-9. 48 pp. paperback, includes CD and poster.
Morin, Francine L. (1988):
"A Descriptive Study of a Canadian Elementary Educator's Experience with the Trinidad Tradition of Steelband", University of North Dakota.
Rennie, Bukka:
Lies and Distortions of Pan. November 11, 1999 in TriniSoca.com
Sandiford, Simeon L. (1987):
"Steel Bands of Trinidad and Tobago" - An information folder included with the CD-album F/CD 8201 from Delos International Inc., 2210 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 664, Santa Monica, CA 90403.
Sealey, J. & Malm K. (1982):
"Music in the Caribbean", Hodder & Stoughton. London.
Seeger, P. (1964):
"Steel drums - how to play them and make them", Oak. Publ. New York.
Stuempfle, Stephen (1995):
The steelband movement : the forging of a national art in Trinidad and Tobago, Univ. of Pennsylvania Press. 287 p. ISBN: 0-8122-3329-8, 0-8122-1565-6
Thomas, Jeffrey (editor) (1992):
Forty Years of Steel: An Annotated Discography of Steel Band and Pan Recordings, 1951-1991. Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group. ISBN: 0313279527
Wilson, Salah A (1999):
Steelpan Playing With Theory. ISBN 0-9686188-0-4.
Wilson, Salah A (2008):
Poco a Poco (Step by Step). ISBN 978-0-9686188-2-0.

Articles

Aho, William R (1987):
Steelband Music in Trinidad and Tobago:The Creation of a People's Music. Latin American Music Review, Vol.8, No.1, 1987, pgs. 26-58.
Alexis, C., O'Connor, A. & Rossing, T. (1986):
"Tonal design and tuning of Caribbean steel drums", J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 80. No. Sup.1, pp. S102.
Borde, P. (1973):
"The Sounds of Trinidad; the Development of the Steel Drum Bands", Black Perspective, Vol. I. No. 1, pp. 45-49. Caribbean Quarterly. Vol. 4, nos. 3 - 4.
Fletcher, N. (1978):
"Mode locking in nonlinearly excited inharmonic musical oscillators", J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 64. No. 6, pp. 1566-69.
Fletcher, N. (1985):
"Nonlinear frequency shifts in quasispherical-cap shells: Pitch glide in Chinese gongs", J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 78. No. 6, pp. 2069-73.
Fletcher, N. (1986):
"Nonlinearities in Musical Acoustics", Acoustics Australia, Vol. 14. No. 3, pp. 72-74.
Gibson, G. (1986):
"Ellie Mannette on the beginnings of pan in Trinidad", Percussive Notes, Vol. 24(4). No. 34, pp. 36-37.
Hampton, C., Alexis, C. & Rossing, T. (1987):
"Note Coupling in Caribbean Steel Drums", J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 82. No. Sup.1, pp. S68.
Hansen U. & Rossing, T. (1987):
"Modal Analysis of a Caribbean Steel Drum", J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 82. No. Sup.1, pp. S68.
Hansen U., Hampton, S. & Rossing, T. (1989):
"Acoustics of Caribbean Steel Drums", 13th International Congress on Acoustics. Yugoslavia. 1989., pp. 41-44.
Ingram, Amelia (2001):
Reinventing Steel Pan on Record: Local and Global Dialectics. CBMR Digest, Vol. 14, No 1, Spring 2001.
Johnson, Kim (1998):
"Notes on pans". The Drama Review, Fall 1998. Published on the web by britannica.com.
Kronman, U. & Jansson, E. (1988):
"Acoustics of the Steelpan; Tone Generation and Tuning - An Introductory Study of Methods for Measurements.", STL-QPSR, No. 4/1988, pp. 59-73.
McCalman, Lionel
"Steelbands in Schools: the Instructor Dependency Model vs. the Teacher Transferency Model". New Era in Education, Volume 84, Number 2, September 2003, pages 42-50. Web: http://www.neweraineducation.co.uk/
Malm, K (1988):
"The African Heritage in the Trinidad Steelband and its Music". Conference manuscript for the ITCM colloquium in Havanna.
Mangurian, David:
"A short history of the shiny drum - How discarded oil barrels evolved into a global musical tradition".
An article on the history of steel pan for IDBAmerica by David Mangurian, Laventille, Trinidad.
Web address: http://www.iadb.org/idbamerica/English/MAY01E/may01e2.html
O'Connor A. (Ed.) (1981):
"Steel Drums - Pan, heartbeat of a nation", Percussive Notes, Vol. 19. No. 3, pp. 54-60.
Rossing, Thomas (1996):
"Music from Oil Drums: The Acoustics of the Steel Pan". Physics Today (March 1996)
Rossing, T. (1976):
"Acoustics of percussion instruments, part I", The Physics Teacher, Vol. 14, pp. 546-55.
Rossing, T. (1977):
"Acoustics of percussion instruments, part II", The Physics Teacher, Vol. 15, pp. 278-88.
Rossing, T. (1982):
"Chimes and bells", Percussive Notes, Vol. 19. No. 3, pp. 42-57.
Rossing, T. (1982):
"Nonlinear effects in percussion instruments", Percussive Notes, Vol. 19. No. 3, pp. 68-72.
Rossing, T. & Fletcher, N. (1983):
"Nonlinear vibrations in plates and gongs", J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 17. No. 1, pp. 345-51.
Rossing, T. & Peterson R. (1982):
"Vibrations of Plates, Gongs and Cymbals", Percussive Notes, Vol. 19. No. 3.
Rossing, T. & Shepherd, R. (1982):
"Vibrational Modes of Plates and Cymbals", Proc. of the 1st internat. conf. on Modal Analysis, Orlando. 1982.
Rossing, T. & Shepherd, R. B. (1983):
"Acoustics of Cymbals", 11e ICA, pp. 329 - 333.
Rossing, T., Hampton, S. & Boverman, J. (1986):
"Acoustics of Caribbean Steel Drums", J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 80. No. Sup.1, pp. S102.
Viitanen, Ari (1999):
Build a Pan. The Finnish tuner Ari Viitanen has put up some pan buildning instructions on the web.
Address: www.dlc.fi/~pan-ari/panmake.htm
Walborn, Christopher D.
"A Brief History: Origins of the Steel Drum and Rhythmical Steel".
Web: www.rhythmicalsteel.com/history/history.html
Wu, Corinna (1998):
"Musical Metal: Science catches up with the shimmering sound of steel drums"

Science News, Vol. 154, No. 15, October 10, 1998, p. 236. Web: www.sciencenews.org/pages/sn_arc98/10_10_98/bob2.htm

Videos

Making a Steel Drum Steel Pan Tenor Pan - video by IsDePanInMe

Nickname IsDePanInMe has published a YouTube video showing the making of a tenor pan, where a young Ray Holman describes the set-up of the notes on the Tenor Pan.
Steel Pan Drum Modern Manfacturing - Pan tuning film on YouTube
A modern way of making the Steel Drum/Pan that was invented in Trinidad & Tobago in the 1930's. Submitted by VibesTube
How To Make Your Own Steel Drum by David Beery, Smarty Pans

A 60 minute step by step 'how to' VIDEO "How To Make Your Own Steel Drum" (#V1010). Hosted by David Beery, owner of Smarty Pans.

This unprecedented 60 minute 'how to' video shows the entire process of how to make a professional single tenor pan in 18 simple steps.

Includes information on finding a barrel, shaping, sinking, tuning, chroming and much more. Visit at: www.smartypansmusic.com

Web Sites dedicated or related to Steel Pan

Steel pan educator Gaye's Web Site on Steel Pans
Steel pan educator Gaye from Jamaica has set up an informative web site on steel pans at www.steelpan-steeldrums-information.com
This is how she describes the site:
Got questions about the steel pan (steel drums)? Or are you just curious about this new and innovative instrument? Steelpan-steeldrums-information.com is your one-stop resource for tips and information on how to play the steel pans, its history, how they are made and much more!
The Pan WebRing
WebRing host a web ring with over 57 sites with material related to steelpan
When Steel Talks - website on Pan In New York
When Steel Talks is dedicated to pan worldwide with particular emphasis on Pan In New York. The purpose is to highlight the genius and beauty of the instrument, its music and the people who play, support, and love this artform without compromise.
Steelbandszene Schweiz
a Swiss site for Bands, Sound, Gigs, and Pan-News maintained by Martin Baggenstos
Switzerland's improved Daily Caribbean News collection at http://www.pan-jumbie.com
Website for Steelpan in Germany - www.steeldrum.de
Website for Steelpan in Germany. Information and pan news in German.
Pan Jumbie - Daily Pan News from Switzerland
Steel Pan in Finland
by Ari Viitanen
Ray Holman website
A web site (www.rayholmanmusic.com) for the legendary Trinidad arranger and composer Ray Holman. The website contains Holman's biography, news, pan history and some audion clips from Holman's latest record In Touch.
Pan Podium Magazine - On The Pulse of Pan in the UK
Check out the Official Magazine of The British Association of Steelbands at: www.panpodium.com.
(Link to full text files of the magazine is at the right hand bottom of the page.)

Steel Pan Forums and Message Boards

The Pan Blog
http://www.steeldrum.net/panblog/
Nordic Steelpan Message Board
Nordisk anslagstavla om steelpan. Adress: http://www.steelpan.se/forum/

Newsgroups about steel pan related matters

alt.music.carnival
soc.culture.caribbean

Trinidad and Tobago

Go Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad & Tobago - the True Caribean
Rus T. Nale's TnT page
with Trini News and Links