CALYPSO

The instrumentation of calypsos did not stop evolving during the 20th century. Forced, since 1884 to abandon the membranophone and idiophone polyrhythms (*) such as the drums, the bamboo, or rum bottles beaten with a spoon, the orchestras will then adopt cordophones from Venezuela like the guitar, the cuatro, the mandolin, accompanied by the shack-shack. Then European aerophones, like the clarinet, the trumpet, the trombone, and the saxophone will be added.

After the orchestration of calypsos we then see the electrification of popular modern musics.

THE STEELBAND

The term ‘steelband’ refers to the entire orchestra, and the term ‘pan’, ‘steelband’ or ‘steeldrum’ refers to the instruments that make up the orchestra (except the rhythm section). They are available in the pan-yard (place where pannists rehearse) and so are not private, but collective. The instruments are classed in sections, these sections themselves regrouped into three main categories : the rhythm section, the background and the front-line.

The rhythm section, also called the engine room, adopted foreign instruments such as the side drum, the congas (played with pairs of steeldrum sticks), kettledrums, plastic or metal bells, and the tambourine (jingling discs in slots around a hoop). Local instruments are metallic idiophones, particularly appreciated in Trinidad : the scratch, a sort of big cylindrical grater scratched with a metallic comb, and iron, drums made from truck brakes and hammered with iron sticks.

The background is made up of the lowest bass instruments of the orchestra. The most common bass are the tenor bass (4 pans), the 6 bass and the 9 bass. Certain orchestras sometimes have the 7 bass, the 10 and the 12 bass. The cellos (3 or 4 pans) play counterpoints or two-point chords, called strummings, also played by the guitars (2 or 3 drums).

The front-line groups together the instruments playing the melody. The double-second, though can play counterpoints or strummings, while the double tenors and the tenors (just one drum) hold the sometimes harmonised melody. Less often we find instruments like the quatrophonic or the six-pan.

All the steeldrums are played with two sticks of about 15 to 20 cm long, fitted with rubber tips whose size varies according to the range of the instrument. In spite of efforts at standardisation, the configuration of notes can still vary according to the groups. The making and tuning of pans requires long training, and well-known tuners are now in demand the world over.

(*) A membranophone, according to the Sach and Hornbostel classification (used in ethnomusicology), is an instrument whose vibrant material is a membrane stretched on a rigid support (like the drums); a idiophone is an instrument whose vibrant material is rigid, unsusceptible to tension (like the shack-shack, the clave, the xylophone, or the steeldrum). The cordophones coves the classical notion of “cord instruments” and aerophones that of “wind instruments”. (back)