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Music's in the Pan: Rogers Steel Drum Ensemble Plays Variety of Events

Posted on: Thursday, 2 February 2006, 12:00 CST

By Kandis Carper, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Feb. 2--The temperature outside was 36 degrees, but inside the band room at Rogers High School last week the atmosphere sizzled with the tropical beat of the steel drum band. The 12-member band, under the direction of Ron Crenshaw, was fine-tuning its repertoire for a series of upcoming gigs

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Taylor Belote, a junior, knew that he wanted to play in the steel drum band before he was old enough to attend high school. "I always knew that (Rogers) had it there, and I was looking forward to being a part of it. There aren't many percussion instruments that can create tones and melodies like steel drums," said Belote. He also plays the regular drums in the jazz band, concert band and drum line at Rogers and in a combo at Spokane Falls Community College.

This is the first year in the band's five year history that the steel drum ensemble is offered as a class, rather than an after-school activity.

The group is made up of nine boys, including a foreign exchange student from South Korea, and three girls, all sophomores and juniors.

"The fun thing for me about that class is that we really get to gig and perform all the time. The concert band maybe gets to do two concerts and one festival for the year, and that's it. With the steel drums you never know where you might be performing or what's around the corner," said Belote.

"We played at an office party once. It was kind of a boring atmosphere. It was like 'these are the figures from last year.' Then we started to play, and they started having fun," said Belote.

The band plays at school functions, community events and corporate functions. "Sometimes people really don't know what to expect from us," said Crenshaw. The group recently played at Costco where they were supposed to perform for about 30 minutes, but two hours later they were still going strong, said Crenshaw. The drums and the huge warehouse were a good combination, and large, enthusiastic crowds gathered to enjoy the Caribbean beat.

The band doesn't charge to play at events but, instead, accepts honorarium contributions that help with expenses. They've been paid anywhere from $50 to $500.

Some members of the band have experience playing other musical instruments like guitar and trumpet, but even with prior musical training, there's nothing like playing a steel drum, or "pan" as they're called.

Sophomore Amanda Dusthimer decided she wanted to join the band after hearing it play last year. Even though she is an experienced percussionist, she said it's very difficult to learn to play the steel drums.

Other chromatic musical scales, on a piano for example, can be played by hitting successive keys in a straight line; on a steel drum the scale is sometimes played up and down, left and right, which takes a lot of focus and concentration.

Robert Steen, also a sophomore, took extreme care in setting up the six black 55-gallon oil barrels that make up the bass section. He stands in the center surrounded by the drums that create a rich deep sound similar to that of the bass section of a choir.

The steel drum orchestra package consists of lead pans, double second, cello, and bass pans, which fill the roles of soprano, alto, tenor and bass.

Members alternate on the steel drums, learning to play all of them, as well as the auxiliary hand drums and percussion instruments like the maracas, guiro, afuche cabasa and claves. The group also has a drummer who plays a traditional drum set.

The set of steel drums was hand-made by Panyards, a company in Akron, Ohio. It took nine months for the set to arrive in 1999. Since that time one of the F notes has started to fail on one of the lead pans, and only specially trained tuners have the ability to fix the drum. But because of the wild festive flavor of the music, it's not noticeable, said Crenshaw.

Being in the Steel Drum Ensemble at Rogers may not translate into a musical career, but Crenshaw believes that his students develop a life-long appreciation of music.

"They learn how to work together as a team, how to be responsible, self-sufficient, dedicated, and it makes them better people as a whole," said Crenshaw.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

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Source: The Spokesman-Review

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