Performers- Steel Band at the 30th annual Flatbush Frolic in Brooklyn NY, 2007
Culture- Performers come together to celebrate their heritage by performing a song from their current country on instruments authentic to their nationalities.
Instrumentation- Steel Pan Ensemble
After reading the email sent out this evening regarding the inclusion of steel pans in tomorrow's class, I became very excited to finally have the opportunity to experience these instruments up close. This was a section that was unfortunately not covered in our percussion methods class. I am very interested to see exactly how the instruments are played and specifically, if it is something that would be beneficial to a public school's music program.
Obviously, any type of world music would be beneficial to students, and I believe that steel pans would be one type that would really get students interested and excited. Unfortunately, these instruments are large and expensive, so a music teacher would have to be able to justify the decision to purchase them.
If you get the funding for steel pans some day, get me a job in that district! There are many opportunities to teach across the curriculum while studying the Caribbean and steel pans are no exception. It wouldn't be too hard to get someone to do much like what prof. Toth will be doing tomorrow in a school though. I remember in high school a musician came in with a couple of different sized pans and spoke for about an hour about them and the culture they represent.
ReplyDeleteI too am also very excited for tomorrow! I hear them rehearsing when i walk through the halls and peak in every time. These instruments are very expensive but i think there will most likely be someone with some sort of connection to them in your future since they are pretty popular and well known! if not maybe branching out and seeing if there are any professional groups willing to come pay you and your students a visit!
ReplyDeleteI find it fascinating on how steel drum ensembles are so popular to students in schools. It seems like a more tonal way to introduce world music to students because a lot of the music played on steel drums follows a Western Tonal system. This could be a loophole that teachers could exploit in trying to incorporate world music into their program without having to alienate their students with music that doesn't sound "good" or "pleasing" to them.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to me that the majority of players in this clip are women - I forgot to ask Prof. Toth if the instruments have any gender associations. Would be interesting to know! Glad you all got a chance to see these instruments up close, especially since you missed out in percussion methods.
ReplyDelete