Birth of Steel Drum Music Rockcreek Steel Drums Kevin Martin has been playing, building, and teaching people to play steel drum instruments for more than 20 years. Kevin founded Rockcreek Steel Drums in 1998 as a steel drum musical instrument manufacturing company with an educational branch. Rockcreek Steel Drums has built and sold thousands of steel drum instruments in over 40 countries around the world and in almost every state in the U.S. Kevin has also played thousands of steel drum performances and brought his workshops to festivals, events, and schools. Kevin works to spread the experience of playing steel drums and the history of this great instrument born in Trinidad.
Please pass along the attached teacher program guide to all participating classrooms. Setup Requirements An area for the performers to wait for the performance once the stage is set A 20 x 15 foot stage area for performance Artist Arrival Time 30 minutes prior to performance Suggested Introduction Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls please welcome Rockcreek Steel Drums presenting The Birth of Steel Drums! Inclement Weather DON T WORRY! Artists will follow school closings/delays, and will work with you to reschedule the performance if necessary. Young Audiences Contact Number 410-837-7577 After Hours / Emergency Number Call 410-837-7577 and follow the prompts to be connected with a staff member on call.
Artist Bio Inside this guide: Artist Bio Performance Description Maryland State Curriculum Connectors Vocabulary List of Resources Pre- and Post- Performance Activities Kevin Martin has been playing, building, and teaching people to play steel drum instruments for over twenty years. Kevin founded Rockcreek Steel Drums in 1998 as a steel drum musical instrument manufacturing company with an educational branch. Rockcreek Steel Drums has built and sold thousands of steel drum instruments in over 40 countries around the world and in almost every state in the US. Kevin has also played thousands of steel drum performances and brought his workshops to festivals, events, and schools. Kevin works to spread the experience of playing steel drums and the history of this great instrument born in Trinidad.
Program Description Rockcreek Steel Drum s band, Bermuda Blue, takes the audience on a journey through the development of the modern steel drum instrument. The story starts in the small Caribbean Island of Trinidad in the 1940s with roots spreading back to the traditional Talking Drums of Africa. Bermuda Blue demonstrates the different types of steel drums and other Caribbean instruments while playing Calypso music. Students join the band to play steel drums and tamboo bamboo. Students will leave with an appreciation and understanding of steel drum music, the instrument, and its history and culture. Maryland State Curriculum Connectors Fine Arts Content Standard in Music Standard 2.0 Historical, Cultural, and Social Context Students will demonstrate an understanding of music as an essential aspect of history and human experience. Indicator (Grade 4) 1. Develop the ability to recognize music as a form of individual and cultural expression through experiencing music as both personal and societal expression Standard 1.0 Perceiving and Responding: Aesthetic Education Students will demonstrate the ability to perceive, perform, and respond to music. Indicator (Grade 2) 2. Experience performance through singing and playing instruments in general, vocal, and instrumental settings, and listening to performances of others Content Standard in Social Studies Standard 2.0 Peoples of the Nation and World Students will understand how people in Maryland, the U.S. and around the world are alike and different.
Vocabulary Talking Drum: A drum from Africa that can make high and low pitches that mimic speech Oral History: History told from one generation to the next without being written down. Call and Response: Singing method where leader sings a line and group sings a response. Tamboo Bamboo: Percussive sounds made from pounding bamboo poles on the ground. Caribbean Islands: A group of islands south of the U.S. and north of South America. Trinidad: An island country in the Caribbean where steel drums instruments were first built. Carnival: A winter celebration in the Caribbean equivalent to Mardi Gras in the United States. Panorama: An annual national steel drum band contest in Trinidad during Carnival. Steel Drum Instrument: A steel drum barrel hammered and shaped to produce musical pitches. Steel Drum Orchestra: An orchestra made up of different types of steel drum instruments.
List of Resources This fifteen-minute film shows city life in Trinidad in the early 1960s during the early years of steel drum instruments. It shows them being made and played. A wonderful and short documentary. You may need to download this to your computer ahead of time to play it in your classroom. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm7jjnwkg3s An excellent informational site about the steel drum, including history, information on the types of steel drums and steel drum orchestras. www.steelpan-steeldrums-information.com/ This is an excellent brief history of the steel drum instrument told through the life story of one of its founders, Ellie Mannette. www.pas.org/experience/halloffame/mannetteelliot.aspx This website provides a free touch-play keyboard with steel drum sound samples used for each pitch. It is a fun way to explore the sound of the instrument on a traditional keyboard layout. www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/music/piano/steel_drums.htm This webpage gives a good basic overview of the culture, history, and geography of Trinidad. www.everyculture.com/to-z/trinidad-and-tobago.html
Pre- and Post-Performance Activities Use the website www.steelpan-steeldrumsinformation.com to explore the different types of steel drums in a steel drum orchestra and how they each work together to produce the full orchestra sound. Print out the map everyculture.com (listed in the List of Resources) to show the shape and culture of Trinidad and its location in the Caribbean. Have students discuss their favorite songs from the assembly. Why did they choose specific songs? Why not others? What did they like about the music/lyrics? Print out an image of the currency of Trinidad. The steel drum is so important that country s culture that they have put it on their money. Have students discuss what things in our culture are important enough to go on our currency. Watch the Pete Seeger documentary (see the list of resources). Have students discuss the condition of the villages and the differences in the culture of Trinidad and the United States.
Pre- and Post-Performance Activities (continued) Make a Tin Can Steel Drum Have students make their own tin can steel drum to reinforce concepts of how shape and material can effect pitch. This activity is taken from Activity TV. Visit http://www.activitytv.com/800-make-steel-drum for a great instructional video. Instructions 1. Take your empty tin can and draw a line straight across the base one third of way in from the side using a permanent marker. 2. Gently hammer along the line with a hammer. This is a good job for your adult helper. Doing this will help to create two different pitches for your drum. Test the pitches out using one of your pencils to tap on either side of the hammered line. 3. Decorate your can/drum with construction paper. Wrap it in the paper and mark off how much you need. Fold the excess along the marks and then cut it off along the fold. Wrap your cut paper around the drum and attach using clear tape. You may need to use some of your excess paper to fully cover the drum. 4. Further decorate the drum however you want using stickers. You can also use markers, crayons, or pictures from magazines if you want. 5. To play, just lightly beat on the drum with your unsharpened pencil. You can even repeat steps 1-4 to make different drums in different sizes for different sounds! Materials Needed Tin can Unsharpened pencils Hammer Permanent markers Construction paper Stickers Clear tape