Steel Drums
Steel drums are a part of the percussion music genre. On Trinidad Island, during World War II, the steel drum was created. A closer examination reveals that they share similar ancestry with the African slaves who labored on Spanish fields in the sixteenth century. African slaves turned to music as a way to maintain a connection to their home continent due to their unhappiness with the struggles that the elite class and slaves were going through at the time. Separation of families was leading to the loss of the native African language (Trinidadian Steel Drum (Pan) Bands in Three Great Lakes States: A Study of Musical Migration").
The musical context for the steel drums was that the Africans would be playing the drums by bamboo stamping to create a rhythmic sound during the carnival ceremonies. Coincidentally, the calypso that is common in Trinidad provides a better application of the steel drums. Presently, the steel drums have been altered to incorporate pan culture in which different pans are played to represent various music instruments like the guitar, cello among others (Trinidadian Steel Drum (Pan) Bands In Three Great Lakes States: A Study of Musical Migration"). Later, the steel drums were used as steel pan which was used by the Percussion Orchestra in Trinidad at the British festival in 1951.
Traditionally, the steel drums were played by men only since the art needed perfection that was only perceived to be offered by the men. Besides, due to the discomfort associated with the sound made by the traditional drums, the men were the ones willing enough to risk. With recent inventions, women have become more interested in playing of the steel drums.
The Flute
The flute belongs to the woodwind music culture. The history of the flute can be traced back to 900 B.C. it was invented in China and later spread to Swabian Alps in Germany. Since its invention, the flute has maintained its tube-like shape and only the bore shape in the flute has changed over the years. Traditionally, the flute was a simple wooden tube with a cylindrical shape that had embouchure hole and several finger holes. The baroque bore at times was modified to achieve a wider range ("History of the Native American Flute, Native American Flutes"). During the nineteenth century, Theobald Boehm developed the modern flute which had achieved the desired range that had the acceptable intonation. He further developed the fingering system which determined the finger holes positions and sizes.
The traditional flute
Source: http://www.wind-dancer-flutes.com/History_of_the_native_american_f.htm.
The flute can be played under any context ranging from festivals to events involving as few people as two. Due to its compatibility with almost every other musical instrument, the flute can be used in jazz, rhumba, or even in the classical. From the eighteenth century, the flute was played during European festivals and later incorporated into the European classical.
Though the flute might be considered a simpler musical instrument, it could not be played by the women in the traditional setting. Because of its harmonious nature of the sounds associated with the flute, it was meant to be played for the women and not to be played by them. However, because of modernity, everyone is allowed to play the music instrument.
Works Cited
“History of the Native American Flute, Native American Flutes”. Wind-Dancer-Flutes.Com, 2017, http://www.wind-dancer-flutes.com/History_of_the_native_american_f.htm. Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
“Steel Drums – Steel Drums”. Larkinam.Com, 2017, http://www.larkinam.com/SteelDrums.html. Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
Tiffe, Janine Louise. “Trinidadian Steel Drum (Pan) Bands in Three Great Lakes States: A Study of Musical Migration”. Pas.Org, 2017,
http://www.pas.org/docs/default-source/thesisdissertations/JTiffe.pdf?sfvrsn=2. Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
