The IU Steel Pan Ensemble, led by percussion graduate student Pat Hernly, is the newest addition to the roster of ensembles at the IU School of Music. While it is common on campus to see graduate students teaching or assisting classes, it is unusual for them to develop their own program. \nBut it was Hernly's interest in teaching and love of the steel drum that inspired him to do just that. \nHernly started steel drumming as a freshman at Miami University of Ohio. He liked it enough that in June of 2002 he purchased his own set of drums.\n"I had intended to start a private steel school," Hernly said. "The plan was to just play orchestral music in school (at IU) and run the steel band on the outside."\nThat is how the ensemble started, with a small group of students meeting after hours at the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington. Recent IU graduate and lead pan player Joe Galvin discovered the ensemble while picking up dinner. \n"I was at this Chinese restaurant and saw a poster advertising the ensemble," Galvin said. "I called the number and started talking to Pat (Hernly), and it went from there."\nWhile running this group, Hernly met up with Steve Houghton, a jazz percussion professor in the music school who showed a considerable interest in the program. \n"Houghton really wanted to get world percussion going on at the school," Hernly said. "So last spring I taught the class here for free. Professor Cirone, head of the percussion department, saw us and really liked what it brought to the department and had an interest in making it a more permanent part of the program."
Origins\nMusic Professor Anthony Cirone is enthusiastic about the value of such an ensemble for the percussion students at the school.\n"World percussion is the fastest growing area in the percussion universe," Cirone said. \nSteel pans, or steel drums, were originally invented in the Caribbean, in Trinidad and Tobago. They are crafted from actual 55 gallon oil drums, which are beaten and shaped to produce a concave playing surface. The surface is then carefully tuned to produce a variety of pitches. \nA full band is composed of pans in different parts, much like a choir. There are Lead pans, which are the highest voice, and increasing in size are Double Tenor, Double Seconds, Guitars (not the stringed instrument) and Bass. While most of the pans are cut off at about a foot deep and suspended on stands, the massive Bass pans are full oil drums. \nThe drums, traditionally music of the poorer classes of Trinidadians, originated as descendants of the Spanish and French plantation owners outlawed the use of traditional African drums, fearing that the gangs of Trinidad were using them to communicate with one another. \nSince the drums were outlawed, children turned to beating on any available surface, including empty oil drums. \nA steel pan may not be the normal fare for a Friday at Festers, but steel pan music is branching far beyond its traditional calypso roots. The pan is becoming a part of many different styles of music.\n"Even recently, you start hearing steel pan in jazz and classical, even new music," Galvin said. "Bela Fleck uses it in his stuff and sometimes it shows up in rock and pop works too."\nSteel bands have also taken off as educational ensembles. In addition to collegiate level ensembles like the one at IU and the one Hernly joined at Miami, high schools are picking up the trend. A recent marching steel band from Ambridge Area High School Marching Band, from Ambridge, Pa. appeared at this year's Rose Bowl Parade.
\nThe Steel Pan and IU \nThrough support from IU faculty, the Steel Pan Ensemble has moved beyond its modest beginnings since they began rehearsing at the school.\nHernly was emphatic of the value of the faculty's support in making the ensemble possible. \n"The support of all of the percussion faculty and staff," Hernly said, "including Stacey Duggan, Wilbur England and Gerald Carlyss, (along with Professor Cirone and Houghton) has been essential to the birth of the steel band."\nGalvin highlights the growth of the band and its work with IU. \n"We've really grown in the last year," he said. "We played in the University (percussion ensemble) concert, with the International Vocal Ensemble, at the International Center, and even at Lotus Fest." \nGalvin said he was excited to continue playing outside the University. \n"Playing at events like Lotus was a real opportunity and a great pleasure," he said. "We are planning on trying to keep playing out, and some of my friends in the ensemble have talked about even getting some bar gigs."\nHernly has a detailed vision for the function of the IU Steel Pan ensemble. \n"The band exists with a two-fold purpose," Hernly said. "The first is, of course, the education of students, but the other is to be a vehicle for exposing many diverse kinds of music in the community."
TRANSITION\n"For all our students, part of their future, if they decide to teach, is going to be teaching ethnic percussion. The world's just getting a lot smaller," Cirone said. \nCirone is also committed to getting a wide range of exposure for the ensemble. \n"The community will be well aware of a Steel Pan Ensemble," Cirone said. "We will be at places where the School of Music doesn't normally go."\nHe was also hopeful this exposure would help in the fund-raising efforts necessary to keep the ensemble alive.\n"In order to keep it going, we need to raise funds to buy the pans and run the program," Cirone said.\nA fund-raising campaign will begin soon and is being run through the Development Office of the School of Music. With this wide exposure in mind, Hernly encourages non-music majors to join the ensemble. \n"The ensemble is open to all University students who are able to read music," Hernly said. "It's a class where we are learning by doing -- very seldom do we sit and take notes. We're usually up, on our feet, playing music and having a blast."\nCirone also anticipated the possibility of students with little percussion experience being able to fully participate.\n"Playing percussion gives you no real advantage in playing steel pan," Cirone said. "It's not an instrument that requires a lot of percussion technique."\nGalvin agreed, but said the instrument has a lot of potential for those with more experience as well.\n"I don't want to suggest that it is a simple instrument, because it is not," Galvin said. "It takes time to master, but when you are just starting out, there are easy ways to learn. The best part is, you can start making music from day one."\nThe group will meet again this spring, under the course number MUS X090, section 9623. They meet from 9:30 to 11 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays in Auer Hall Green Room. For more information please contact Pat Hernly at phernly@indiana.edu.\n-- Contact staff writer Claire Blaustein at cblauste@indiana.edu.
