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This is pretty much the last thing I would have expected on HN! I've been playing pan for 10+ years now, and the pans I play were made by Cliff Alexis, who tune
by yborg 4y ago
This is pretty much the last thing I would have expected on HN! I've been playing pan for 10+ years now, and the pans I play were made by Cliff Alexis, who tuned for the US Navy Steel Band in the 1970s.
- tomcam 4y agoHow... How did you get that gig?
- yborg 4y agoThere is a whole constellation of people who attended Northern Illinois University where Cliff taught for many years and who started their steel band program. I believe it's one of the few music programs in the country where you can major in steel pan performance. Because it's a relatively small collection of enthusiasts, buying a pan is still very often a case of knowing a guy, who knows a guy... and individual builders have followings because of the quality of their instruments. I'm sure this is true of many instruments, but you don't have a big industrial producer like Yamaha that sells them. It's mostly individual builders or pans made in Trinidad, which remains the heart of the genre.
- tomcam 4y agoThanks for the fascinating answer. I am a mediocre steel drum player and like learning about these things. I was confused, though, and I thought you were implying you had managed to get a steel drum gig in the Navy.