Steel pan music (rhythm, pitch, pulse) - Video

Steel Pan Music (rhythm, pitch, pulse)

Continuing with the theme of refuse collectors and people who work with recycling, here are some kids having great fun playing a piece called Viva La Vida on Steel Pans. I once taught steel pans at a Saturday morning music school so I have a bit of a soft spot for them and I love the energy of this group!

I think it would be great for the children to simply listen, watch and enjoy this video but they may like to get up and dance around when they hear it again.

Your own steel pans

Not everyone has a range of used oil cans! However you can ask parents for any old pans that they may wish to donate to create a Steel Pan Orchestra. All you need is ordinary beaters and a way of hanging up the pans by the handles - they make a much better sound if you hang them up. The pans will make different pitched sounds depending on their size. You can allocate one pan to each child, in a group and ask another child to be the 'conductor', who points to each child with a Start sign and a Stop sign. It's best for you to model this so that the 'conductor' understands what to do.