Members of the Sandpoint High School band perform Friday morning.

Steel Drums bring brief taste of islands to Boswell

Sandpoint High School band performs variety for Terry Jones' World Music class

By: Jonathan Gradin

Posted: 11/16/09

Caribbean sounds and rhythm from the Sandpoint High School Steel Drum Band warmed up Terry Jones' World Music class Friday.

Directed by Aaron Gordon, the band, in its second year, performed earlier that day for the Idaho School Board at the Coeur d'Alene Resort and agreed to perform for Jones' class. Many music students and several children from the daycare attended.

Why steel drums?

"They're exotic, they're neat, they're a novelty," Gordon said. "I think in North Idaho that's important."

Starting off with the pop/rock favorite "American Idiot," which mixed the drums' Caribbean tonality with a rock beat, the high schoolers, many of who play other instruments, showed off their ambidexterity and amazing coordination in a set of four songs, each from a different genre of music.

"We do a whole bunch of different genres of music; that (American Idiot) was out of our pop/rock collection," Gordon said.

The traditional calypso tune "Yellow Bird," quite relaxed and smooth, provided a breather before the final two up-tempo numbers: "Steeling the Blues" and "Under the Sea," which was a hit with the children.

After the short concert, Gordon answered questions and then invited the students and children to play the drums.

"That's crazy!" exclaimed Shayler Slothower, music education major, after attempting to play. "The drums are awesome. They're crazy as hell, though. Everything's all separated."

"How do you make that good music?" a little girl asked.

The band comprises a bass guitar, rhythm guitar and conventional drum set, in addition to the steel drums, which are arranged in three groups: the high-pitched Leads, the versatile, mid-range Double Seconds and the low-pitch Guitar Pans.

Each drum has several differently sized panels around the concave interior; each of these produces a different note.

"The (panels) around the outside are the lower notes and toward the center are the upper notes," Gordon said. "The drums are not arranged like a piano or normal Western instrument; they go in the circle of fifths."

The Leads have a range of two-and-a-half octaves; the Double Seconds span three octaves, and the Guitar Pans have one-and-a-half octave compass.

The band is missing a set of bass drums. Gordon explained that those would be bought later as they are twice as expensive as the other types.

Gordon explained that he loves the sound of steel drums and wanted to start a band here in North Idaho. His dream became a reality a year ago when a federal grant was awarded, allowing the purchase of the $10,000 drum set.

"It was kind of a Hail Mary on my part," Gordon said about the grant application.

He said that the band plays in all weather and temperatures, from the 20s to more than 100 degrees.

"They go out of tune when they get warm, and they go out of tune when they get cold, but they go out of tune together, so it's kind of cool," he said. "I call it kind of a trashy sound."

Steel drum music began in Trinidad and Tobago, when locals crafted them from 55-gallon oil drums. The sound, hollow with generally mild upper harmonics, provides to Caribbean and calypso music what the Hawaiian guitar does to Hawaiian music.

"If you go to the Caribbean, you will actually see young children for competitions who have to make their own drums and learn to play them," Gordon said. "It's very labor intensive."

Galen MacDonald, who played the drum set, said he enjoys playing with the band, especially on the Latin numbers.

"They're a good, tight group to play with," he said.