Hi, dieconashi!
Thank you very much for the information. I really appreciate it and will follow through with the tips you offered. Coincidentally, I am reading a bio of Bob Marley. There is a good section concerning the origins of the steel drum. Others on this post have covered it briefly. Very interesting stuff. Thank you, everyone. I definitly want to learn more!
Brian
Love the sound of Steel Drums. Also love these little beauties:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS8eipuXYWg&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS8eipuXYWg&feature=related[/ame]
Hi, Gerry!
Thank you very much for sharing the video! You can tell by the musician's face that he loves what he is doing. That's what's really important. Without the passion and enjoyment, a musician is just a technician. Making music should be fun! Thanks again, Gerry.
Brian
Gentlemen:
I just received a pair of mallets for my little steel drum. The gentleman did a great custom job on them and I'm very thankful for his skill. The tips are basically encircled with a latex tubing.The sticks themselves can't be more than nine inces long and about 3/4 of an inch in diametre. I don't know from what kind of wood they are constructed. I'm playing with them now and they bouce around this computer desk like Mexican jumping beans! The action is incredible! I basically touch them to a surface and they respond. I'm wondering,and this may be way out in left field but, has there ever been sticks for "ordinary" kits made with latex for tips, not nylon? Maybe it wouldn't make any difference on regular drum heads. I don't know but, these little guys are incredibly resonsive!! Thank you very much.
Brian
Brian -- Can most likely tell you a lot about the steel drum you have with the inscription "Little Sparrow" on it and where he lived, in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, because I met him in the 1960's on my first trip to GBI where I stayed at the Lucayan Beach Hotel which had an elaborate "Formal Attire Only" Monte Carlo Casino and three night clubs. "Little Sparrow" (real name Leslie Hoyte) and his backup instrumentalists played in one of the night clubs each night. I instantly fell in love with the music he produced with his steel drum and struck up a friendship with him that lasted for many years, with me flying my plane down from Long Island, New York every six months to soak up the sun in Lucayan Beach and bisit with him. The last time I was there, I told him I'd love to have one of the drums and asked if I could buy one, as I knew he had recently acquired some small building where he started producing ones smaller than the one he played, so he could sell them to tourists. He said he didn't have any in his size but could make me one in a day or two. When I told him I had to leave in the morning, at the end of his performance that evening, he took his own drum he'd been playing for quite some time and gave it to me. I insisted on paying him for it; I got it for $45. Still have it along with the original mallets he made and used when playing the drum. The drum is 23" in diameter. Your drum sounds like the ones he was making in his little factory in Freeport, GBI in the 1960's. If you'd like to know more about "Little Sparrow" I have his history and know that his father was referred to as the "King of the Steel Drum." Little Sparrow died several years ago, lthe father of nine children now grown. One of his sons, Michael Hoyte, has followed in his father's footsteps and has a website at http://michaelhoyte.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3:music-services&catid=1:services&Itemid=2 on which his theme is "Living to Heal through Music." On that webpage, where he tells of his background, he makes reference to his father's musical influence on his life and all of his siblings. As I recall from a writeup I have on "Little Sparrow", he studied music in London at one point in his life. He was about 5' to 5'3" tall and stood on a plastic milk crate when he performed, because all of his backup instrumentalists were tall and dwarfed him if he stood at the same floor level as they. I have photos of him, his band, and local "after hours" places he played where I'd be the only white person in the entire place. Bahamians are delightful people and always welcomed me/treated me grandly. I used to have a great time whenever in one of their local after-hours clubs where many musicians would jam after they were done with their gigs in lounges of tourist hotels and casinos. I'd be curious to know if the word "Freeport" on your drum is written as one or two words. On his own drum that I have, he had it as two words -- "Free Port" because that was the original name of the harbor for cargo and passenger ships. By the time I was visiting GBI, it was being written as one word.
Marilyn
in Southwest Florida
Marilyn!
I can't thank you enough for your valuable information! I never thought anyone would have such a wonderful story! Amazing! The drum is at my guitar player's house where my daughter uses it occasionally. She sings in my band and plays a bit of percussion. I'll have to check on the spelling of Freeport. How it got from Freeport to Port Colborne, Ontario must also be quite the story! I'm going to print out your response and frame it! I really can't thank you enough!
Brian
I too bought a steel drum with the words painted on "Little Sparrow" and Freeport (one word, no spacing between Free and port). I'm curious as to why the notes don't follow the pattern of standard steel drums
notes from top clockwise F# D D B B G E (Bottom) Aflat, C F A C# Eflat
typical high tenor pan is F#4 B4 E4 A4 D4 G4 C5 (bottom) F4 Bflat4D#4 G#4 C#5
low tenor F# B E A D G C (bottom) F Bflat Eflat Aflat C#
If I learn on this drum, will I have trouble playing/relearning if I go to a standard arrangement of notes? Many thanks for any feedback on this.
Here is the photo of the Little Sparrow steel drum
I have a 23" Little Sparrow Special tenor pan (without the Freeport or Free Port). I wanted to find out what it is worth, anyone who has a similar lead pan of this nature. Thanks!
I just ran across this thread, I'm not sure how I missed it after all those years but what a very interesting read. So Brian are you a professional steel drum player now?
