Davidson Middle School students perform as part of the Drums of Fire steel pan band. The IJ Lobby Lounge went on location for the first time to record our largest and most exotic group yet — Drums of Fire, the Davidson Middle School Steel Pan Band.
More than 20 students from the San Rafael school performed on the steel pans for the Community Media Center of Marin cameras one recent morning. The teens opened with a sensational six-minute Santana medley, then moved onto the pop hit “Grenade” by Bruno Mars and finished with a traditional song from Trinidad Tobago.
Now in its 31st year, the steel pan program was begun as an alternative to the school’s traditional music classes in brass, woodwinds, strings and percussion.
“We started with a handful of students in the first class who were made fun of for playing on ‘trash cans,’” said music teacher Dana Trillo, who leads steel pan classes with colleague Michael Mares.
The steel pan program overcame those initial misgivings to become a popular school program, and Drums of Fire has made a name for itself and its school with performances in the larger community. There are currently 60 students in two different steel pan classes at Davidson that are remarkably diverse, including at risk and advanced students playing side by side, ESL students, learning disabled and physically challenged teens and a wide range of ages and ethnic backgrounds.
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Very nice. Sounding great. Santana would be proud. Very well done.