The evolution of Pan

The evolution of Pan

Published: 29 Jul 2010

The E-Pan

Pan has always been the source of enjoyment and revelry among the citizens of T&T, and now with the evolution of the E-Pan the enjoyment is heightening. Imagine standing in front of a mammoth crowd engrossed in a musical competition of steel. The crowd swaying, the performers dancing, and the pan’s glaze from the lights reflection, make things come alive. Having winning songs such as; Woman on the Bass (All Stars), Battle Zone (Silver Stars) or even Musical Vengeance (Phase II), all played on the E-Pan. This is just a small imagery where pan can lead in the near future. Salmon Cupid, the inventor of the E-Pan, is an Ambassador for T&T, and a Canadian based, Trinidadian born pan teacher. He has played with bands such as St Augustine Senior Comprehensive Steel Orchestra (The Green Machine), and Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra.

Even before Cupid began playing pan, he realized it was somewhat of a challenge to generate a good acoustic sound from pan bands, when accompanied by a microphone. He then set out to bridge that gap; not knowing how and when it will be done, but having the foresight of this invention. “Turning the traditional steel pan into an electronic format involved a lot of circuitry and a computer, which was built from scratch. Pan tones are just one of the tones that the E-Pan is capable of producing, and a lot of software had to be written. The E-Pan is just an electronic version of the steel pan,” Cupid said in an interview with Gayelle the channel. “The E-Pan can play any particular tone from different musical instruments, such as the Violin, Guitar, Trumpet, Piano etc. It changes octave, and has an octave control switch and pedal which allows the player to go up to Tenor and down to bass.

“Before, pan sticks were required to play the traditional steel instrument; most players used two sticks while those that were more skilled used four. Now with the E-Pan you can simply use your hands,” he explained. “You can also use headsets to avoid disturbing other pannist, while you improve your craft silently. Therefore, in a classroom setting, you can have a complete orchestra and the teacher who can also wear a headset will be hearing everyone. The E-Pan has the capability of the player pressing a button on the instrument to access different tones of tuners of their chioce. This feature allows for our tuner’s steelpan tone and colour to be preserved,” he added. “The invention of the E-Pan is a historical step, in the history of our national instrument and T&T, and was not designed as a replacement, but as an addition to the family of the traditional steel pan.

The device is a technological master piece, and it will revolutionize the way steel pan is learnt. The pan which is not made of steel but mostly rubber padding is an electronic mirrored version of the traditional steel pan. With years of trials and tribulations, the E-Pan which was a 25year old idea, from Mr. Cupid, is now complete and patented worldwide. One of Cupid’s biggest aims and objectives is to put Steelpan on the map on a larger scale. His dream is to see steelpan receive Grammys. Since developing the E-Pan, he has also been able to use his invention as a platform to encourage young people to pursue their dreams. Cupid has done production versions for the Tenor E-Pan and the Double Seconds E-Pan and at present is working on the Double Guitar E-Pan.

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  • Here is "my two sense" contribution to the debate.

    When anyone examines the history of the steelpan instrument in the context of any musical instrument, the creativity and innovation contributed by the people of Trinidad & Tobago is clear.

    The steelpan is an acoustic musical instrument indigenous to that nation which remains to this day, the only such invention of the 20th century and with the dawn of this new 21st century and millennium it manages to retain that title.

    The inception of the steelpan can be traced back to the 1930's. Since then and throughout the decades, the "cause célèbre" has witnessed advancement through numerous innovations. Considering the track record and history of most musical instruments, to accomplish that much is such a relatively short period of space and time is a remarkable testament to the talents, skills and creativity of the people of T&T.

    Whether we look to the past and/or to the evolution of the instrument, the journey continues in the immortal words of the Jacob Miller song, Forward Ever, Backward Never.

    Alas, one this is for certain since the advent of the steelpan, more-or-less (depending on your point-of-view) than a quarter century ago, Salmon Cupid had an epiphany and the idea of the e-pan was born.

    In my mind, what is needed now to advance the cause of the steelpan movement is for all Pan Fans as enthusiast the world over is to advocate the "authorities" (PanTrinbago) to lobby all relevant organization so the "the steelpan sound" of the master tuners can be recorded and digitalized sooner than later (when they have sadly passed on) for now and the future.

    Respect...
  • "Hameed Shaqq I do not think that you will ever get it nothing that you are saying is correct other than" Bertie Marshall in the 1960's was expirementing with amplification of the Steelpan" The modernization of the the Steel Pan instruments should be called an Electronic Synthersize Pan or ESP. A PAN is an Instrument configured from a Steel drum.
  • Bertie Marshall was even AHEAD of the Innovators of Synthersizers, check for when Synthersizers came on board.
    The E-pan and also the PHI are Synthersizers made in the shape and formation of certain aspects of the steel pan instruments. I think these new innovation are spectular but are by no means replacements for the Steel Pan instrument.
    • Hameed ... don't put the E-Pan and the phi in the same sentence please. At least put a full stop and start a new paragraph.

      THE PHI IS NOT A SYNTHESIZER. IT IS A CONTROLLER. When it is hooked up to a computer or external sound device it controls that device. The device used is a synthesizer in most cases, unless they use a computer (which is what they use) and what drives the phi is a synthesizer software. They also have something called a M-module.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AEwSQITemY&feature=related

      Hopefully you get it now.
      • The Transformation of the sound by both of these instrumnents; the E-pan and PHI is through a process of "SYNTHERSIS". I get this for sure.,
  • SOME PEOPLE STILL ENT GETTING IT " THE STEEL PAN IS THE ONLY NEW ACOUSTICAL INSTRUMENT TO BE INVENTED IN THE 21st CENTURY" HOW MANY TIMES HAS PEOPLE FROM TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO HEARD THIS STATEMENT, THE E-PAN IS NOT AN "ACOUSTICAL OR MUSICAL" INSTRUMENT, IT CANNOT BE COMPARED TO BERTIE MARSHALL'S AMPLIFIED PANS , NONE THE LESS e-PAN MAN "JOE BEATLE AND COMPANY (a former all stars and Phase II man MADE A SMALLER VERSION OF THE E-PAN IN THE 1980'S,(that is irrevalent now though) AND GLENROY THIS IS MORE OF A GEAR FOR PROFESSIONAL AND SERIOUS PANNISTS THAT IS WHERE IT WILL FIT IN IF IT TAKES OFF
    • SWEET EUSTACE, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO TELL ME WHERE I EVER SAID THAT THE E-PAN IS AN ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENT. SHOW ME WHERE IT IS WRITTEN ON THE NAPE INC. WEBSITE (WWW.NAPEINC.COM). MAYBE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHOW ME WHERE I SAID IT ON WHEN STEEL TALKS, OR SOMEWHERE ON FACEBOOK http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001144541036, OR MAYBE SOMEWHERE ON YOUTUBE? I HAVE NEVER ONCE SAID SOMETHING LIKE THAT, SO WHERE IS THIS CONVERSATION COMING FROM. ARE YOU JUST LOOKING FOR SMALL TALK? WHEN BERTIE MIKED HIS PANS AND AMPLIFIED IT ... KOODOS TO HIM. I APPLAUD HIM FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE IN SHAPING THE STEELPAN FRATERNITY. PLEASE UNDERSTAND IN NO WAY, FORM OR FASHION AM I COMPARING WHAT BERTIE DID WITH MIKING THE PAN BACK THEN WITH THE E-PAN. HAMEED SHAQQ IS THE ONE WHO IS TRYING TO IMPLICATE WHAT BERTIE DID WITH THE E-PAN. AS I EXPLAINED EARLIER, THEY ARE TWO DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGIES ALTOGETHER!!!!!!!
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6DJwaYQrow
      • Please dont not misunderstand my point of view, when looking at the "Evolution" of the Steel Pan or Pan as we passionately love to call this instrument, we must bear in mind this evolution continues and because we have not even celebrated 100 years of Pan. The very first Pans were not made from 55 gallons Steel Drums, they were made from smaller biscuit pans or call it biscuit tins whatever. Ellie Manette, Tony Williams and other introduced the used of "OIL DRUMS" leading the way to a new acoustic instrument adding to the family of Idiophones; The revolution of the evolution had begun. Everyone will agree that Bertie Marshall as a visionary saw the need for amplication, innovation and modification and was way ahead of the time and available technology. The Hammond B3 was one of the leading innovation with regards to keys, electronic synthersizers were not not yet invented. With the introduction of synthesis technology to musical instruments resulted; Synthesizer, a collection of electronic devices that modify or manipulate an electronically generated musical tone or sound source. This changed the way the world came to know the key boards. This same technological process is adopted in the E-pan, PHI, or any other as our innovators such as Salmon Cupid and Copeland can explore this technology, similar to the automated Pans.
  • nuff respect to Mr Cupid an electronic equivalent to the pan was created in UWI back in the 1980"s, this cannot be compared to Marshals experiment which was to add electronics to the pan, this is not really a pan visa vie, for all these years we have been selling the Pan as the only acoustical musical instrument to be invented in the 20th century, and it is an acoustic musical instrument, generating its sounds by it self, the E-pan is not a pan as we know it, much different to the guitar synthesiser which is a guitar with a built in synthesiser, that converts the sounds produced by guitar into electronic impulses that can be altered to reproduce different sounds, this is more like the so called electronic sax which is a synthesiser with controls set in similar positions as the saxaphone and has a breath controller which only controls the volume, and is not a saxaphone but a saxaphone shaped electronic device, with features similar features as a real sax to make it user friendly to sax players who might want to expand their capabilities.
    back to the E-pan, the E-pan is the same as the electronic sax, it is a electronic device built in the shape as a pan, the voices are produced not by the cabinet of the device but by a series of electronic components that are triggered by switches placed in a configuration set up in a similar position as a pan, it can be used on stage by pan players but is more suited as studio gear,this is no relative of the pan, contrary to the hang which is a pan improvised and modified to be played by hands instead of sticks, the action of the triggers is pretty decent, and a pan player will not have to log into his living room studio six big barrells to put on a bass track, similarly, it can help in cost effectiveness where two, three or whatever pan players can cut a gig using E-pans, somebody playing a bass voice another a guitar whatever and do not have to worry about space, this can be taken to the pool sides, which might not have space for a six bass and a 4pan with a seconds and two tenors, people love to hear the sound of a real all steel steelband, but have no mroom for all them barrels, plus it is problems to log around a six bass etc around all over the place, I could see itmost of the gigers play either tenor or seconds, more work for panmen, a 3,4 or 5 piece E-pan group can go out there one playing lead the next one playing bass, some body playing percussion and the next one playing chords, etc and they interchange, there is still work needed to fine tune it sound wise, but instead of taking it to Birch or guppy, they could take it to leston paul or somebody to fine tune, ah done for now peace
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