Development of steel drum belt

The newly created steel drum has attracted the attention of people all over Trinidad. In the past decades, the rise of steel drum bands has become a social movement in this country. Young people devoted themselves to it with great enthusiasm, and the whole society watched it rise rapidly with approval. Especially after 1962 Trinidad and Tobago became independent, the new government attached great importance to the new thing of steel drum music and gave it strong support. Historian and former Prime Minister Williams spoke highly of this in his book A History of the People of Trinidad and Tobago: "Trinidad and Tobago's national culture once shone brilliantly ... Calypso mythology, a folk song, and the percussion steel drum band were all created by members who did not enjoy legal rights in this society. They won a well-deserved honor for Trinidad and Tobago in the world folk art, and showed unparalleled enthusiasm, improvisation ability and interesting life at the Trinidad Carnival. 1973 1, Premier Williams personally presided over the "National Consultation Meeting of Steel Drum Band" to discuss the development plan of steel drum music. After the meeting, it is stipulated that 1 1 month "steel drum music festival" will be held on the island every year for steel drum competition. The government also advocates and promotes steel drum music as a national art form throughout the country, and now even plays the national anthem with steel drum bands. At present, there are more than 200 regular steel drum bands in this country,1million people, most of whom are amateur groups. There are seven most famous professional bands, and the All-Star Steel Drum Band, which has been performing in China since 1980, is one of the best. The steel drum band can play all kinds of music now. It often plays all kinds of folk music from Calypso and the Caribbean. Carnival music in Trinidad is the specialty of steel drum bands. With its strong rhythm, exciting emotions and powerful voice, the steel drum band echoes the lively atmosphere, free and unrestrained dance and bright colors of the carnival, which is very exciting. Nowadays, carnival music has become the most distinctive and indispensable part of steel drum music. In recent years, due to the continuous improvement of musical instruments, the sound quality of steel drums is getting better and better, and the organization of bands is becoming more and more perfect. Some talented musicians arranged and conducted for the steel drum band, which greatly improved the level of the steel drum band. Some of the best bands have been able to play more complex European classical and romantic works. For example, the Bach organ music "Tokata and fugue in B minor" played by the steel drum band is quite successful, which fully shows the tragic and generous artistic conception and magnificent spirit of this piece, giving people a brand-new feeling. The waltz of flowers played by the steel drum band expresses the tenderness and delicacy of the original, and the music is lyrical and moving. The overture of Rossini's opera William Tell played by the steel drum band shows the great potential of this band. Due to the development of piano playing skills, its expressive force is more abundant, and it also has broad prospects in expressing deeper social content and drama conflicts. Today, a complete steel drum band can be roughly divided into eight symphony parts: tenor, tenor steel plate, alto, contralto, guitar, cello, mixed bass steel drum and rhythm group including conga drum, tambourine, cowbell and scraper. The pitch and timbre of each steel drum are different. For example, a alto steel disc can play 25-28 tones including all semitones of two octaves, a contralto steel drum can play 14 tones, and the left and right two contralto steel drums form a set, which can play 28 tones including all semitones. A guitar steel drum can play 8 tones, and the left and right guitar steel drums form a set that can play 16 tones including all semitones. The treble steel disc is bright, the alto steel drum is soft, and the bass steel drum is broad and deep, all of which are fixed by the average law of 12. High-pitched steel drums 1 person, high-pitched and low-pitched steel drums are more than 2 1 person, and the most is 1 person. The arrangement of steel drum scales is also very special, which is different from the arrangement of general percussion instruments and keyboard instruments. The pitch between adjacent instruments can be octave, fourth degree, fifth degree, third degree and sixth degree, but not second degree and seventh degree. The number of steel drum belts varies from a few to 10 to dozens, even exceeding 100. 1975 In the steel drum competition, a band named "Hite" used 347 pieces of steel to perform on stage, which was probably the biggest one.

Steel drum bands and their music are now widely popular in Venezuela and Guyana in the Caribbean and northern South America. Many universities and middle schools in the United States, Canada and Britain have set up steel drum bands, where students can learn to play steel drums. The US Navy also has its own steel drum band. Trinidad's famous steel drum band has traveled all over the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia. The international music community attaches great importance to steel drums and their music, and some musicians regard the appearance of steel drum music as "the greatest contribution to the music field in the 20th century". Some countries have set up institutions specializing in steel drum music. Trinidad and the United States have published works on the history of steel drums, and the book World Musical Instruments published in Britain 1976 has included this new musical instrument. In recent years, steel drum music has also been used to accompany the aria in Mozart's opera "The Wedding of Figaro", and to play with trumpet, piano and bell. Recently, some steel drum bands began to use electro-acoustic equipment and electronic musical instruments, which also added new factors to the future development of steel drum music.

The appearance of steel drums and steel drum bands has added a dazzling flower to the world folk art garden, and also written a touching page in the history of world music. Before 1980s, few people in China knew about steel drum, a new musical instrument. Until 1975, a domestic newspaper reported the popularity of China Art Troupe performing steel drums in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana, but no one knew what kind of musical instrument steel drums were. Liu Dehai, a famous pipa player, listened to the records of steel drum music and saw several steel drums brought back by the China Art Troupe. Domestic musicians had a preliminary understanding of this strange instrument. 1976, an article introducing steel drums was first published in musical instrument magazine. 1980, musicians from the Central Conservatory of Music and Beijing Film Orchestra formed a small steel drum band. After a short rehearsal, on May 1 Sunday, a program called "Wonderful Music from Gasoline Tanks" was broadcast in the CCTV "Cultural Life" column, introducing this newly invented musical instrument, and playing three pieces of music such as mango and pigeon with steel drums. Subsequently, the "Steel Drum Research Group" (affiliated to Beijing Musical Instrument Society) was established to explore the production and performance of steel drums. The performance of Trinidad All-Star Steel Drum Band in June+10 in 5438 greatly inspired the musicians in China. Song Zhongqing of Beijing New Film Orchestra studied hard and made a full set of steel drums, which were played by the folk band of Beijing New Film Orchestra. 1985, Xinying Garden Development Company started a "steel drum training class" with 30 students enrolled, with teachers from the Central Conservatory of Music and other schools as artistic directors. After three years' training, the Beijing Youth Steel Drum Orchestra was established and gave many public performances. 1988, Beijing steel drum society was established. Unfortunately, due to various subjective and objective reasons, mainly economic difficulties, the band finally disintegrated a few years later. I hope that in the new 2 1 century, this wonderful flower of steel drums will sprout, blossom and bear rich fruits in China.