Buying Steel Pans
(Steel Drums)
Accessories and Sheet Music

Steel pan (steel drum) makers and tuners can be found worldwide. Most have online stores and ship instruments to clients all over the world.

When ordering steel pans, make sure you also purchase

• Protective cases
  
• Stands
  
• Playing sticks/mallets.

Some companies sell these items individually, while some sell them as part of a package. Make sure they are included in your order.

It is also useful to order an extra pair of sticks/mallets for each pan (especially if children are in the steelband).

Steel Pan Sheet Music and Method Books

Steel pans (steel drums) are still ‘new’ instruments so it is unlikely that you will find sheet music or method books in your neighborhood music store (unless you live in the Caribbean).

There are several reliable online stores that sell steel pan sheet music of different levels of difficulty and for various size bands.

Method books however aren’t that easy to find. One company dedicated to the production of educational material for steel pans is Merrywang Publishers (Jamaica).

They are currently producing a series of method books for frontline pans. So far they have published The Art of Steelpan: Low Tenor (Lead) Beginner Book 1.

It is a useful guide for individual instruction on the tenor pan. It features rote to note approach to music reading, a useful and informative technique section and entertaining duets and repertoire pieces. They hope to produce method books for all the frontline pans.

In the absence of method books and scores, many band directors arrange and adapt music written for other instruments.

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