"Wings Like a Dove"


This song is entitled, "Wings Like a Dove," and is performed by the Trinidad Tripoli Steel Band. Steelpan as an instrument originated in the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. The music is comprised of the various-sized steelpans and male voices. This band gained international recognition after performing at the 1967 Montreal Expo World's Fair.

In thinking about classification systems of instruments, steelpans (or just pans, as they are known in Trinidad) fit into several categories. I chose to seek out music with steelpans as it is the only acoustic instrument invented in the twentieth century, all others were electronic. Although steelpans may be found in calypso ensembles with a variety of instruments (heterogeneous), steel bands (homogeneous, although most currently add more percussion to drive the beat) are extremely popular in Trinidad, and the best bands compete annually in several national competitions. Steelpan is a type of percussive idiophone, in which the sound is produced by vibrations of the instrument's body after being struck, and it is tuned. These types of classifications are useful in comparing sounds of similar types of instruments like metallophones (tuned metal bars), or gongs (untuned or tuned to a single pitch). Finally, within a steel band, steelpans are classified by their size and function, from the largest "background" full-size drums that produce the bass, to the "frontline" higher sounding tenors/lead.

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