Drum Band Looks to Grow

This doesn't seem like your typical garage band.

First off, the members range in age from 8-year-old Leah Salandy, who doesn't seem tall enough to reach her instrument ("I need a stool," she admits) to Selwyn Salandy, who is a father and grandfather.

The band is gathered at his house in Bethlehem Township, in his garage, but this is in no way a "garage band." (Some members are from Forks Township.)

Caribbean Steel Rhythms, a steel drum band made up of about a dozen Easton area residents, has been playing together for years, forming in 2007 out of the Chirst United Methodist Church on the city's South Side.

And for the last few months, they've been everywhere, with shows at schools, churches and events all over eastern Pennsylvania, as well as higher profile performances at and Coca-Cola Park.

Last week, Easton Patch did a about two members of the group who were rehearsing for a steel drum competition in New York City. At the time, one of our commenters said, "So, in addition to the School of Rock, Easton has a "School of Steel?"

Hopefully that can happen, said Salandy, a native of Trinidad and Tobago. 

The band has its eye on a space on the 900 block of Northampton Street as a possible school, but noise could be an issue.

"You know it's close," Salandy said. "The houses are kind of close…unless we could totally soundproof that place, it would be difficult."

Steel drums, as you might imagine, aren't quiet. 

It's what drove Salandy's son Pierre away from the drums as a child on Trinidad and Tobago. As a boy, Pierre would march with his drum in giant parades, with bands made up of hundreds, or thousands, of players.

"In all honesty, I hated the steel drum. I thought it was too noisy," said Pierre, a musician who lives on the South Side. "When you have a thousand people playing, there's only so much peace and quiet you can have."

But years of musical training -- plus seeing the steel drums played on a smaller stage -- has led him to a deeper appreciation of the instrument.

Others have taken to it more quickly. Selwyn said one member asked to join the band after seeing them perform.

"She heard us playing a church and said 'I have to be a part of that,'" he said.

In the Salandy garage, you'll find all the members of the steel drum family: the tenor drums, double-tenor, second drums, the so-called "guitar" and "cello" drums, and the bass drums.

(Not to be confused with the bass drum you'd find on a standard drum kit; these bass drums, like all steel drums, play a melody.) The whole band has almost the same range of octaves as a piano.

It's an instrument that has its origins in slavery, Pierre said. Slaves on Trinidad would communicate through drums; when slave owners banned those drums, the slaves began using bamboo sticks that they'd cut to different lengths and diameters to make music. 

Later, those sticks became part of bands. By the 1930s, those bands included the idea of using metal containers. Musicians would weld and hammer those containers so they produced different notes. 

As Pierre -- who plays the traditional drums (bass, snare, cymbal, etc.) for the band -- wrapped up his history lesson, band members began to arrive to rehearse.

First up is "One Love" by Bob Marley. The band's set list is typically a mix of secular and spiritual music.

"I'm still mastering it," said Val Haring of Easton, who plays the guitar drum. "It's the rhythm. Some of them are not natural to me."

That's the thing about steel drums, Pierre said. It's complex, and highly syncopated. There's a lot going on "between the beats," and he argues that's what makes it fascinating to audiences.

"For most people, it's such an experience to see metal drums playing music that makes sense," he said. "People are really fascinated by the idea that a 55-gallon oil drum can become a musical instrument."