Steelpan Playing with Theory

This book is designed for many different levels of individuals or groups. It is a step by step approach to understanding the rudiments of music, along with a practical hands-on method of learning to play the steelpan. The book takes the individual student with no prior experience of music or the steelpan from elementary through secondary to pre-university level. It also accommodates the person who can already play, but lacks the theoretical musical skills. It is a valuable asset for the advanced player who wants to get more into improvisation from a Jazz perspective. Finally it serves as a teacher's manual with complete examination exercises, theoretical as well as practical. Included is an array of 13 songs, for individual playing and arranged for an entire band.

The repertoire includes beginners’ original work, Calypso, Latin, Jazz and Classical material. The specific instruments include the following: Soprano (Lead Pan), Mezzo-Soprano (Double Tenor), Alto (Double Second), Two-Pan Tenor (Guitar- Pan), Three-Pan Tenor (Cello Pan), Bass (Four-Pan Bass), Bass (Six-Pan Bass). It is important to identify the instrument correctly by its theoretical name and range. The original names of the instruments are in the brackets. There is a supplementary section for different styles of pans in order to cover some of the popular and common styles found in most groups. The book consists of 400 pages.

Release date. December 15th 1999

The Steelpan Teacher’s Manual

The ever increasing demand for more information has been the catalyst for the concept of producing a guide, a practical resource handbook, that is a supplement to the Text Book "Steelpan Playing With Theory" by Salah A. Wilson.

"The Steelpan Teacher’s Manual" is that guide which will enable the individual teacher to show and explain in detail the process of teaching music with the Text book. "The Steelpan Teacher’s Manual" is a class by class breakdown of running a steelpan program in a public or private school. This is based on the practical experiences of the author teaching in the public and private sector for more than 25 years. This book will enable the teacher to set up a structure to produce exams in theory and practical works. The result will be a graded program.

There are two additional supplementary books that goes along with this package.

• A "Homework & Exercises" book
• A "Practical & Technique" book

These two books provide additional material for extra work in Theory and Practical for the enthusiastic student. It is the author’s hope that these books will ensure that proper music literacy will go hand in hand with learning to play the Steelpan.