Connecting Materials Science and Music in Steel Drums
By Lawrence Murr, Everaldo Tello
A serendipitous collection of scientific, especially metallurgical, principles created melodic instruments from sawed-off steel barrels
This Article From Issue
January-February 2000
Volume 88, Number 1
Page 38
DOI: 10.1511/2000.15.38
In 1946, Ellie Mannette wanted to build the world's biggest and best steel drum for an upcoming music contest on the island of Trinidad. So he hid a 55-gallon drum in a sugar shack and pounded its lid into a concave surface. He then tuned 14 notes into the surface of this steel drum, which was gigantic compared with the standard 35-gallon drums.
Photograph courtesy of Kathy George
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