The Steelpan Development Centre at The University of the West Indies

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Vol. 110; no. 5_Supplement; p. 2673
• Main Authors: Copeland, Brian, Imbert, Clément, Gay, Derek
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-11-2001
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.4777133

This paper describes the Steelpan Development Centre (SPDC) of The University of the West Indies (UWI), a specialist center created to explore, support, and develop all aspects of the technology of the steelpan. The SPDC places special emphasis on the development on steelpan manufacturing technology and performance in the Caribbean region. While the major focus of the center is pan technology, its mission also includes consideration of other aspects that impact on the growth of the instrument, in collaboration with the UWI Center for Creative and Festival Arts. In particular, the SPDC has strong interest in providing technical, business, and administrative support to the many regional tuners who, by and large, still operate at the craft level. The paper looks at the motivation for the formation of the center, a few of the developments to date and some of the projects listed for consideration.