Steelpan Provides STEM Learning for Toronto Students

Recent conversation about “[steel] pan in academia” is, for me, more me than a topic for discussion at the post-secondary level – or in a panyard. It guides my pedagogy whenever I plan a lesson for my students involving the instrument, not as an extra-curricular activity, but as an integrated learning tool.  In order to do this for my students (and colleagues), I need to show them that the pan is more than an “exotic” instrument.

I am employed as a full-time music teacher, but when I teach about pan I cannot dismiss the value in understanding the complex history behind the instrument. As a result, I often integrate other subjects of learning: History, Geography, Social Studies, and a particular focus on S.T.E.M. (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics). This is how I came to develop my curriculum, “The S in STEM is for Steel Pan.”

I start my students off with this question, how do you think a steel pan is built? It’s a question many players of the instrument cannot answer in detail. It’s the perfect equalizer in a classroom, where very few students have any experience with the instrument. After listening to a few of their ideas I begin to prompt their thinking:

• What material is used to build a pan and why?
• What tools are used?
• Which strains of math are applied?
• Which units of measurement are the most practical?

Then finally, if an accident happens to the instrument, how do you fix it? And the cycle of questions repeat. My students enjoy playing the instrument, yes, but only after critically examining the instrument in its entirety do they begin to truly develop an appreciation for it.

Due to their background(s) – socio-economic, religious, ethnic, cultural – most of my students have never been to a panyard, much less a master’s workshop. Using a STEM lens has peaked their curiosity to the point where some of my students have joined community bands.

In my classroom, using the pan becomes a matter of experience versus opportunity. Due to their background(s) – socio-economic, religious, ethnic, cultural – most of my students have never been to a panyard, much less a master’s workshop. Using a STEM lens has peaked their curiosity to the point where some of my students have joined community bands. Music aside, my STEM approach allows students to expand their perception of careers involving pan, especially for girls. Students and adults are still shocked to learn that, even as recent 50 years ago, women were not allowed to participate in any physical capacity with the instrument. Now, with increased opportunity, we are fortunate to see an increase in the numbers of female players, arrangers, tuners and makers. Yet despite the need for trades and tech learning, more and more of those programs’ spaces are being shut down. Within my school board alone, I’ve learned that there are over 100 workshop spaces, but less than a quarter of them are still functioning. My STEM program enables me to bring the workshop into a music space and highlight the relationships between arts and sciences.

It is time for pan educators in Toronto to transform the discourse of pan learning into a more sustainable platform. Take the focus away from gimmicks and performance; build a more “complete pannist” who will be capable of doing more than playing a few songs to sing-along to. We must encourage our students to be more critical about the instrument and give them the opportunities to transfer what they learn in the classroom/panyard into the workspace as they grow up.

My mentors are and were pan pioneers: builders, performers and educators of the instrument. Each contributed their efforts into legitimizing the instrument for use in educational institutions, from elementary to post-secondary. Sadly, many of them are no longer in a position where they can keep up the impetus they started since the 80s. Arts programs: music and pan programs in particular, are being neglected and the quality of programming has become thin. So the question needs to change from, “which programs do we preserve?” to “how do we preserve the programs AND evolve?” A steelpan and STEM program is my way to ensure that the work and legacy of my mentors is continued…at least in Toronto. Hopefully, when my students grow up the conversation will change from “pan in academia” to “pan is academia.”

Kwesi Hypolite is a steelpan pannist, arranger, and music teacher with the Toronto District School Board.