Panman
In 1946, Elliott “Ellie” Mannette (shown in the picture), of Woodbrook, Port-of-Spain, made the most significant change in the steelband development when he used a 55-gallon steel oil drum to craft a pan. Mannette made history when he pounded the flat surface at the top of the oil drum inward to create a concave playing surface. Compared to previous metal containers used, the oil drums provided a thicker, larger surface area for tuning and were found to retain their sound for a longer period, after they were tuned. Depending on the instrument being fabricated, the sides of the oil drums were cut to various lengths: the higher the octave, the shorter was the cut. Music was created by beating on the tuned pans with short, wooden sticks (about 8 inches long and 1/2-inch in diameter) wrapped lightly at one end with rubber salvaged from the inner tubes of bicycle tires. Rhythm was provided by the tapping of short steel rods (twigs) on the junked brake drums of motor cars; this was referred to as iron (see photo below). The sounds generated became known as steelband music and the players were referred to as panmen.
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