Emma Sovacool wore a wide smile while pounding her bamboo stick, also known as a tamboo-bamboo, on the stage floor of the Akron Civic Theatre.
Sovacool stood next to her percussion peers, equipped with empty tin cans and glass bottles, wooden spoons, a tambourine, bells and wooden blocks. They added to the cacophony of sound — pounding, shaking, rattling and clattering — as their bodies swayed.
Musicians transitioned to the floor, grabbing old-time pans and strapping them around their necks as they banged with sticks and hands. The concert hall pulsed on this mid-February afternoon with the power of protest and music audible thousands of miles from its place of origin.
“I wasn’t expecting that parade line to take so long,” Matt Dudack, the artistic director of the University of Akron’s Steel Drum Band, said later between laughs.
The roving band’s energy made it impossible for audience members to sit still. Many joined in by jumping on the beat with swinging bodies, clapping hands and tapping feet.
“The music was sharp, uplifting and fun,” said Alice Miller, who attended the performance with her husband, Kevin.
The steel drum band paid homage to tamboo-bamboo traditions and early old-time pans, the roots of today’s steelpan sound, often called steel drums. That sense of wonder echoes through the university’s percussion program, where this art is not only taught, but lived by the students who play it.
Sovacool, a senior at UA, said music born in the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago allows her to express herself while honoring its culture.
“It’s really meaningful to be able to represent a tradition that has such a long and powerful history,” said Sovacool, a percussion performance major.
That tradition includes Afro-Trinidadians utilizing objects found around their neighborhoods to express resistance and resilience, innovation and cultural survival through music.
In Akron, the university’s ensemble maintains an ambitious performance schedule while educating audiences about steelpan’s complexity and roots. In this academic setting, the music continues its journey from scavenged and handmade instruments to respected sounds on concert stages and classrooms.
“The music of Trinidad and Tobago is very important to me because it makes me feel different than any other music can,” said junior Aaron Miller, a member of the university’s steel drum band.
The band is scheduled to perform its 47th annual concert on Saturday, April 25, at the E. J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall.
Steel drum origins in the Caribbean: ‘It makes me want to get up and dance around’
When African drumming in Trinidad and Tobago was banned in the late 19th century, Afro-Trinidadians transformed items around them into musical instruments.
Frying pans. Dustpan lids.
Tin cans. Bottles.
Even oil drums.
Generations later, musicians experimented by hammering and shaping discarded 55-gallon metal drums left behind by oil companies until a plethora of ping … ping … ping … pitches emerged, capable of melody, harmony and complex rhythm.
Steelpan.
Instead of silencing the people, the ban transformed the nation’s music as described by Dudack, the University of Akron’s steel drum band director, during the Feb. 14 concert.
“When I play or listen to it, I feel relaxed and I enjoy hearing it,” said Miller, who double-majors in music education and percussion performance. “It makes me want to get up and dance around, especially when I am playing.”
University of Akron hosts the nation’s third-oldest collegiate steel drum ensemble
The University of Akron’s Steel Drum Band was founded in 1980 by Larry Snider — one of just three collegiate programs at the time. A partnership with Trinidadian master tuner and composer Clifford Alexis ensured the authenticity of the band’s instruments and sound, forging a connection between Akron and the music’s Caribbean roots.
Dudack has served as the band’s artistic director since 1998. He describes the ensemble as “a place where performance excellence and cultural responsibility meet.”
The steel drum band often draws students to UA’s music curriculum, where Dudack reminds them that their goal is to be marketable as performers of all kinds of percussion, including classical, contemporary, chamber and solo music. After all, it takes a village to perform steel drum music, from tuners, builders, composers and arrangers to band leaders and supportive audiences.
The Akron band’s history is documented in “Hammer on Steel,” a 2011 documentary by PBS Western Reserve. The film chronicles the Trinidad-Akron connection and the 20-plus-member ensemble’s journey as it approaches a half century. Other milestones include:
- 1983: The ensemble recorded its first album, “Puttin the Shoes On!”
- 1987: The band traveled to Trinidad to study performance and style.
- 1997: The band performed at President Bill Clinton’s nationally televised town hall in Akron.
- 1999: “Live at E.J. Thomas Hall” marked the group’s first live recording.
“I could practice all day and not get tired,” said Dudack, who also directs the steel drum band at Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts and has served as a section percussionist with the Akron Symphony for more than two decades.
“Imagine the sound a barrel can make. Magical.”
This year’s concert on April 25 is scheduled to include Josh Quillen, a former member of the group. After his steel band days in Akron, Quillen went on to launch NYU’s steel band. He currently directs Princeton University’s steel band. In 2025, Quillen earned a Grammy Award for best Chamber Music and Small Ensemble as a member of Sō Percussion.
In Trinidad and Tobago, steel drum music is now a national symbol, celebrated as a part of annual Carnival celebrations, complete with colorful costumes and exuberant festivities. Stick fighting, limbo and steelpan competitions are important components.
Performing with UA’s steel drum band feels ‘like a little family playing music’
The sole female musician in the steel drum band, Sovacool admitted she was initially attracted to the University of Akron because of the friendly environment in the percussion studios and hallways. She describes that friendly environment as “feeling like a little family playing music.”
Sovacool is scheduled to graduate in May with a degree in Percussion Performance. She’s already been accepted to Cleveland State University’s Music Therapy program, where she aims to earn a master’s degree as a music therapist.
Her career goal is to use music to help people heal and improve their overall well-being.
That impact was clear at the end of the February concert in downtown Akron. Two young boys, after moving and grooving throughout the performance, were overheard telling their parents, “We want to play steel drums! Where do we sign up?”
