Welcome to our tutorials on how to teach yourself to play steelpans, glockenspiels, xylophones, chime bars, and some simple djembe rhythms. If you don't have any of the above at home, you could try playing along with an app of your choice [and yes, there is a steelpan apps]. The songs featured are initially all from the Foxwood Songbooks [see the SHOP page on this website for how buy these if you haven't got them at school]
Tutorials:
1.Getting Started
One chord songs
1. How to play Rain Rain
Two chord Songs
1.How to Play Merrily
2. How to Play Largo in F
3.How to Play London Bridge
4.How to Play Basic Twelve Bar Blues
5.How to Play Old Man
6. Major and Minor Chords Part 1
Songs with minor chords
1.Sledging
2.Drunken Sailor
3.Volga Boatmen
Songs with flats in them
1.Polly Put the Kettle On
Rain Rain is a one chord that uses only two notes in the melody. Here James demonstrates how to play melody and chord on steelpan, glockenspiel and ukele, and a rhythm on a steelpan case. Rain Rain is in Foxwood Songbook Easy Peasy. See Shop for where and how to buy it.
The Song of the Volga Boatmen has 8 bars and 2 chords, both minor chords, and 4 beats to the bar. For each bar/box you can play Boat-man-Song rest [1 2 3 *]. Don't forget, if there are two chords in one bar/box you play twice on A minor [orange], then once on D minor [blue], then you rest [stay silent for one beat]. There's a picture [painted in 1870 by Ilya Repin] of the Volga Boatmen pulling a barge along the River Volga. It does not look like a barrel of laughs, and I doubt that they were well paid for this back-breaking work. Song of the Volga Boatmen is in Foxwood Songbook 2. See SHOP on the website for how to buy the book.
Polly Put the Kettle On is an eight bar song in the key of F, and there is a Bflat [a black note on the piano and glock] not just as a chord, but also in the melody. Here Natalie shows you how to play it on steelpan, glockenspiel and djembe. Polly is in F0xwood Songbook Kids Collection 2
