Ellie Mannette

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Ellie Mannette
Steel pan
musician and musical instrument maker
Spouses
  • Jacqueline Patricia Mannette (married 1974)
  • Joyce Kingston (deceased)
Children10

Elliott Anthony "Ellie" Mannette

steel pan musician, also known as the "father of the modern steel drum".[2]

Life

Born in Sans Souci,

Port-of-Spain were in competition with each other. Legend says that Mannette was the first person to use a discarded oil barrel to build a steel pan: "He sank the lid to create a tensed playing surface and fired the metal to improve the acoustic properties."[2] From about 1939 to 1941, he performed with his own band, the Oval Boys (the name taken from the oval sports pavilion opposite the band's rehearsal space).[4]

In 1951,

TASPO (Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra) traveled to Great Britain to present the new musical instrument at the Festival of Britain. Mannette was a member and tuner for this orchestra, which consisted of leader figures of different Trinidadian steel bands.[2]

In 1948, Mannette was formally offered a scholarship to study music in London which he turned down in order to be able to build more steel pans.[5]

After having visited the United States in the beginning of the 1960s to build up the US Navy Steel Band,

A440Hz and the use of strobe tuners.[7]

Since 1967, Mannette had been building up several hundred steel bands all over the United States mainly in colleges and universities, but also for private institutions. In 1991, he was invited by West Virginia University to show interested students how to build and play steel pans. What was meant to be a guest-semester eventually turned into a longtime relationship called the University Tuning Project and later on the company Mannette Steel Drums.[8]

“I always knew in my heart one day
that my work would find its way,
I could not tell you how,
there was no one there for me to show the way
but I figured it out.
I figured it all through for all of you to see today.”
~Ellie Manette

Mannette died on 29 August 2018, in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States, of kidney failure.[1][9] He is survived by his second wife, Jacqueline Edwards, six children, four stepchildren, and many grand- and great-grandchildren.[1]

Merits

Mannette was credited with several innovations which have proven to be essential for the evolution of steel pan. He was the first to use a 55-gallon oil barrel instead of biscuit tins or soap boxes.

whole tone scale
on two resonance bodies has become a widely common standard.

Mannette developed his own unique skills and style over many years. Within the University Tuning Project at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, US, he passed on his knowledge of pan building and tuning to many students, thereby ensuring that his experience is passed on to future generations of pan makers.[2] His creations can be admired in many museums and galleries including the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Contemporary Art Gallery in New York.

Awards

In 1969, Mannette was awarded the

Honorary Doctorate from the University of the West Indies and returned home to Trinidad, after a 33-year absence, to accept it. The same year he also received the Chaconia Medal Silver from his home country, for outstanding cultural achievement.[9]

In 2003, Mannette was admitted to the Hall of Fame of the Percussive Arts Society of the United States, when he was quoted as saying: "Looking back more than half a century during my humble beginnings in this unique art form, no one during that period could have envisioned the rapid growth of this instrument. Through the years as I developed my skills, my entire mindset was sharing my knowledge with others for the betterment of this instrument."[4]

See also

References

Notes

a. ^ Spelled in some sources as "Elliot" instead of "Elliott"

Citations

  1. ^ a b c Zraick, Karen (31 August 2018). "Ellie Mannette, Father of the Modern Steel Drum, Dies at 90". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d "Elliott "Ellie" Mannette: Steel Pan Builder/Tuner/Player". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. n.d. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  3. OCLC 85692750
    .
  4. ^ a b c d Rogers, Lisa (n.d.). "Hall of Fame: Elliott 'Ellie' Mannette". Percussive Arts Society. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  5. YouTube
  6. ^ "Unitpages Landing Page". Military.com. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  7. ^ "Concert pitch". Rhythmicalsteel.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  8. ^ "WVU concert to honor steel drum pioneer Ellie Mannette", WVU Today, West Virginia University, 1 April 2008.
  9. ^ a b Rampersad, Joan (29 August 2018). "Ellie Mannette dies at 91". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  10. ^ Norman Darway, "We cannot forget Ellie Mannette", TrinbagoPan, 23 February 2005.
  11. ^ "NEA National Heritage Fellowships 1999". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved 30 December 2020.

Further reading

External links
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