Steel Pans

We offer the full range of steel pan musical instruments, from affordable, flexible starter sets for schools and community to professional chromed instruments for the discerning steel pan musician.

Steel pan starter sets come complete with stands, cases and sticks as part of our affordable packages. Your musical instruments can be finished in a colour of your choice or chromed for a high shine professional look.  Our brand new steel pan starter sets are delivered fully tuned and ready to play.

Chrome Lead Tenor Steel Pan
Chrome Lead Tenor Steel Pan

We also supply made to measure racks to maximise on storage along with guidance on how to set up a steel band for your school or community. Click here and find out How to set up a Steel Band

Our steel pan instruments are of the highest quality sourced from experienced UK based steel pan makers from Trinidad, the birth place of the steel pan. Read about the History of Steel Pan here.

Our steel pan stands are unique to CultureMix Arts and only available as part of our steel pan starter sets. Long lasting, safe and sturdy, our steel pan stands are powder coated in black, silver grey or in a colour of your choice.

About Steel Pans

A steel pan is a definite-pitch, acoustic, percussion instrument originating from Trinidad in the Caribbean.

CultureMix-Steel-Pan-Six-Bass-Set-in-dark-red

The steel pan family, like all other families of musical instruments including the voice, covers a wide range of notes. Each instrument has a different role similarly to the instruments in a classical orchestra or jazz band.

It consists of a circular playing surface made from steel stretched into a concave shape that is attached to a hollow, cylindrical resonator called a skirt. The steel pan is typically recycled from a 55 gallon oil drum.

This surface is optimised into a number of isolated convex sections called notes. The instrument is usually played with hand-held, rubber-tipped sticks.

The steel pan is unique instrument classified as either a membranophone – striking a stretched surface like a membrane, or an idiophone – solid surfaces striking against each other.

It is the only hybrid percussion instrument in existence today.

Our knowledgeable experts will guide you through the process of purchasing your new instruments, from choosing the right options for your needs, to delivering and setting up your treasured acquisition.

Tenor (‘lead’) Pan – highest range, single barrel; traditionally plays the melody in steel band arrangements. Also referred to as a ‘Soprano’ pan.

Double Tenor Pan – next highest range, comprised of two barrels. May play the melody, or a harmonized version of the melody, or may ‘strum’ chords beneath the melody.

Double Seconds Pan – slightly lower than the Double Tenors, also comprised of two barrels. Often strums chords, but may play melody, harmony or other parts of an arrangement. This is the instrument favoured by many solo (unaccompanied) pan artists such as Robert Greenidge and Len ‘Boogsie’ Sharpe.

Guitar pan – made up of two pans with less notes than the double seconds. Used mainly to strum chords or play the harmony horn section.

Cello pans also known as triple guitars are steel pan drums and part of the steel band.  Image Mary Genis CultureMix Arts
Cello pans / treble guitars is one of the musical instruments in the steel band.

Cello pan – usually three (also known as Treble Guitars) or four barrels (also known as Tenor Bass), set in a semicircle, comprise this instrument. These fill a variety of roles in a steel band, ranging from bass lines, to strums, to the melody.

Quadrophonics – a sister instrument to the ‘cello pan; however, rather than having the drums arranged side-by-side in a semicircle, two of the drums are set flat in front of the player, while the two remaining barrels are set vertically.

CultureMix steel pan sticks for bass - gold carbon fibre with black grip
Carbon Fibre Bass Pan Sticks

Bass pan – as the name would indicate, the lowest-ranged instrument in the steel band. Due to the size of the notes used on this instrument, there may be as few as three different pitches on each barrel, requiring the use of six, eight, or even more barrels to complete a single instrument.

The traditional role of this instrument is bass lines, but arrangers such as Cliff Alexis, Ray Holman, Robert Greenidge, and Len ‘Boogsie’ Sharpe (among others) will often assign the melody or countermelodies in the bass instruments, at some point in their arrangements.

The Engine Room
Steel bands are tradionally embellished with a rhythm section (known as an ‘engine room’), including drum kit, congas, iron (brake drum), cowbell, maracas, tambourine, woodblock and any other percussion instrument which suits the arranger’s purpose.

School Starter Sets

CultureMix steel pan drum set includes stands, cases, sticks and delivery
A 10 piece painted steel pan set with H-stands, poly cases and beechwood sticks in a colour of your choice.


School Starter Sets summary

  • Tailor made to suit your requirements and note layout
  • Finished in a choice of durable powder coating, high shine chrome, or painted any colour
  • Our popular 10 piece sets cover the full range of orchestral pitch
  • Delivered ready to play all styles of music in any key
  • Cases, stands and sticks included
  • A handy guide on how to keep your newly acquired musical instruments in tip top condition
  • Mobile racking made to measure to fit your space and store pans safely when not in use
  • Steel pan music arrangements and school music staff support
  • Annual tuning services
  • Shop. Enquire.