Playing Rolls On Steel Drums

Playing Rolls On Steel Drums
Hi. I'm Alan Lightner. I'm here with Expert Village and we're talking about the art of playing steel pans. I'm going to talk now, a little bit more in detail, about rolls. We talked about technique and doing single strokes, and double strokes and so on, but I'm going to talk specifically about the fast tempo, single strokes or double strokes that become rolls. You want to be able to start your roll with either hand. I started, I started with my right hand that time. I'm going to start with my left hand. The reason for that is if I'm playing a melody, let's say I'm going back and forth between those two notes, and I want the roll to start on this note when I get back to it, my left hand is actually there. I would like to be able to start my roll with that left hand. I'd like to be able to finish with either hand also. Rolls are very important. It's a very important technique in any drumming, but in steel drumming also. You have some choices. You can let the note ring like that, or if you need it to ring longer, you can hold it as long as you like to with a roll. Practicing your rolls around the drum becomes more physical. You end up doing some of the things that I was talking about earlier where your whole body has to move and then going from drum to drum is even more difficult. It's very fun because it's physical, but it is more difficult. That was going from drum to drum. And you noticed, I didn't play each roll with the same intensity. That's getting into musical choices there. I wanted to hear some swelling. I didn't want to hear it all even. To my ears it becomes boring. It's less musical. So I changed the intensity. That's one thing that you like to practice. Can I play a roll softly? Can I play a roll louder? Still being aware of the touch on your particular instrument. Obviously, getting the sweetest sound out of every note. That's a little bit about rolls.