The steelpan is recognised globally as a valuable musical asset born of ingenuity, resistance, and the rhythm of T&T.
Its economic value, manifest in numerous areas including design innovation, performances, skills base, and musical arrangements, is considered by many to contain intellectual property and other assets that remain vastly untapped.
Today, according to researcher and cultural theorist Dr Savitri Rampersad, there is yet another lucrative dynamic linked less to the music produced by the instrument and, instead, to its unique sound.
She contends that a critical turning point related to this subject came when steelpan innovator and icon Winston “Spree” Simon tuned 14 notes from B flat major and F major on a tenor pan back in the 1940s.
In fact, she used the two scales captured by the instrument as the basis for her 2021 testing of the psychological impact of the sound of the pan. Her study on this angle is captured in what she labels “Steelpan Sound Therapy”— a process that holds benefits for “cognition, memory, and emotional relief.”
Dr Rampersad proposes that the unique vibrational properties of the steelpan could allow T&T to enter the global wellness industry, currently valued at more than US$6 trillion.
If realised, she contends, it would move the national instrument far beyond Carnival stages and concert halls, into clinics, universities and therapeutic spaces worldwide. In an interview with T&T Guardian she suggested that her research deliberately departs from conventional music studies and the practice of “music therapy.”
“I did not look at music,” Dr Rampersad explains. “I studied sound.” The difference, she says, is critical. Music, she argues, carries emotional memory and expectation - what she describes as a “cognitive hook.” Sound, she says, particularly unscripted or non-melodic sound, operates differently. “It can stimulate neuroplasticity, allowing the brain to reorganise and respond in new ways.”
This is explained in fuller detail in her recently published Steelpan Vibrations, Unlocking the Human Mind.
The distinction she makes between “music” and “sound” underpins a focus on the steelpan as a vibrational instrument, rather than a musical one.
The researcher suggests that unlike wooden or air-based instruments, the steelpan is entirely metallic. When struck, she says, vibrations travel across the note surface, activate neighbouring notes, move up the skirt and radiate from both front and back of the instrument.
“The pan has the greatest vibrational potential of any man-made instrument ever,” she contends.
Despite this, Dr Rampersad—the holder of a PhD in Cultural Studies—found almost no scientific research examining the steelpan’s sound in isolation. “Thousands of studies exist on drums and wellness, but virtually none on pan,” she says.
Some of her research, conducted during the COVID period, sought to begin filling that gap.
The project involved adult participants “ranging from avid pan supporters to individuals who actively disliked the instrument” were exposed to structured steelpan sound environments that avoided melody or recognisable musical patterns. Participants recorded written reflections before and after sessions, noting physical sensations, mental focus, and emotional states.
Over time, Dr Rampersad explains, patterns emerged. Participants reported “changes in breathing, heart rate and physical discomfort, as well as heightened awareness and anticipation.”
“By the second session, people were writing things like, ‘I wonder what will come up in my mind,’” she recalls. In effect, she says, the brain began conditioning itself to the experience.
The cultural theorist is convinced that acknowledgement of the economic potential of her findings can open the way for entry into the global wellness market encompassing mental health, stress reduction, preventive care and alternative therapies.
Such a market is estimated at US$6.3 trillion annually with “at least US$400 billion within that space” where steelpan-based sound applications could fit. Rampersad advocates strongly for creation of a steelpan research institute and is interested in leading the effort.
She says this can address what she describes as “structural” weaknesses including limited research infrastructure, weak intellectual property protections, and a tendency to focus on performers and festivals rather than on the instrument itself. The researcher also proposes a university-level steelpan sound therapy programme, akin to music therapy degrees offered internationally, but grounded in pan’s unique vibrational qualities.
“People pay attention to the people around the pan,” she notes, “and not the pan.”
Her interest in this unique feature of pan was first ignited during a visit to India for the 60th birthday of Hindu guru Sri Ganapathi Sachchidananda in 2002 and the performance of the Nada Sangama Steel Orchestra one night during the week-long celebrations.
There has since been no turning back. The value of pan, beyond mere appreciation of its music and cultural features, has become her primary professional focus.
“We’ve had decades celebrating the pan,” she says. “Now it’s time to understand it.” She believes there are abundant financial rewards to be harvested.
