Calypso Drum Ensemble

$ 5.00

The islands of the Caribbean share an infectious style of music called calypso. Featuring a unique, metal percussion instrument called steelpan, calypso has a festive sound that makes you feel like you’re relaxing on a tropical beach next to a turquoise sea!

Calypso originally came from the island nation of Trinidad & Tobago, though it can be found in places as widespread as Barbados, the Bahamas, and Jamaica. This unique style of island music developed from the rich melting pot of cultures that inhabited Trinidad in the early part of the 1800s. French, English, Asian, and most of all, African people contributed to the creation of the calypso sound.

The foundation of the calypso band is an ensemble of steelpan instruments in different sizes like bass and tenor. Many bands add additional percussion instruments like congas, drum kit, and tamboo-bamboo, thick stalks of bamboo that are pounded on the ground and tapped with wooden sticks to make rhythms.

This Calypso Drum Ensemble arrangement includes 4 Learning Levels - a Signature Rhythm (Level 1), a Drum Break (Level 2), an Accompaniment Rhythm (Level 3), and the Full Arrangement (Level 4) - with streaming video and PDF sheet music for each level. Music is demonstrated with djembe (hand drum) and djun-djun (stick drum), using the Dancing Drum instructional method.

Once students have mastered the Calypso Drum Ensemble, you can add the Calypso Xylophone Ensemble.

This music is also featured in Dancing Drum's book, "The Rhythm Is Here!"

Your purchase includes a 1-year subscription to "Calypso Drum Ensemble", with streaming video, PDF sheet music, and background content.

Traditional, arranged by Dancing Drum.

Collections: Ensemble Music, Publications, Web-Based Resources