The Steel Pan Class

In January, when the days are short and gray, I signed up for a steel pan class at the community center. I wanted something that sounded like sunshine.

The teacher is from Trinidad and has been playing since he was six. The pans are made from oil drums, hammered into shallow bowls with notes marked in chalk around the rim. You play them with rubber-tipped sticks. The sound is bright and round, like light bouncing off water.

There were twelve of us. Most had never played an instrument. By week three, we could play a simple calypso together. By week eight, we played a version of "Under the Sea" that made the receptionist come dance in the doorway.

Outside, it was nine degrees and snowing. Inside, it was summer.