History of the Urban Steel Band:

Urban Steel is the 12 member steel band at John Marshall High School in Rochester, New York. We were born in 1999, when members from Hell's Gate Steel Orchestra came from Antigua, West Indies to help us build our own pans.

Our original band included: 2 single tenors, double tenor, 2 double seconds, triple guitars, quads, tenor bass and six bass plus percussion. We have recently expanded to become a steel orchestra with the addition of 17 new pans making a grand total of 26 pans. We have a varied repertoire of everything from Handel's Allegro Maestoso from Water Music to original Antiguan calypso. We are a diverse group with African American, Puerto Rican and Caucasian members. We all love pan and want to link up with other schools that have steel bands. Please check out our website and get in touch with us if you play pan or love pan music.



In October 1999, 55 singers, dancers and musicians came from our southern Antigua & Barbuda partnership, performing in the Greater Rochester, NY area.

A part of the project was the making of musical instruments, the steel pans, at John Marshall High School. Once referred to as the Steel Drum Project, it is now more properly called the Pan Project. Since that week in 1999, after which the pans were given a permanent home at John Marshall (an institutional member of our Greater Rochester, NY chapter), students interested in pan and our southern partners formed Urban Steel. At first a pan band of 9 instruments, the group has grown to an orchestra of 26 instruments through continued grant and individually funded projects.

In April 2001, members of Urban Steel and Rochester Partners traveled to Antigua, part of our 20th anniversary celebration. At that time John Marshall HS was twinned with St. Joseph's Academy. Students from both schools played at a joint concert at Heritage Quay and made plans for a reciprocal musical exchange.

In April 2002, members of the St. Joseph's Academy Rhythm Masters traveled to Rochester for a combined concert and exchange.

Project manager and Urban Steel business manager Mollie Traub, obtained grants for food from Wegmans and transportation through POA. The students of Urban Steel have, through performing concerts, raised more than $2000 to pay for housing at Bishop Kearney and the rental of Hochstein for the concert.