WATCH: What is this man playing?

• Kristian Power makes singing steel drums
• Easily accessible for anyone to learn
• Can be used for meditation

Steel drum playing started for Kristian Power while sitting behind the counter at a music store in Calgary.

He’d softly flick a handpan drum in between tasks.

Little did he know that would be a gateway to an entirely new musical endeavour in his life.

“Transitioning from [the handpan] to the tongue drum was quite easy because it’s the same motion,” he told Kelowna10. “I get to play them and get these different grooves going and I use a lot of exotic scales on different drums, so it conjures up different emotions, different feelings.”

At his shop in a storage facility, Power makes singing steel tongue drums out of recycled propane tanks. He also has a variety of instruments in his studio, from bass and guitar to digeridoos.

Power was introduced to steel drum making by a friend in Calgary, and he’s since made the process more efficient and better for the environment by using recycled propane tanks.

“I get to help mother nature, which I love dearly, by taking these old propane vessels and turning them into these beautiful drums. Turning trash into treasure,” he said.

The steel drums are an idiophone instrument, similar to bells and gongs. Sounds are created primarily by the vibration of the instrument when it’s struck with mallets, or with a technique using your fingers.

“What inspires me is the human race, I really do it for the people,” he said. “When I see people and their faces light up, they’re so excited, and they play it for the first time, and love the sound of it.”

Power said the instrument is accessible to everyone and he’s taught everyone from children under the age of one, to elders, how to play.

Power draws inspiration from his world travels, where he says he’s learned many life lessons, which opened his eyes to the mysteries of the planet.

He’s been playing instruments since he was seven years old and is currently the owner and operator of Artisan Instruments.

“I find most people, they access the drum at a level where they want it for relaxation, meditation, they’re not really into playing an actual song, per se,” he explained.

“It’s really a personal thing: sitting down, grabbing the mallets, playing on the drum. Very intuitive and relaxing and calm in that sense.”