Michelle Schusterman – Steel Drum Performer

With a wide variety of backing tracks, my solo act can be tailored to fit the musical needs of the customer. My repetoire includes soca/calypso, rock, funk, pop, reggae, latin, jazz, and more.

Michelle has been playing the tenor pan for thirteen years and has a degree in music from the University of North Texas. She was a member of the 2000 Desperadoes Steel Band in Trinidad, grand champions of that year's Panorama competition.

Michelle began playing the steel drum in high school at the age of sixteen and fell in love with the instrument. In February of 2000, she traveled to Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, the island nation that invented pan. After five weeks of daily rehearsals, she performed with the World Champion Desperados Steel Band for the 2000 Annual Panorama Competition, where the Desperados took first place for the tenth time in the contest’s history.

In addition to being a member of the University of North Texas Steel Band for over four years, Michelle was also a founding member of the Dallas/Fort Worth professional band One Credit Hour, which played numerous festivals, weddings, and parties, and recorded two CDs in its six year existence. After graduating from UNT with a bachelor’s degree in music education, Michelle was a band director in the DFW area before moving overseas. Michelle was a member of three groups in Seoul, South Korea: Pet Rock, a reggae/funk/rock band, Just, an original pop band, and the Nic Travis Quartet, a straight-ahead jazz group.