Work and fun don’t go hand in hand for most people.

But freelance percussionist Stanley Dahl has found a way to combine the two.

Juggling his busy “work” schedule, the 28-year-old performer manages to find time to be an educator, director and performer.

With his crazy schedule, which recently got even crazier with the release of his debut CD, Dahl is grateful for his daily planner.

“I wouldn’t go anywhere without it,” he laughed.

As a performer, Dahl markets himself heavily throughout Des Moines and Ames, where he is able to find a large array of performance venues.

“About four to six nights a week I’m playing gigs for corporate festivals, private parties, night clubs, restaurants, and I have several weddings,” he said. “I’m always trying to continue to promote myself and my different school residencies.”

Dahl, who holds a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State in music education, is currently a member of Metro Arts, Iowa Arts Council and Missouri Arts Council.

He also instructs percussion at the Ankeny Academy of Music, directs the fourth and fifth grade steel drum ensembles at Edmunds Fine Arts Academy in Des Moines and instructs the West Des Moines Valley High School drumline.

In between his teaching activities, he finds time to direct Tropical Steel, a professional steel drum ensemble.

“All these little part-time things are pretty much like a full time job,” Dahl mused.

One of the reasons Dahl teaches is so he can help get others interested in the music.

“It’s always been a passion of mine,” he said. “I love teaching children young and old. It’s just a direction I wanted to do.”

Dahl first got involved in music when he played snare drum in fourth grade. His interest in percussion continued from there, and by the time he was in college, he was making his own drums.

The first time Dahl made a drum was as an undergraduate, when he attended a steel drum workshop.

“On each drum there are three notes. So there’s like three big bubbles on it,” he explained. “That took me two weeks, and that was a lot of work.”

He went on to purchase several pans from a friend in California who makes his own drums and ships others in from Trinidad.

The drum he uses for his solo performances is a lead tenor pan, which consists of 29 notes, or “bubbles,” that are arranged in a circular pattern around the drum pan.

The bubble sizes are comparative to the notes they represent. Lower notes have larger bubbles, and the bubbles decrease in size as the octaves go higher.

Dahl said tuning his drums is a difficult skill to master and requires hard work.

He chose most of the songs for his new album, “Steel Drum Sounds of the Caribbean,” because they are some of his favorites. He also wanted to appeal to older and younger audiences with tunes such as “Under the Sea,” “Cy’s Soca (Iowa State Fights)” and “Margaritaville.”

“I wanted to showcase the steel drum’s versatility, not being just a traditional Calypso or Caribbean instrument,” he said. “There’s a lot more that the steel drum can do.”

More is exactly what drives Dahl’s drumming.

He plays the Eagles’ rock song “Desperado” one minute and then reels into “Winnie-the-Pooh” the next. He loves to surprise people with the different styles he can play.

Dahl showcases his drumming on the song “Cantina Band” from the movie “Star Wars.” Dahl loves “Star Wars” and is eagerly awaiting the upcoming release of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.”

“I’ve actually met a couple of people that are not [fans], and it’s like, I can’t talk to those people,” Dahl joked.

Dahl included the Iowa State fight song on his CD in memory of the late Joseph Christensen, a band instructor at Iowa State who made a difference in his life both musically and personally.

“Steel Drum Sounds of the Caribbean” is available at the Campus and University Bookstore, the Iowa State Music Building, Rieman’s Music, Peeple’s Music and Musicland.

Dahl likes to base the music he plays live on the audience he’s playing for. He also likes to bring extra percussion instruments so audience members can play along and feel a part of the music.

He is even known to bring a limbo pole to his gigs every now and then, depending on the audience.

Dahl will give a free steel drum solo performance Sunday at Musicland in North Grand Mall from 1 to 3 p. m.