Singing bowl

Singing bowl and clapper with felt cover

A singing bowl is a bowl , usually made of bronze , that produces sounds when struck or rubbed. In western countries, singing bowls are a popular utensil for fans of esotericism and for meditation . In addition to being used in meditations, they are also used in so-called sound therapy . Use as a pure musical instrument is less common.

Types and origins

The cross-section of singing bowls can range from roughly hemispherical to gong-shaped, with a more or less flat bottom and more or less inwardly sloping edges. The diameter of a singing bowl varies between 10 and over 50 centimeters, the wall thickness between about 0.5 and 5 millimeters.

Singing bowls are originally traditional kitchen utensils from the Far East, primarily from Tibet , Nepal , China , Japan and India . According to Colin Goldner , there is no evidence for the opinion widespread in the western esoteric scene that the bowls played a role in traditional Buddhist rituals .

However, similar instruments are used in traditional Zen Buddhism. The keisu is a standing bell in the form of a large singing bowl that is struck as an accompaniment to recitations. Other names are Kin and Dobachi . The Inkin is a stem-bell, which in its shape and function corresponds to a singing bowl on a stem. It is used to indicate the beginning and the end of sections of zazen or to ring in recitations.

Style of play

Water singing bowl in the Darmstadt vortex garden Mathildenhöhe . The vibration of the bowl also causes the water to vibrate and finally splashes up.

"Instructions for use" for the water sound bowl on the Otto-Leege-Path on the East Frisian North Sea island of Juist (Lower Saxony, Germany)

There are different ways to play a singing bowl, depending on the design:

1. The singing bowl is rubbed with a wooden clapper on the edge or on the outside, in such a way that the vertically held clapper is guided around the bowl from the outside and always pressed towards the middle against the bowl. Similar to a wine glass that is rubbed with a wet finger, it creates a singing, piercing sound. Depending on the strength of the pressure exerted, the distance of the rubbing clapper to the edge, and the type of surface on which the bowl stands, different overtones can be heard. Audio sample ^{? / i}
2. Brass hangers attached to the shell are rubbed with wet fingers or the palm of the hand.
3. The singing bowl is struck with a clapper, preferably at the top just below the edge. The tones can be very dark or very light depending on the clapper used (unpadded or padded), the shape and size of the singing bowl. Singing bowls can be heard very far, similar to but not as wide as bells, and with a softer sound. Audio sample ^{? / i}

Manufacturing

Singing bowls between 10 and 20 cm in diameter

Singing bowls traditionally consist of an alloy of copper and tin ( bronze ) and can also contain a number of accompanying metals (e.g. iron , zinc , lead , arsenic and antimony as well as traces of silver , gold , selenium and tellurium ). In old singing bowls, refined metals were used less thoroughly, so that more accompanying metals occur here. Statements that singing bowls contain five, seven, nine or twelve metals are evidently not based on metallurgical analyzes, but on a myth.

During production, the metal mixture is melted and poured into molds in small quantities. The singing bowl is driven into shape from the flat, round metal raw part under heat and then polished. The price of a singing bowl depends on its weight and is typically between 50 and 800 €.

The artisanal production of the bowls was almost completely given up in the Himalayan region between 1900 and 1940 and only recently resumed due to demand from the west. For cost reasons, however, singing bowls are mostly made of a much cheaper brass alloy these days , or they are simply cast .

In the recent past, singing bowls made of quartz have also been offered. For production, the quartz is melted down and then the shell is formed from it using a centrifuge .

Use in the western esoteric scene

In the western esoteric scene, innumerable preventive and healing effects are ascribed to the sound of the bowls, for which there is no scientific evidence. For therapy, the singing bowls are placed on the body and struck with a clapper.

The widespread planetary shells each sound in a planetary tone derived from the orbit or rotation frequency of a planet in our solar system . The singing bowls from eight or nine planets are supplemented by bowls for the earth's vibrations, the moon's vibrations, the gravitational length of the sun and others. These bowls are assigned to signs of the zodiac or chakras . There is also no scientifically sound evidence for this.

Use in music

The French chanson singer Zaz uses singing bowls during her concerts.

Web links

Commons : Singing Bowls  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Singing bowl  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ^ Colin Goldner: The Psycho-Scene . Alibri Verlag, 2000, p. 505.
2. ↑ Standing bell (Keisu)
3. ↑ James Blades: Percussion Instruments and Their History , page 131, limited preview in the Google book search
4. ↑ Klankschaal (in de local taal keisu, kin, dobatsu, dobachi) Gemeentemuseum Den Haag
5. ↑ Description of Zen cult instruments ( Memento of 6 March 2011 at the Internet Archive ).
6. ^ Helen Josephine Baroni: The illustrated encyclopedia of Zen Buddhism . June 2002, ISBN 978-0-8239-2240-6 , pp. 231-232 ( books.google.at ).
7. ↑ Andreas Neugebauer: Singing bowls and planetary bowls. (PDF; 220 kB) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 10, 2012 ; Retrieved April 14, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.