Steel tongue drum

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Example of a commercial steel tongue drum

Example of a commercial steel tongue drum

A steel tongue drum - also known as a steel slit drum , tank drum , handpan or hank drum - is a steel-tongue percussion instrument and belongs to the idiophone family .

description

A steel tongue drum consists of a hollow, round sound body made of steel, which usually has seven to ten steel tongues on the top, which are tonally tuned and played with the hands or padded mallets . The steel tongues are cut out of the sound body during the manufacturing process in such a way that a connection remains on only one side. Steel tongue drums usually have an opening on the bottom, less often on the top.

Sound sample ^{? / i}

history

Dennis Havlena was inspired in the spring of 2007 by the penchant for an instrument that can be easily made by yourself. He adopted the circular arrangement of clay fields played with his hands from the slope. The basis for his instrument was an empty 20 lb propane gas tank, which is available in many households in the USA . In contrast to the Hang, Havlena chose tongues of various sizes to generate the sound, which are sawn out of the tank. He had adopted this idea from the Tambiro von Felle Vega, a steel tongue instrument based on a helium tank with six tongues cut into the sides. Havlena had already built her own version of the Tambiro and published instructions on his website. Havlena called his instrument Propane Tank Drum or Hank Drum (as a combination of "Hang" and "Tank") and in summer 2007 published instructions for this instrument as well. It found a worldwide response from people who tried to build Havlena's instrument themselves and who presented their results to the public on YouTube.

In the meantime, a number of manufacturers around the world have launched commercial versions of the Steel Tongue Drum, which are characterized by the fact that no propane gas tank is reworked, but a not so high sound body is specially made, which is played on the thighs while sitting can.

Individual evidence

Commons : Steel tongue drums  - collection of images, videos and audio files

1. ↑ YouTube video with Felle Vega and his Tambiro , accessed on July 12, 2011
2. ^ Dennis Havlena: Make a "Tambiro" , accessed July 12, 2011
3. ↑ Building instructions for a propane tank hank drum by Dennis Havlena , accessed on July 12, 2011
4. ^ Hank Drum Videos on YouTube , accessed July 12, 2011