A steel tongue drum looks like a small steel disc with a pattern of cut shapes on top, and it makes bell-like notes when you tap it. People often ask how a steel tongue drum differs from a handpan. They are not the same instrument. Here is how a tongue drum makes its sound, how it is tuned, and how it differs from the handpan and the Hang.
The short version
- A steel tongue drum is a round steel drum with tongues cut into it. Each tongue sounds its own note.
- Its pitch is set by the maker: the length of the cuts, added weights, or filing the metal. Many are tuned to pentatonic scales, but the maker can choose any notes.
- A handpan is a different instrument: two metal half-shells glued together, with tuned note areas on the top. Tongue drums are played with fingers or mallets.
The short answer
A tongue drum is a hollow steel body with slits that form separate tongues. Tap a tongue and it rings at its own pitch. A handpan gets its notes from tuned note areas on a two-shell body, not from cut tongues. The two are related, because the tongue drum's inventor was inspired by the Hang's tone layout, but they are built differently.
What a steel tongue drum is
Wikipedia describes the steel tongue drum as a round steel slit drum, "originally fashioned from a propane cylinder". It belongs to the idiophone family, which means the instrument itself vibrates to make the sound. The article on slit drums puts it this way: it is "a hollow percussion instrument" in which "the entire instrument vibrates."
The instrument is played "with the fingers or with mallets," and the article says it has "a pleasant, bell-like tone."
How the tongues make notes
On a tongue drum, "seven to ten tongues are then cut radially into the bottom of the tank." When you strike one, the sound "resonates through the steel and vibrating air escaped from the slits," in the article's words.
The general rule for slit drums is simple: "Tongues of different areas or thicknesses will produce different pitches." A bigger or thicker tongue gives a different note from a smaller or thinner one. So tongues of different sizes can give a set of different notes in one body.
How a tongue drum is tuned
The maker sets the notes. According to Wikipedia, the tongues "can be tuned by the maker by varying the length of the cuts," and by "adding weights, often neodymium magnets, to the tongues." A drum can also be tuned after it is built by "filing away some of the metal, or by adding material through soldering or welding."
The same article says the drums are "often tuned to pentatonic scales" but "can also be tuned to the diatonic scale, the chromatic scale, or any set of notes the maker chooses." A pentatonic scale is, in Wikipedia's definition, "a musical scale with five notes per octave." It is also a very old idea: such scales "were developed independently by many ancient civilizations."
Where the tongue drum comes from
The tongue drum is a young instrument. Wikipedia lists earlier ancestors, "the Whale Drum in 1990 by Jim Doble and the Tambiro by Felle Vega," and credits Dennis Havlena with the drum in February 2007. He was "inspired by the physical properties of the Tambiro" and "the tone layout of the Hang." The name "Hank Drum" "came from a combination of 'Hang' and 'tank'."
The cousins: the Hang and the handpan
The Hang is a Swiss instrument. Wikipedia says it "was developed in 2000 by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer in Bern, Switzerland," and "introduced at the Frankfurt Trade Fair in 2001." It "is constructed from two half-shells of deep-drawn, nitrided steel sheet glued together at the rim." It is "typically played resting on the player's lap, using hands and fingers instead of mallets."
"Handpan" is the general name for instruments like it. The Wikipedia handpan article calls it "a generic term for a group of musical instruments that are classified as a subset of the steelpan." Its basic form "consists of two metal half-shells glued together."
What happens when you strike one? A Physics Today article by Andrew Morrison and Thomas Rossing explains that "each note area of the hang vibrates in a rich complement of modes." The three lowest are all strongly excited, and "the frequencies of those modes are in the ratio of 1:2:3."
- Fundamental1
- Second harmonic2
- Third harmonic3
Source: Morrison and Rossing, "The extraordinary sound of the hang," Physics Today, 2009. This describes the Hang; we are not claiming it for a tongue drum.
Side by side
| Steel tongue drum | Hang and handpan | |
|---|---|---|
| Body | Steel, "originally fashioned from a propane cylinder" | Two metal half-shells glued together |
| Where the notes are | Tongues cut into the steel; "seven to ten tongues" in Wikipedia's description | A circle of note areas on the top: "at least seven tone fields" around a centre (handpan); seven or eight notes on top (Hang) |
| Played with | Fingers or mallets | Hands and fingers; the Hang is played "instead of mallets" |
| Tuning | By the maker: often pentatonic, but any set of notes | Individually tuned note areas |
| Origin | Credited to Dennis Havlena, February 2007 | Hang developed in 2000 by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer |
One caution on numbers: sources count the Hang's notes differently. Wikipedia says seven or eight notes on top; Physics Today says "most hang drums have eight or nine notes arranged in a circle around the top." The count depends on the model.
What we would pick
If you want to try a tongue drum, a small one is a simple way in: no batteries and no cables, and you can play it with a fingertip or a mallet.
Our Steel Tongue Drum is 6 inches (15 cm) across with 11 numbered steel tongues, in six colours, with mallets and instructions in the set. Depending on the set, finger picks, note stickers or a carry bag may also be included. The notes are numbered rather than named, and the page does not state the key or scale, so we do not claim one here. Small extras are a choking hazard for young children: keep them away from under-3s and play together.
Sources
- Steel tongue drum, Wikipedia: construction, tongues, tuning, scales, origin of the name and Dennis Havlena.
- Slit drum, Wikipedia: slit drums are idiophones; tongues of different areas or thicknesses give different pitches.
- Pentatonic scale, Wikipedia: five notes per octave; developed independently by many ancient civilizations.
- Hang (instrument), Wikipedia: inventors, year, construction, how it is played.
- Handpan, Wikipedia: handpan as a generic term; two half-shells; at least seven tone fields.
- The extraordinary sound of the hang, Physics Today (AIP), Morrison and Rossing, 2009: modes of a struck note area and their 1:2:3 ratio; eight or nine notes.
