Handpan

The handpan is a modern percussion instrument that emerged in Switzerland in the early 2000s. A member of the idiophone category (i.e. a percussion instrument whose sound is produced by the vibrations and resonances of the material of which it is made of), the hang drum is an instrument highly praised for its soothing tones and its ability to always produce harmonious notes.

A wide range of exceptional Handpans

Our shop offers a wide range of exceptional handpans. Tuned to different scales, we offer a range of hang drums with different notes and frequencies.

All the handpans in the shop are made by craftsmen who are experts in making idiophone instruments, and particularly handpans and hang drums.

Origin of the handpan

The handpan is an instrument that originated in Switzerland in the early 2000s with the creation of the Hang Drum by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer at their company PANArt, and quickly attracted the interest of music lovers and professionals around the world. Over time, other manufacturers appeared, giving other names to their creations, but it was the generic term “handpan” that became the most widely used to refer to this new family of instruments.

For more details, see our article on the history of the handpan.

How does a handpan work?

The handpan is a diatonic musical instrument, meaning that it does not include all the notes of the chromatic scale, which wouldn’t be the case for a more classical instrument such as the piano or guitar.

So depending on the design chosen, the handpan can produce different scales of notes and sound very different from one design to another.

It is therefore important to know what scale the handpan is tuned to in order to know what type of music and sound the handpan will be able to produce.

To find out more, read our full article on how a handpan works.

The making of a handpan

A handpan is made from two metal domes pressed one on top of the other. Its creation is the result of a long process requiring genuine craftsmanship to give the instrument all its acoustic properties.

Choosing the steel material

First of all, the craftsman who makes the hang drum will choose sheets of metal to make the shells that will form the handpan. There are 3 main types of steel used in the making of a hang drum:

• Raw steel

• Stainless steel

• Nitrided steel

Making the shells

Once the craftsman has chosen the material to make the handpan, he sets about forming the 2 shells that make up the instrument from a flat sheet of steel.

Different techniques are possible to create these shells:

• Manual hammering with a pneumatic hammer: this is the method that requires the most effort and work, since thousands of hits are needed to form a suitable metal sheet. This method is still very popular with producers, as it allows them to produce pieces that are absolutely unique and original for each creation, both in terms of sound and look.

• Spinning: With this method, the craftsman uses a machine to turn the steel on itself while exerting pressure on it in order to mould it and obtain the desired shell shape.

• Stamping: This method requires the use of a shell/dome-shaped mould and a hydraulic press to bulge the sheet of steel into a perfect shape. This method is very popular with handpan makers because it allows them to precisely control the thickness of the instrument.

• Hydroforming: As the name suggests, this method involves applying very high water pressure to the metal sheet to give it the desired shape. The main advantage of this method is that the equipment used is inexpensive and readily available.

Notes and tuning

Once the shells have been made, it’s time for the craftsman to tune the handpan and give it its notes. This stage is undoubtedly the most technical and difficult part of making a hang drum.

To tune the instrument and give it its notes, the craftsman will hammer the upper shell with extreme precision and meticulousness to create the central note (the ding) as well as the notes that surround the ding.

Finally, the craftsman will work on the lower shell to create a circular opening (called the “Gu”). It is the Gu that will allow the sounds resonating in the hang drum to escape and be perfectly audible.

In order to offer handpans with more notes and more acoustic possibilities, more and more manufacturers are adding extra notes to the lower shell.

Assembling and finishing the shells

Once the upper and lower shells have been made, they are joined together to create the instrument known as a handpan or hang drum.

Once the two shells are assembled together, the instrument will need to be retuned several times to stabilise the notes. A rest period is necessary between each tuning to ensure that the notes remain stable. Just as a rubber band always returns to its original shape after being stretched, metal also has a shape memory. This step is therefore essential to ensure that the notes on the instrument are perfectly stable over time.

How to play the handpan ?

The handpan is above all a percussion instrument that’s very easy to play. To play the handpan, all you have to do is tap in rhythm with your fingers and hands on the different note areas on the upper shell of your hang drum.

You can also use drumsticks or other mallets to tap the handpan.

The harmonious tones of the handpan make it almost impossible to play a wrong note, making the hang drum a very accessible and easy-to-play musical instrument.

To find out more, read our article on how to play the handpan.

How do you choose your handpan?

Choosing a handpan is not necessarily easy at first, especially when you are new to this family of instruments. Prices range from £700/800 for an entry-level handpan to several thousand pounds for a top-of-the-range design.

To help you decide, here is a list of different criteria to consider when choosing your handpan:

• The price of the instrument and your budget

• The number of notes played by the handpan

• The type of steel and material used to manufacture the handpan

• The scale of notes and the frequency (pitch) of the instrument

To find out more, we’ve put together a complete guide to choosing your handpan.