Players on the Hang Drum and Jew's Harp
The Hang Drum is still quite a young instrument. This Drum is not your typical bongo,
nor is it a regular steel drum. With a pan like top and
bottom, the Hang Drum resembles a flying saucer. Yet, however
strange the Hang drum seems, once the drum is played one wishes
to embrace it's strange essence.
The Facts on the Hang Drum:
A hang (pronounced 'hung' or 'hong') is a melodious
percussive musical instrument, similar to a steel drum. It uses
many of the same physical principles to operate. However, since
it is struck with the fingers, the sound is generally much
softer than a steel drum, and can be played in many ways to
produce a large variety of sounds.
The instrument is also frequently called a hang drum, because of
the nature in which it is played, its relation to the steel
drum, and its popularity with hand drummers.
The hang is typically played resting on the players' lap, and
can also be played on a stand. It was the result of many years
of research on the steel pan and the study of the diverse
collection of instruments from around the world, such as gongs,
gamelan, ghatam, drums, bells, etc. Udu-like sounds can be
produced with the air resonance within the clamped shallow
shells, with the notes sounding like bells or harmonically tuned
steel pans.
The inner note on the bottom dome is the bass note, and when
played in a dampened way allows change in pitch like a talking
drum. Seven (in the bass version) or eight (treble version of
the Hang) notes are tuned harmonically around a central deep
note. The hemispheres are hardened by a process known as gas-nitriding.
The hang was developed in 2000 in Bern, Switzerland by Felix
Rohner and Sabina Schärer (PANArt Hangbau AG) and introduced at
Musikmesse Frankfurt in 2001. Its name comes from the Berne
dialect word for hand.
In the spring of 2006 the hangmakers presented a new generation
of Hanghang (plural form of Hang). The new instruments have a
upper surface of annealed brass and a ring of brass around the
circumference.
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