Steel tongue drums have become very popular in recent years. And rightly so.Even as a beginner without any prior musical knowledge, you can quickly and easily play great rhythms and melodies on them.The intuitive way of playing makes it easy for amateurs and professionals alike to create beautiful music on tongue drums.
The history of steel tongue drums
Tongue Drums, more specifically Steel Tongue Drums, have been a popular percussion instrument for many years. The percussion instrument was also called a tank drum at the time. Read this article to find out more about tongue drum in finland. Variations of today's steel tongue drum were introduced to the public at almost the same time by Dennis Havlena and the famous Spanish percussionist Felle Vega.Felle Vega presented his prototype under the name Tambiro at that time. Dennis Havlena's similar construction of a steel drum became known on YouTube. He had cut his instrument from a propane gas tank without further ado.
Differences in sound and shape
Tongue drums sound much longer. The decaying behaviour is also called sustain. Thus, a steel tongue drum has more sustain than a handpan.The longer sustain of a tongue drum is especially useful when played slowly. The longer sustain of a tongue drum is especially useful when played slowly. With a faster, more percussive style of playing, the sounds get too mixed up. Tongue drums come in many different sizes and shapes. Some are almost spherical with a small diameter of 20cm and a height of 15cm. Others are more lenticular with a diameter of 50cm and a height of 17cm. The smaller models, weighing 1.5-2kg, are also much lighter than the larger models, which weigh up to 5kg. At around 3-4.5 kg, handpans weigh slightly less than tongue drums of the same size.