Handpan

Last updated
Davey Jobbles displaying the use of the handpan at the annual Waiamaiea Beach Ska Festival 2020 Jan 2020 NAMM Show. Handpans 2020 by Glenn Francis.jpg
Davey Jobbles displaying the use of the handpan at the annual Waiamaiea Beach Ska Festival 2020 Jan 2020 NAMM Show.
A handpan from the first production run of Pantheon Steel. Handpan-batch-one-pantheon-steel.jpg
A handpan from the first production run of Pantheon Steel.
Handpan busker in Tokyo, Japan.
Handpan Maker & Musician Stevan Morris playing handpans Handpan 2014.jpg
Handpan Maker & Musician Stevan Morris playing handpans

Handpan is a term for a group of musical instruments that are classified as a subset of the steelpan. Several handpan makers and brands have emerged in recent years, resulting from a growing worldwide interest in the Hang, which is an instrument developed by the company PANArt that is based on the physical properties of the Trinidadian steelpan, Indian ghatam, Thai gong and Indonesian Gamelan etc. [1]

Contents

The basic form of a handpan consists of two metal half-shells glued together, a centre tone field (named Ding) surrounded by a circle of at least seven tone fields on the upper side and an opening in the bottom side (named Gu). Differences between manufacturers include the materials used, the manufacturing processes of the raw forms, the shaping of the tone fields, and the tuning methods.

History

The term handpan first appeared online in the autumn of 2007 on the website of American steelpan producer Pantheon Steel. It was used to describe their development of a new instrument that was launched as an alternative to the Hang. [2]

Consequently, the term found its way into discussions in the now-defunct Hang-Music Forum on the Internet. [3] The successor of this forum was founded in 2009 and was called handpan.org. [4] In this way, the expression handpan found wide circulation as a new generic term for this group of instruments.

Handpan became a necessary and universally understood term since PANArt had registered the name Hang as a trademark for its musical instruments. [5] It even started filing legal cases against other makers. However, on almost all counts these cases were unsuccessful, since the instrument's physical form was not protected under international patent law.

The first five instruments generally included under the term handpan were Caisa by Kaisos Steel Drums (Germany, 2007), BElls by BEllart (Spain, 2009), Halo by Pantheon Steel (USA, 2009), the Spacedrum by Metal Sounds (France, 2009) and the Opsilon by Opsilon Instruments (Germany, 2011).

Today, significantly more than 400 handpan builders have entered the market and offer instruments that vary widely in material, manufacturing techniques, shape, sound and quality. [6] [7] [8]

Discussion about the term

The term handpan has been discussed with much controversy over the instrument's relatively short life. Critics pointed out that the Hang, which most makers of the handpan use as a standard model, is essentially defined through its difference from the steelpan, even though it is based on the same physical principles. [9]

Furthermore, the term pan is used for the national culture of the steel bands in Trinidad and Tobago. Supporters stressed the necessity of a generic term. They advocated that handpan is a suitable and well-understood new term for the abbreviation of a steelpan played by hand. It has become a conventionalised expression among those who are interested in these kinds of instruments, and in popular culture. [10] [11]

The Hang makers of PANArt, Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer, reject the expression handpan to describe the Hang. "To state it clearly and precisely: we do not make percussion instruments, handpans or hang drums." [12]

An alternative term used by some builders and players is pantam. It is said to be a combination of the words pan and ghatam, two instruments that influenced the creation of the Hang. [13] Originally this term was an alternative name for the Hang in Israel. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percussion instrument</span> Type of musical instrument that produces a sound by being hit

A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excluding zoomusicological instruments and the human voice, the percussion family is believed to include the oldest musical instruments. In spite of being a very common term to designate instruments, and to relate them to their players, the percussionists, percussion is not a systematic classificatory category of instruments, as described by the scientific field of organology. It is shown below that percussion instruments may belong to the organological classes of idiophone, membranophone, aerophone and chordophone.

The music of Trinidad and Tobago is best known for its calypso music, soca music, chutney music, and steelpan. Calypso's internationally noted performances in the 1950s from native artists such as Lord Melody, Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow. The art form was most popularised at that time by Harry Belafonte. Along with folk songs and African- and Indian-based classical forms, cross-cultural interactions have produced other indigenous forms of music including soca, rapso, parang, chutney, and other derivative and fusion styles. There are also local communities which practice and experiment with international classical and pop music, often fusing them with local steelpan instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steelpan</span> Musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago

The steelpan is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedal steel guitar</span> Console-type of steel guitar with foot pedals to raise and lower the pitch of the strings

The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play unlimited glissandi and deep vibrati—characteristics it shares with the human voice. Pedal steel is most commonly associated with Country music and Hawaiian music.

<i>Ghatam</i> Indian percussion instrument

The ghaṭam is a percussion instrument used in various repertoires across the Indian subcontinent, especially in Southern India. Its variant is played in Punjab and known as gharha as it is a part of Punjabi folk traditions. Its analogue in Rajasthan is known as the madga and pani mataqa.

<i>Mridangam</i> Percussion instrument

The mridangam is a percussion instrument originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. In Dhrupad, a modified version, the pakhawaj, is the primary percussion instrument. A related instrument is the Kendang, played in Maritime Southeast Asia. Its a complex instrument to tune and involves a lot of mathematics to construct korvais.

The music of Bermuda is often treated as part of the Caribbean music area. Its musical output includes pop singer Heather Nova, and her brother Mishka. Collie Buddz has also gained international success with reggae hits in the US and the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Saint Kitts and Nevis</span>

The music of Saint Kitts and Nevis is known for a number of musical celebrations including Carnival. The last week in June features the St Kitts Music Festival, while the week-long Culturama on Nevis lasts from the end of July into early August.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kanjira</span> South Indian frame drum

The kanjira, khanjira, khanjiri or ganjira, a South Indian frame drum, is an instrument of the tambourine family. As a folk and bhajan instrument, it has been used in the Indian subcontinent for many centuries.

D'Addario is a family-owned and operated American multinational company that specializes in musical instrument accessories, headquartered in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Folk instrument</span> Musical instrument

A folk instrument is a traditional musical instrument that has remained largely restricted to traditional folk music, and is not usually used in the classical music or other elite and formal musical genres of the culture concerned, though related intruments may be.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hang (instrument)</span> Musical instrument in the percussion family

The Hang is a type of musical instrument called a handpan, fitting into the idiophone class and based on the Caribbean steelpan instrument. It was created by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer in Bern, Switzerland. The name of their company is PANArt Hangbau AG. The Hang is sometimes referred to as a hang drum, but the inventors consider this a misnomer and strongly discourage its use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellie Mannette</span> Trinidadian musician and instrument maker (1927–2018)

Elliott Anthony "Ellie" Mannette[a] was a Trinidadian musical instrument maker and steel pan musician, also known as the "father of the modern steel drum".

Electromuse was an American maker of musical instruments that operated in the 1940s and 1950s.

Bertram Lloyd Marshall ORTT, known as Bertie Marshall, was a pioneer, musician and music instrument maker of the steelpan.

The Trinidad All-Steel Pan Percussion Orchestra (TASPO) was formed to participate in the Festival of Britain in 1951. The group was the first steelband to travel abroad from Trinidad and Tobago, presenting the newly invented steelpan to an international audience.

Rudolph Charles was a musician and instrument maker of the steelpan, but most notably, he was a pioneer and leader of the steelband movement in Trinidad and Tobago. Also known as Charlo, The Hammer and Trail, among other names, he led Desperadoes Steel Orchestra to 10 various victories from 1965 to 1985, including six Panoramas, two Classical Music Festivals, one Best Bomb and one Best Playing Steel Orchestra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Repurposing</span> Using object intended for one purpose in alternative way

Repurposing is the process by which an object with one use value is transformed or redeployed as an object with an alternative use value.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steel tongue drum</span> Type of round steel slit/tongue drum

A steel tongue drum, tank drum, or hank drum is a round steel slit/tongue drum in the idiophone family originally fashioned from a propane cylinder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gubal (instrument)</span> Percussive musical instrument

The Gubal is a musical instrument developed by the Swiss company PANArt Hang Manufacturing Ltd.. It is a vessel made of PANArt's patented Pang, a deep drawn sheet steel permeated by iron nitride needles. Pang was developed by PANArt for steelpan construction in the middle of the 1990s. Examining the characteristics of their new material the PANArt tuners Sabina Schärer and Felix Rohner created a number of different Pang instruments. In the year 2001 they introduced the Hang. The Gubal was the first Pang instrument that was developed after the Hang. It was introduced in Summer 2013 on occasion of the 20th anniversary of PANArt. The name Gubal is registered as trademark for musical instruments by PANArt Hang Manufacturing Ltd.

References

  1. "The History of PANTAMS". PANIVERSE - WORLD of HANDPANS. 2017-04-27. Archived from the original on 2020-08-15. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
  2. "Home page of www.pantheonsteel.com". Archived from the original on October 16, 2007. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  3. "Sub-forum "New hand pan development" by the Hang-Music Forum". Archived from the original on November 12, 2007. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  4. "handpan.org/forum/". Handpan.org. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  5. WIPO Global Brand Database. International Registration Number 969295
  6. "handpan.org sub-forum Meet the Family". Handpan.org. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  7. "HANDPAN MAKERS Around the World". Google.com. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  8. "HandPans – BRANDS and MAKERS". PANIVERSE - WORLD of HANDPANS. 2016-02-16. Archived from the original on 2021-04-19. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
  9. "Dr. Anthony Achong Comments on the Pan-Hang Argument". Whensteeltalks.ning.com. Retrieved 2019-09-02.
  10. "The Handpan Podcast". Thehandpanpodcast.com.
  11. "What is a handpan?". Hangforum.com. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  12. "Newsletter PANArt, May 19th, 2010". Hangblog.org. 2010-05-19. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  13. "What is a Pantam? - Answered". Hangdrumsandhandpans.com. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  14. "Das Hanglexikon - Pantam". Lex.hangblog.org. Retrieved 19 April 2021.