Yesterday, having dinner at a friends house, I was talking about my never ending love for this mystical musical object, our glorious Tibetan singing bowl, when I found out how few did I knew about it, in practical. Sure I know the composition, the form, the esthetical look…I have many, I have books about them, I go to galleries to look at ancient Tibetan singing bowls…but some practical knowledge in actually “handling” The singing bowls is lacking.
Yes, I do own a few Tibetan singing bowls, many hand-crafted in
This was when I decided I had to learn how to play them!! It could not be any other way …my pride does not allow me to keep with this tremendous gap in my education!! Hehe
I will keep you posted on my journey to finally learn hot to play this instrument. I have already checked out a few online schools that will provide you with video tutorials- this can be an hypothesis for me, since I already have a lot of contact with the Tibetan singing bowls, I think I might pull this all right....We’ll see.
If you or anyone you know has learned how to reasonably play the Tibetan singing bowls on an online school, please do let me know.
Luckily for us, Indians have a very strong oral tradition and with all their beautiful lore love have managed to pass around stories which relate to the usage of the singing bowls. Those stories also teach us that the singing bowls arrived to
The Tibetan Singing Bowls have a striking curiosity around them- no matter how hard modern manufacturers try, they have not yet been able to emulate the fabrication and the mysterious sounds of the ancient singing bowls. Thus, the fabrication of the original Tibetan singing bowl is considered a lost art!
Aside from the well know 12 different metals, used in the fabrication of the Tibetan singing bowls, lore tells that in some ancient bowls, metals taken from meteorites could be found.
Tibetan Singing Bowls are basically simple metal bowls. What makes a tibetan singing bowl special is the sound it can produce - its wonderfull and unique sound, whihc is so soothing that the tibetan sining bowls are often called of the voice of the gods. This varies according to materials and design, you can buy deep tone tibetan singing bowls or one with a higher tone according to taste.
"The bowl - which is usually between 5" and 13" in diameter - "sings" by resonating in much the same way as a glass does when you run a finger carefully around the rim. The bowl is usually played with a wooden mallet that is run around the outside. It can also be struck to produce a bell like sound." in WYRDOLOGY
Antique tibetan singing bowls were usually simple and practial in design and rarely have more decoration than a few lines and circles. Modern versions of the tibetan singing bowls often have more representational artwork, usually tibetan motifs.
I just came accross those two tips on playing tibetan sining bowls, I thouhgt you might find it usefull.
#There are two basic ways of playing a singing bowl. Resting the bowl upon the palm of your hand, you can either strike it with a mallet for percussive pulsating tones or you can rub around the edge with the wooden wand (puja) for a sustained effect. The pressure that you use to apply the wand onto the rim of the bowl will affect the sounds the bowl produces as also the speed with which you rotate the wand. Too much or too little pressure or the wrong speed will cause a rattling sound that most people dislike.#
Just another tip on learning the tricky art of playing the tibetan singing bowls :)
Hre is a video I found on youtube, it is delightfull. Hope you enjoy the mellodies of those enchanting tibetan singing bowls.
How to play Tibetan Singing Bowls
Every kind of stick produces a different sound, depending on the size of the tibetan sining bowls you are using.
The most common technique in playing Tibetan Singing Bowls is to rub a hard stick around the rim of the bowl. The action of consistently rubbing the playing stick, will increase the sound volume and the Tibetan Singing Bowl´ss vibration. The thinner the stick, the highest the tone produced. Using thinner sticks on larger bowl will generate vibration of the rim, so the stick begins to dance with the immediate effect being a rattling sound. To avoid this, the pressure against the rim needs to increased.
Another technique consists of rubbing the stick backwards and forwards in one particular place on the rim.
We offer a large selection of Japanese style singing bowls, hand beaten singing bowls and playing sticks. Our hand beaten singing bowls are mostly made in Nepal, they have a beautiful resonance and produce more complex notes than machined bowls. We insist upon these very high quality singing bowls, as some on the market are unusable. The hand made singing bowls are sold by weight - from about 150g up to 1400g. A playing stick is included with each bowl. Choosing a bowl is down to personal preference; we have included sound files with each bowl and also references to the notes played. The sound files were produced using a simple wood stick.
Text and article courtesy of Higher Heart.com
It is known that tibetan singing bowls have often been described as being feminine, while the wand is masculine. Together they combine a powerfull soothing sound which, with their healing qualities, make the tibetan singing bowls much more than a musical instrument.
Bellow are listed a few of their qualities:
- Tibetan Singing Bowls intensify consciousness
- They are used, in ritual to purify and charge water, food and sacred objects such as spices, candles, crystals, gems,herbs, runes, tarot cards etc.
- They are often used to enhance the natural power of ritual objects and instruments.
- They support tarot, divination, astrology and I-Ching, by easing the attunement process.
- They serve as a prayer whell to send prayers to people far away.
- They put dynamism into prayer, meditation, yoga and other spiritual exercises.
- They can be used to enhance crystal-gazing and hand-reading
- They revive dreams, clean up dream interpretation
- Tibetan Singing bowls and used in palliative care for they are known to soften the death process.
- They bind or create relationships and communication
Labels: singing bowls, tibetan singing bowls