Artisan Instruments 10-Note Singing Steel Tongue Drum in A Minor, Hot Steel Gloss

Product Description

The tongue drum is a percussion instrument that is incredibly easy to play and makes beautiful music even when played by a beginner. You will be delighted by the ethereal sound and resonance! It is very exciting for a person who has never played an instrument before to be able to immediately make beautiful music playing a tongue drum.

The tongue drum falls into the category of idiophone instruments and, like bells and gongs, the sound is created primarily by the vibration of the instrument itself.

The drums come in a variety of scales including diatonic, pentatonic, giza, akebono, yo and hirojoshi.  The diatonic scales allow you to play a familiar melody while the other scales give you the freedom to play with abandon knowing that all the notes will sound great together.

You can play your drum with either the supplied mallets or your fingers and thumbs. To play with your fingers, strike the drum quickly as though the steel were very hot. Have fun, experiment, and use your imagination to discover your own technique - there is no right or wrong way to play.

We use a process by which we repurpose expired propane tanks. This gives our drums a superior tone and elongated sustain compared to many of the thin steel drums that are machine fabricated. We love our drums because we get to help out Mother Nature, and every customer receives a one of a kind creation!​

First the tank is made safe by removing the valve stem. We then remove the bell ends of the tank. The ends are sandblasted inside and out and we are left with two raw steel shells. 8-10 tongues are cut into the shell by a laser CNC machine, then the shells are welded together. A musical scale is selected and the drum is rough tuned to that scale. The drum is sealed with a durable powder coating inside and out, and lastly receives it’s final tuning by hand.