• From: Recently moved to Nashville,Tn
  • Registered: 2009-01-05
  • Posts: 1

Topic: I have determined to build a Hang. Anyone else here made one?

Hello,
  My name is Christian and I am an artist from New Mexico. I first encountered the Hang at a drum circle in Santa Fe. My friends and I used to meet in a tipi every friday for an open drum circle. We played mostly Middle Eastern music, but musicians and travelers from all over the world often dropped by with djembes, tablas, cojons, and what have you. It was usually quite a multi-ethnic jam. One night a fellow showed up and pulled out a metal object and started playing music that made everyone stop in their tracks and harken. Of course, it was a hang and we were all mesmerized by its sound. Later that night, I had the opportunity to lay hands on the Hang. After a few minutes of fumbling with it, my fingers seemed to find their way and I was able to coax something musical of of it. It was wonderful and the instrument felt "right" under my touch. I was in love with this object. Since then, I have only ever encountered the Hang online. I am currently on the waiting list with Hanghuas, but God only knows when (and if) they have plans to make more Hang in 2010. I am also on the waiting list with Pantheon Steel for their soon to be released "Halo", but I have no idea if the quality of this instrument will match that of the true Hang.

  So, all that said, I have determined to jump in and go the trial-&-error route until I can learn enough from my mistakes to produce something that will approach the look and sound of the Hang. Felix & Sabina have expressed (online) that there will eventually need to be other Hang makers to meet world-wide demand, so I get the impression that they would not discourage others from experimenting on their own. They seem to be very open with their ideas and knowledge. Their time, however, seems to be at a premium and I am probably one of thousands who have written asking for technical information but received no reply. Without direct input from the creators, I am looking to other artists/enthusiast who have tried to make hand-pans in the hope that we can pool information. In that spirit, I will post whatever I learn from my efforts and I invite others to share what they know as well.

  At this stage I have made a list of tools and equipment that I will need. I am currently bidding on a kiln on ebay that I plan on using to gas nitride the steel. My first Hang will probably be made from hand-hammered steel drum bottoms, but I am also looking online at deep-drawing companies and pricing molds to stamp the steel blanks. I have experience in steel & copper repousse making decorative metal installations for homes and boats...but learning to tune the steel will be a challenge.

So, that is that...I look forward to some replies from other artists who are working in parallel.

Kindest Regards,
Christian Navarro May

Last edited by Navarro1971 (2009-01-05 03:43:19)

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  • Registered: 2007-07-05
  • Posts: 94

Re: I have determined to build a Hang. Anyone else here made one?

welcome christian,

good luck with your metalwork! keep us posted on your achievements please.


smile

in2nation's Website

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  • Danny
  • Likes To Hang Out
  • Offline
  • From: DeLand, FL US
  • Registered: 2007-07-06
  • Posts: 78

Re: I have determined to build a Hang. Anyone else here made one?

Hi Christian,

I have to commend you for your initiative. You certainly have an enormous task ahead of you. With that said, I don't want you to take what I am about to say as either negative or as something meant to discourage you. You probably already know this anyways. The form of the Hang, though not an easy task in itself, will be the easiest of the tasks you will encounter. With the form itself, you have so many considerations to think of. The size of the tone fields, the shape of the piece, the formation of the Gu, and more importantly, the size of the cavity to produce the right frequency for your Hemholtz resonance. The real work comes with tuning your form. In my opinion, it would take time and experience just to form the piece, but multiply that time by ten fold to gain the experience with the hammer to metal to be able to tune your instrument. To tune the fundamental note is hard in itself. But to then tune the 5th harmonic, and the octave to the fundamental into the same tone field seems almost impossible without years of experience.

Again, this is not meant to dissuade you from your efforts. Merely to put into perspective the amount of work and research and hammer time you will need just to hear the metal sing. Trust me, I speak from a fool's experience. Early on when I had my Hang only for a few months, an accident occurred and my F tunrned to an E. I proceeded on the fool's errand of trying to retune my Hang by  myself. I don't know if I just had a beginner's luck, or what, but I did regain my fundamental note, my F, back. However, I had lost all the harmonics that accompanied the F. I was totally uneducated, and unprepared for what I did.  But it did open my eyes to what the Hangmakers, or other tuners may deal with. It was far more complex and involved then ever I had imagined.

I have since had my Hang retuned by Kyle at Pantheon. He did restore my F, but because of the damage I created, it will never sound as pure as it once did. Truthfully, if I could afford it, I would send it to the Hang Haus and see what their thoughts were. They would probably be appalled at what I have done.

So, with that said, I truly wish you the best of luck with your project. Here's a link to the research papers of Felix and Sabina. Perhaps they will help you , if you haven't already found them here.

http://www.hangfan.co.uk/hang-drum-science.html

I hope it goes well. Good Luck! wink

Danny's Website

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  • Registered: 2009-05-15
  • Posts: 3

Re: I have determined to build a Hang. Anyone else here made one?

Hi

Im doing a PhD in Musical Studies.  Im trying to study the sound dynamics of the Hang Drum and similar instruments (i.e. tibetan singing bowl, etc..).  Do you know where I can get dimensions on the instrument (the size, locations of the dimples) and material of the instrument (i.e. what type of alloy is used). 

Thanks

Frank

grandeoak@gmail.com

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