Tongue drum scale
The Steel Tongue Drum is incredible because you can play it intuitively and create beautiful music without the need for any experience or training. Since each drum is tuned to harmonize perfectly with itself, you can hit every note and create magic no matter what tongue drum scale you prefer. This means you spend less time thinking and can just lose yourself in the flow of making music and the sounds.
The steel tongue drum has a peaceful and calming effect that you will feel when playing. It is perfect for relaxing at the end of the day or for jamming with friends.
We have personally experienced the calming effect of the Sonodrum on restless babies and rebellious children. However, not every tongue drum scale is suitable for every situation.
Creative play can be practiced in any number of daily activities. Playing the tongue drum every day is great. There are scales that can make you feel melancholy and others that can create joy for the whole day. So how do you choose the tongue drum scale that you like best? Which scale is particularly good for beginners and are there tongue drums that include different scales?
Questions upon questions that we will answer today. So stay tuned and learn all about different tongue drum scales and the aspects that are important when choosing your particular scale.
Tongue drum choose the right scale
The clarity and depth of the sound are the top priority at Sonodrum. We selected the steel and developed a larger acoustic chamber for a full, warm and rich sound. But why do we only offer two tongue drum scales ? Find out the reasons here...
Choosing a tongue drum scale: what is important?
You just met a musician on a street corner playing a magical instrument. It was as if his hands were dancing on the instrument! It's a handpan or tongue drum ! You're excited, fascinated and decided you have to buy one!
You go home, your head still full of beautiful melodies and captivating sounds. Let's go! You start looking for that unique instrument that finally seems to "fit" you and respond to your need to make music. You have little or no musical experience and discover on the internet that the tongue drum is not a chromatic instrument (like a piano, where each successive note is a semitone above the previous one). Rather, its notes consist of a single scale, a series of notes on and under the tongues. You may be a little confused, not knowing how to choose the scale of your future instrument . There are hundreds of scales, and each one has its own unique sound that creates or can express a certain mood!
Tongue drum scale choose, what feelings are expressed
Each tongue drum scale has its own timbre and sound. Depending on the scale, you will experience different feelings. However, keep in mind that even the same scale can evoke different emotions depending on how it is played and who is listening. All of this is very subjective, but here are some examples that will hopefully help you.
Finding the right tongue drum scale
- Do you like fun, playful scales? Then you can use a D major scale to create the wonderful notes you hear in this video .
- Do you like ones that take you on a journey and envelop you? Then look for a tongue drum scale in a harmonic minor in D with these notes: A/ D, E, F, G, A, B, C#, D.
- Do you like ones that express hope? You can again take a D major scale and experiment with these notes: E/ G, B, C, D, E, F#, G, B, D
- Do you like sad, melancholic scales? Find a C major scale and play the following notes: Ab, (A), B, C#, Eb, E, F#, Ab, (B), C#
- Do you like mystical sounds? Take the D major tongue drum scale and play these notes: A Bb DEFACD
- Do you like Zen trance? Take a lotus drum with the D scale and play these notes: FACEFACD
Tongue drum scale selection for beginners
All scales are diatonic, which means there are no wrong notes! You can play them in any order and you will get great sounds. Apart from that, each scale offers a different vibe and mood to choose from. Some drums are bright, happy and energetic, others are more calm, thoughtful and meditative. Some drums are suitable for different playing styles such as jazz, Latin, pop and classical or for meditation. You can hardly go wrong with the Sondrum tongue drums, as the scales are suitable for every use. As a beginner, look for a drum that is medium-sized, not a drum that is large and not too small either, as it is more difficult to find the tongues on small drums. To try out and learn for the first time, a drum with a diameter of 20 to 25 cm is right. The tongue drum scale for beginners is the D major tongue drum.
Rent your first tongue drum
You can rent tongue drums from specialty stores or try them out there. Another tip is to buy a used tongue drum first, made of high-quality steel, to make sure it doesn't go out of tune.
Tongue drum scale selection, the number of sound fields is crucial
Before you go any further, there is one important thing you need to know: there are two ways to count the notes on a tongue drum. Some include the "ding" (the central note), others do not. So we will either talk about 8 notes or 7 + 1 ("+ 1" stands for the ding). You need to be clear about this when you talk to the manufacturer. We use the notation 8 or 11 .
What you should know now is that in general, the more notes a tongue drum has, the greater the chance of making mistakes. In fact, the more notes there are, the more risks there are,
- that the sharpest tones do not have much sound volume,
- that the setting is not perfect,
- that the notes do not all have the same volume, or
- that there is interference between the notes.
The more grades there are, the more parameters and variables must be mastered and maintained.
If you want to focus on the sound quality and overall balance of your tongue drum by choosing fewer notes, you should also be aware of the disadvantages. The fewer notes/tongues there are, the fewer the possibilities on the harmonic level. You will be more limited in terms of composition, for example. You will feel like you are doing more or less the same thing over and over again, going around in circles, so you will get bored with the tongue drum scale more quickly .
Weigh up the pros and cons and find the balance between options and quality that suits you best.
Our personal opinion : For a first purchase, we recommend an instrument with at least 8 notes (7 reeds) and a maximum of 10 reeds, because we see these instruments as offering the best balance between possibilities and quality.
What is the best way to proceed with your search?
Everything is subjective. Depending on how a scale is played and the emotional state of the player, each instrument can evoke a variety of emotions. The D major and C major tongue drum scales can evoke hope, melancholy and joy, depending on the notes played and the order in which they are struck. First, find a model that is not too expensive to get used to and practice. Then you can move on to a complete model that can even have multiple scales that you can set yourself using magnets.
Although all scales are suitable for all styles, some are traditionally associated with a particular style of music . If you're a fan of a particular style of music, try to choose the scales that best suit what you like. Maybe they sound like blues? Jazzy? Celtic? Hispanic? Asian? Eastern?
Many people love instruments that are tuned to 432 Hz rather than 440 Hz. Without getting into the 440 vs. 432 debate, we just want to point out that if you purchase an instrument in 432, you will not be able to "jam" with an instrument in 440. So you may feel "alone" and frustrated by not being able to share musical moments with other players. Considering that about 98% of musicians play in 440, this is something you should be aware of before your future purchase.
Tongue drum – Listen to different scales
We encourage you to listen to lots of different tongue drum scales online to find out which ones you like best. Write down the scales that appeal to you, that delight you, that enchant you, that carry you away, that "connect" you. It is important that you write down the name of the scale if it is given, but also and above all the notes that make it up. Be careful: this information is often a bit hidden, so you have to go looking for it. Look in the description of the video, in the title, in a comment, in the first post, at the very beginning or at the very end of the video. Don't hesitate to ask the "Sonodrum" community on Facebook if you like a scale whose notes are not mentioned.
