Handpan

A good handpan costs anywhere from $930 to several thousand dollars. This is because it is currently impossible to produce superbly crafted instruments using machines alone, and an artisan must spend dozens of hours hammering the metal to achieve beautiful tones and perfect tuning.

To learn more about handpan prices, read our in-depth article.

Yes, the handpan is relatively simple and easy to learn compared with other instruments such as the violin or the ocarina for several reasons.

First, the movements required to produce sound are fairly basic. You simply strike the instrument’s metal surface with your fingers. Although some more advanced techniques require a certain degree of joint flexibility, overall, the handpan is an easy musical instrument to play.

Second, it is important to understand that the handpan has a limited number of notes. Manufacturers therefore select notes that harmonize beautifully with one another. This is known as the handpan scale or its variations. Owning a handpan guarantees that you can play sequences of notes that always sound in tune and harmonious because the notes are tuned together during manufacturing. This is also why many percussionists who have never studied music theory thoroughly enjoy playing it. Music theory plays almost no role in learning the handpan.

Finally, the many video tutorials available online will help you approach this percussion instrument with confidence. Read our comparison of the best handpans to find the models best suited to beginners.

Not at all, and that’s one of the handpan’s greatest strengths. There are very few scores written specifically for the handpan because it’s primarily an intuitive instrument—this is exactly what it was designed for. So, while a bit of music theory can be helpful if you want to refine your own compositions, it’s absolutely not a barrier for beginners. You can fully enjoy playing the handpan without ever spending an hour studying music theory.

The handpan has fairly recent origins. It was directly inspired by a Swiss invention called the Hang, created by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer in 2000. However, the concept behind the Hang took years to develop. In 1976, Felix Rohner heard an orchestra playing a steelpan (steel drum), a Caribbean steel drum from Trinidad and Tobago that can produce multiple notes. Captivated by its sound, he began making steel drums himself.

In the 1990s, he was joined by his partner Sabina Schärer. Together, they came up with the idea of creating a hybrid between the steel drum mentioned above and the ghatam, an Indian instrument shaped like a terracotta vase about 20 in (50 cm) in diameter, which the player strikes to produce distinctive tones.

In 2000, the first prototype of this new instrument was completed. It was named the Hang and described as a sound sculpture by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer. The success of this European musical instrument was so immediate that its creators couldn’t keep up with demand. At the same time, some buyers would purchase Hangs from the Swiss company only to resell them at higher prices. Seeing a financial opportunity, several makers began producing instruments that closely resembled the Hang. These new instruments were then called handpans after PANArt Hangbau SA, the company founded by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer, filed an intellectual property patent.

Today, the handpan has become much more widely available and easier to buy. However, it’s worth noting that Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer did not appreciate other makers adopting their idea to produce handpans. They initiated legal proceedings to force these manufacturers to stop production. So far, that request has not yet been ruled on in court.

In the vast majority of cases, no. A handpan has very few notes—an average of 9 or 10—compared with the 88 keys on a standard piano. Consequently, it is not really possible to arrange a classical score or well-known melody for the handpan.

However, there are exceptions. Some professional musicians who own expensive instruments with more than 15 notes occasionally perform well-known songs such as “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica or “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. It is important to understand, however, that this remains extremely uncommon and that the handpan is often accompanied by other instruments or vocals to make the song recognizable. In short, the handpan is definitely not intended for playing sheet music. If that remains your primary goal, you would be better off choosing a tongue drum.

Now that you understand the importance of this factor, read our article to help you choose the right number of notes for your handpan.

Handpans usually come with a few accessories, sometimes included and sometimes optional. The first is often a gig bag, which is essential for protecting your precious drum from moisture, dust, and impacts. Your handpan is typically shipped inside it. The second is usually a soft cloth for removing fingerprints and sweat residue from the metal shell. The third is often a tripod-style stand (a stand) that keeps the instrument stable while you play. Together, these accessories make for a very complete setup.

More rarely, you may also find a pair of mallets. However, mallets have become less common over time because many new players used to strike too hard, which could cause the handpan to deform in the long run. That’s why they’re gradually disappearing to avoid this issue. You can also buy an audio device to record or increase the volume of your handpan—most often a microphone/pickup that attaches to the shell magnetically.

In any case, the included accessories may not always be the perfect fit for you. You can always purchase gig bags, hard cases, and stands designed to match different handpan sizes and shapes.

As mentioned earlier, most people still refer to a handpan as a Hang. However, “Hang” is a trademark registered by PANArt and shouldn’t be used interchangeably with “handpan.”

Along the same lines, some makers have marketed their handpans under purely commercial names such as Spacedrum, Pantam, or Hangpan. In every case, these names refer to the very same instrument.

That said, a handpan shouldn’t be confused with a tongue drum. While they can look similar, the tongue drum doesn’t have hammered note fields—it has tongue-shaped cutouts made directly in the metal. Tongue drums are also sold under other names, such as the tambour à langues, hank drum, steel tongue drum, tank drum, or Vibe Drum. None of those names refer to a handpan.

There’s no official term for someone who plays the handpan. Some call themselves handpanists, while others simply say they’re handpan players.

Not at all—that’s a tongue drum, which was originally made from an emptied butane cylinder. A handpan is much more complex to manufacture because it requires thinner sheet steel than a tongue drum, so it can’t realistically be made from salvaged materials.