Artisan Instruments Tongue Drum 10 notes C Major Tunable
The Artisan Instruments 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.
About the Makers
Artisan Instruments officially became a company in March of 2021, but it was conceived in the mind of Kristian Power around six years earlier when he was working at the One World Drum Company as a teacher and technician for West African djembes. His passion for music had started young – at seven years old he pestered his parents until they bought him his first guitar. He performed in talent shows and joined numerous bands as his collection of instruments grew to include djembes, congo drums, flutes, trombones, saxophones, ukuleles, didgeridoos, and every kind of guitar. He loved being on the stage and engaging the audience. A turning point in his story was his first encounter with a handpan (hung drum). Here is the story in his words:
Then, In 2017 a friend introduced Kristian to the process of turning a propane tank into a tongue drum which has a similar sound and tone to a handpan. The challenge of turning a piece of garbage into a beautiful piece of art that also created gorgeous tones and could be played by anyone took over Kristian’s creative mind. He set to work to figure out the best ways to clean the tanks, cut the tanks, cut the tongues, weld the shells, apply a sturdy and beautiful finish, and tune and tune again to achieve the best tone and resonance. With every batch of drums, he has improved his techniques and systems to make the drums better and now, five years later, the Singing Steel Drum is the flagship instrument for Artisan Instruments.
What scales are available?
How to play a tongue drum
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.
The notes are laid out on each of the drums so that you can create a most beautiful melody by starting at the bottom and alternating right and left hands as you go around the instrument. You can also play a beautiful tune by moving around the instrument in a circular manner.
Watch a video that I made while out in the forest. I offer a few different ideas to create your own tunes.
Custom Orders
Are you looking for a model or scale not listed on our website? No problem. We can custom order a drum for you.
Listen to our playlist of some of the models that we have had in our store.