The handpan is a new type of instrument. This is a very unusual circumstance in today’s world; most music instruments have a tradition that is at least decades, if not centuries old. The handpan, however, only saw the light of day about 20 years ago. There are hardly any textbooks about the handpan and very few standard techniques have yet been established which could be considered the basis for this instrument. So, all of us who learn and play this instrument now are in a real sense pioneers in its development. Truly, what a privilege!
At the moment, we use techniques of older percussion instruments such as the frame drum or the djembe. This starting point offers creativity and freedom to implement ideas without having to argue against already established views and rules. This is definitely a very creative and musically satisfying starting point.
While there are many different approaches how to play the handpan, my personal perspective is that of a drummer and percussionist. If I want to be creative with the handpan, my first step is to play a rhythm. Building upon this rhythm, I then begin to create a melody. The next step is to orchestrate the rhythm. This is for me the foundation or basic starting point. This rhythmically-based approach to play the handpan seems to me very practical and understandable; a harmonically-based approach on the other hand would perhaps be problematic, because the tunings, scales and harmonies in the world of the handpan and Rav Vast are not standardized. It would be impractical and difficult to formulate harmonically-based exercises because the instruments themselves often differ from each other in this respect.
My aim is to help you in developing rhythms to play on the handpan and to offer input on how to use your own creativity to create your own music. In the end you should be able to invent your own rhythms and expand them into small compositions.
The handpan is sometimes unjustly looked down upon as an esoteric “hippie” instrument. On the contrary, the handpan offers a great number of possibilities and can be approached as a complex percussion instrument. Compared with a normal drum, which has a bass and a rimshot (admittedly this is a somewhat casual formulation!), the handpan has 9 specific tone fields. Taking into account the different nuances of each tone field, the handpan has a wealth of percussive sounds which exceeds the variety found on most drums. If you are so inclined, you can find a panoply of challenges with your handpan!