How to Play Singing bowl and How to hold It?
How to play singing bowl? This might be your question which will be solved at the end of this article. Singing bowls are played either by rotating (rubbing) a mallet around the outer rim or simply striking the edge to create a resonant, musical note. While rotating the mallet around the outer rim (edge) of a singing bowl, the mallet should not touch the nose (the middle part of a singing bowl). To make sound there should be a firmly press the accompanying mallet in a circular motion against the bowl’s outside edge without holding its nose or edge.
In other words, the mallet should not be rotated around the nose or any portion of the nose. If the mallet is rotated around the nose, the sound produced from the singing bowl will not be harmonious. If the mallet even slightly touches the nose while rotating the mallet around the rim, some discord will arise in the sound of singing bowl. A singing bowl is made to stand on its base without any obstruction on its nose or its rim. Any touch or obstruction on its rim or nose will stop the produced sound.
Once the sound is being emitting out, the touch on the nose or rim will stop the produced sound. Yet, there is a technique rotating (rubbing) from rim to nose in a smooth manner till half circle and continue rotating (rubbing) from nose to rim to complete a full circle maintaining the harmony of tone. This is a method how to play singing bowl in Sound healing.
Keep circling in the same manner for some more rounds to produce the sound. This type of circling is also begun from nose to rim for half circle and continue circling from rim to nose to complete the full circle. The bowl is said to be the perfect played if there is no distortion or unharmony of tone. When you hear a vivid and bright tone you can lower down the motion. You have to use full arm circular motion, not mere wrist rotation.
Another method of playing singing bowl is striking or hammering by a mallet. Female sound (high-pitched) is produced striking a mallet on the rim. For this, the mallet is made forty-five degree slant. Male sound (low pitched) is produced when a mallet is striked at the nose. Generally, the mallet is made ninety-degree to strike at the nose. The ways of producing sound differs according to its application.
The singing bowl can also be played with gentle strike on the just before starting circular rubbing around the edge.
Sometimes, singing bowls may also be partly filled with water, letting them be tuned. This is a Chinese technique, a spouting bowl, has handled which, when rubbed with damp hands, makes water droplets to leap up due to standing waves termed as Chladni patterns on the surface of the water. It is said that such bowls have been manufactured from early 5th century BC. Nowadays singing bowls are more popular without mixing water.
How to Play singing bowls and hold a singing bowl if you play it on hand
Perching a singing bowl on fingertips (rather than on the palm) gives better control with the least amount of contact. This is more important with smaller singing bowls. Bigger bowls can be held on the palm. If you are placing singing bowl on palm, do not hold the nose of bowl with fingers; this will stop the sound.
As and when you singing bowl vibration from very close with touch, you can play it on your palm which allows you to feel vibration for cracks. If singing bowls kept down somewhere the sound tends to outlast your patience for holding them. However singing bowls are often played on a surface. Hope you got your answer on how to play Sining bowl. Pelase don’t forget to read our other article related to singing bowl.