Singing Bowls
About Singing Bowls
Tibetan singing bowls are one of the strangest types of instruments out there. At first sight, they don’t look any different from traditional dinner bowls. But they can produce musical notes when you rub them with a leather-covered wooden mallet.
Singing bowls are not like other musical instruments. When you consider other musical instruments, there aren’t many instruments that can sustain a note for more than a few seconds. But in the case of these bowls, they can hold the same note for as long as you keep the water vibrating using the mallet. Although it might be difficult for a new player to hold the same note for more than a couple of seconds, this becomes easier as you learn more. Read this article to know more about this instrument. Having a better understanding of them will help you make the right choices when you are shopping for them.
A beginner’s guide to singing bowls
For a layperson, almost all the singing bowls look the same, except for the crystal bowls as they have a very distinctive appearance. However, there are more than a dozen different types of bowls. Each one of them varies in their shapes, thickness, and material composition. Based on that, the octaves and tones that they produce also vary. This article will tell you everything that you need to know. In this article, you will also find a few tips that will help you choose the right type of bowl you need as well. Since there are a lot of brands and sellers out there, it is important for you to be prepared. So, let’s read!
Thadobati
This type of singing bowls is a bit larger than other types of bowls. Even though the bottom side of these bowls are curved, the walls are high and straight. One notable feature of Thodabati bowls is that the lips do not have much finishing. You might even see some deformations in the lips. However, this design contributes to the unique tone of the bowls. Thadobati bowls can produce five different octaves if you are playing the bowls with a mallet. Another interesting fact about Thadobati is that it is one of the oldest types of singing bowls. People used to play this even during the fifteenth century.
Jambati
When it comes to the finish and decoration of the bowls, jambati bowls take the cake. The decoration on the exterior of the bowl is made using patterns of hammer marks. While these bowls are capable of producing five different octaves, most musicians play them at the second or third octave. Because of its size and the complexity of the finish required, it would take three or four craftsmen to produce one single jambati bowl. Therefore, it is not surprising that these bowls are also expensive. A full set of jambati bowls will cost you anywhere from two thousand dirhams to thirty-two thousand dirhams.
Mani
It is easy to recognise Mani singing bowls from others because of their inward-facing lips. They are also distinctively short and stout as well. Mani bowls can only play three different octaves. However, because they are relatively easier to play, they do make good beginner bowls. But some people might find the high tone of Mani bowls annoying. At least when played for an extended period of time. You can easily find a set of Mani bowls for as cheap as 700 dirhams. If you want a better finish and build quality, you will have to pay a little more. But even the highest quality Mani bowls cost less than 2000 dirhams.
Crystal
Crystal bowls are the modern adaptation of the traditional singing bowls. In these bowls, quartz crystals are used instead of brass. The benefit that crystal bowls have over the traditional bowls is that they can produce a wide variety of tones depending on their sizes. Crystal bowls come in four types, namely frosted, clear, handle bowl and mineral fusion. Each one of these has a unique tonal characteristic that is unique. The loudest bowls among these are the crystal bowls. Clear bowls produce the cleanest tones, but they are not as loud as other bowls.
Tips on how to buy Singing Bowls
Finding the right type of singing bowls can be much harder than you might think. As there are so many different types and sizes of them at different price ranges, it can be a little bit tricky to find the right one. You should start looking at singing bowls using a wider filter. Then narrow it down to help you make the decision as you learn more about it. Along the way, it is important to know what criteria to consider in a set of bowls. Here are a few tips that you can follow while you are shopping for singing bowls.
- Type of the bowl – There are at least a dozen different types of singing bowls. Therefore, the first step to buying them is to decide what type of bowl you want to buy. Also, this is going to be the hardest nut to crack. You have to consider quite a lot of things if you want to select the right kind of bowl, from how good you are at playing them to how expensive the bowl is.
- Quality – Unlike most other percussion instruments, singing bowls can hold a note for several seconds. Using some playing techniques, it is possible to sustain the same note for even longer. A good quality bowl, however, should not sound off as the note dies down. Rather the frequency of the note should remain the same, and only the loudness of it should decrease gradually without fluttering.
- Tonal characteristics – The most important quality to look for in singing bowls, or any other instrument, is the accuracy of the tones. All instruments make use of overtones to produce notes. An instrument is said to have a good tone when it only produces the vibrations in a single overtone. The instrument goes out of tune when there appear traces of overtones from other frequencies as well.
- Price – Singing bowls can be one of the cheapest types of instruments you can own. That being said, there are bowls that can cost you as much as a good car. The challenge is to find the right type of bowl that suits your requirements. If you are buying your first set of bowls, it is better to start with a cheaper set then go on to the better ones as you learn.
There are many other musical instruments besides singing bowls. These include keyboards, guitar, drums, cymbals, cabas, castanets, cellos, chimes, claves, contrabasses, horns, mandolins, organs, flutes, pianos, and many more. You can find all of them easily by using our shopping search engine. That way, you can also compare the prices and features of different products and pick the right product. Also, don’t forget to check out other amazing products from the Musical instruments category.
Question & Answer
How do singing bowls work?
Technically singing bowls are categorised as percussion instruments. However, they are different from most other percussion instruments because they are usually rubbed with a mallet rather than struck. This rubbing causes the water inside the bowls to start vibrating. When the vibrations cause resonance, the bowl emits rather unearthly tones that stay for a while instead of dying out immediately. This is because the water can store the energy and slowly realist it in the form of sound. Because of this slow nature of the bowls, they are hardly ever used in conventional music.
Why are crystal singing bowls so expensive?
Out of all the different types of singing bowls, the most expensive ones are the crystal bowls. The reason why they are expensive is because of the rarity of the material used to make them and also because of the labour and precision involved in the process. A crystal bowl contains 99.99 per cent pure quartz. The remaining 0.01 per cent is the impurities that are extremely difficult to get rid of. In order to make bowls using this crystal, the quartz has to be heated at 4000 degrees and then pressed into shape in a centrifugal mould. Only a skilled worker can do this successfully without causing irregularities in the bowl.
Can you put water in singing bowls?
There are two ways to play singing bowls. One way is to let the bowels float on the water, and the second method is to fill the bowl with water up to halfway. Water is important because it is water that causes the unique sound of the bowls. The tones that you get when you play with water and without water are different. Water filled bowls exhibit an impressive, lively dance of water droplets as they vibrate and produce the notes. So, while you can put water in Tibetan singing bowls, it is up to you whether to do it or not.
If you are looking to buy singing bowls online in the UAE, look no further as you are in the right place. There are more than 500 shops and brands offering them here on Shops.ae. Explore them from the best shops. These shops offer products from brands like Silent Mind, Ohm Store, Thamelmart, Healing Lama, and Yak Therapy.