Learning the Handpan

We’ve learnt straight rhythms (quavers and semi-quavers) and also triplet rhythms, but we’ve not yet learnt dotted rhythms. If we were to put some imagery to these rhythms well, a dotted rhythm would probably best be represented by a cantering horse (the kind of long-short rhythm ir short-long rhythm). Check out the video to learn […]

For the whole of the previous eleven tutorials we’ve been writing the ding note on the very central line of the staves. However, doing this was never entirely “accurate”, not at least in terms of pitch (the position of the notes according to high or low they sound when put in order). So, in order

Not all playing on the handpan needs to be heard! Does that sound absurd? It doesn’t mean we don’t want to hear you, it means that some of your notes need to be intentionally quiet-enough-they-can’t-be-heard or in other words, “ghosted”. The ghosting technique involves tapping your finger on the note ever so softly that it

Learning the Handpan: Lesson 10 / Triplet Rhythms by NovaPans Handpans

There’s more to the handpan then just playing the notes individually. Some of the best pieces involve playing multiple notes at once or in other words, playing chords! These are much simpler to do than you might expect. Check out the video below!

Who knows Hang Massive? Who doesn’t!? Well, from their most famous track, “Once Again”, which we’ve all seen on Youtube, there’s a particular accompaniment on one of the handpans which we automatically associate with the Hang Massive now that every time we hear it. We call it “Walking the Hands” and quick and simple technique

Notice how we left some spaces open on the musical staves? Well that’s because they’ll be used for percussive slaps / taks / taps / clicks or whatever else people are calling them. What’s important is you know that a percussive “hit” is when you tap the flat part of your finger on the empty

Did you know that there’s a lot more to the handpan than just the notes you can play? Like on the guitar whereby pressing one finger ever so gently in one position of the note while striking the note with the other you end up creating a super high note, the same can be done

Learning semi-quaver (1/4) rhythms, a follow-up from Lesson 2 Quaver (1/2) beat rhythms!    

Accents! If you’re still playing notes, all of the same duration and intensity, then you’re not yet making use of accents (not at least intentionally!). Accents are a means of making individual notes sound more interesting by playing them with a little extra force than other notes. By doing this, you allow certain notes to