We should be clear from the start, that for the purposes of this post at least, the following video is not of Felix Rohner building a “PANArt Hang” (one of PANArt’s own creations), but is instead a video of PANArt's Felix Rohner building a “Handpan”. Or at least, what in his view, constitutes a Handpan - an “imitation” of PANArt’s own Hang instruments, that PANArt themselves have been generally critical of across the board.
In their book, “Hang: Sound Sculpture”, PANArt state of these imitators that “they often copy the Hang’s external details, but do not play close attention to the sound-quality.” In a blog post over at their official website PANArt describe others as sounding “dead, and lifeless”. Felix is also vocally critical of the Hang-inspired scene, and instruments, in his song, Ellie’s Response. And in further attempt to illustrate the differences between Hang and Handpan, during YouTube user, Gubalspieler’s recent visit to meet with Felix, the following video was recorded…
In their book, “Hang: Sound Sculpture”, PANArt state of these imitators that “they often copy the Hang’s external details, but do not play close attention to the sound-quality.” In a blog post over at their official website PANArt describe others as sounding “dead, and lifeless”. Felix is also vocally critical of the Hang-inspired scene, and instruments, in his song, Ellie’s Response. And in further attempt to illustrate the differences between Hang and Handpan, during YouTube user, Gubalspieler’s recent visit to meet with Felix, the following video was recorded…
“Not long ago I visited the PANArt team in its workshop. There I found a handpan lying on the floor. I tried it out. At the first moment it sounded nice. But after a short time playing became boring… - I talked with PANArt Tuner Felix Rohner about my feelings. He told me that this instrument was made with a relative simple tuning technique using plates with string like modes as tone fields… - You can build your own. It needs only a short time to make such an instrument. I can show you how… - It is very different from the usual PANArt tuning method…”
Here at HPM we find that this view is likely too overly-simplistic to be all-encompassing of the work of the now hundreds of Handpan makers around the world building their own Hang-inspired instruments. But it makes for an interesting and insightful video none-the-less. And with our page on Handpan-making always being popular, even if intended as a “how not to do it” type video - it could still prove of interest to those looking to build themselves a simple D.I.Y Handpan.
To read the videos full (and considerably more lengthy) description, click HERE to visit YouTube. Alternatively, you can catch the latest from PANArt over at Facebook: HERE. or via their website: HERE.
