Singing bowls were historically made throughout Asia. Today they are made in Nepal, India, Japan, China and Korea. The best known types are from the Himalayan region and are sometimes referred to as Himalayan singing bowls.
As Perry (1996) and Jansen (1992) state, little is known in western scholarship regarding Himalayan singing bowls. It is likely they were used in rituals, having a specific function like other instruments (such as the ghanta, tingsha, and shang). The oral and written traditions from the Himalayan region are vast and largely unknown in the west. To date, no specific texts have been found discussing the use of singing bowls in depth, but according to Joseph Feinstein of Himalayan Bowls (2006), paintings and statues dating from several centuries ago depict singing bowls in detail. Singing bowls from at least the 10th–12th century are found in private collections. The tradition may date significantly earlier since bronze has been used to construct musical instruments for thousands of years. Bronze bells from Asia have been discovered as early as the 8th–10th century BC (Feinstein, 2006).
Singing bowls are played by the friction of rubbing a wooden, plastic, or leather wrapped mallet around the rim of the bowl to produce overtones and a continuous 'singing' sound. High quality singing bowls produce a complex chord of harmonic overtones. Singing bowls may also be played by striking with a soft mallet to produce a warm bell tone.
Singing bowls are unique because they are multiphonic instruments, producing multiple harmonic overtones at the same time.
Both antique and new bowls are widely used as an aid to meditation and as a tool for trance induction. They are also used in yoga, music therapy, sound healing, religious services, performance and for personal enjoyment.
Antique singing bowls produce multiphonic and polyharmonic overtones creating an effect that is unique to the instrument. The subtle yet complex multiple harmonic frequencies are a special quality of the high quality bronze alloy. The art of making singing bowls in the traditional way is often called a lost art, but traditional craftsmen do still make singing bowls in the traditional manner.
Antique singing bowls are highly prized and collected worldwide, due to their fine craftsmanship and remarkable sound. They may display abstract decorations like lines, rings and circles engraved into the surface. Decoration may appear outside the rim, inside the bottom, around the top of the rim and sometimes on the outside bottom.
Singing bowls are manufactured today. New bowls may be plain or decorated. They sometimes feature religious iconography and spiritual motifs and symbols, such as the Tibetan mantra Om mani padme hum, images of Buddhas, and Ashtamangala.
New singing bowls are exported from Nepal and India. The best hand made examples are made in Nepal. High quality new singing bowls are made in Japan and Korea but are not generally exported.
Category:Idiophones Category:Buddhist meditation Category:Buddhist music Category:Music therapy
cs:Tibetská mísa da:Syngeskål de:Klangschale es:Tazón cantador fr:Bol chantant gl:Cunca tibetana it:Campana tibetana nl:Klankschaal ja:鈴 (仏具) ru:Поющие чаши sl:Pojoča skledaThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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