Wooden Tongue Drum

From the oldest family of music instruments, the tongue drum is a simple instrument with an amazing sound. Technically, it’s not a drum, as there is no vibrating membrane. It is instead classified as an idiophone (though somehow the word isn’t in the dictionary), as the tongue drum makes its sound through the vibration of the body when struck by mallets or played by hand.

For thousands of years, tongue drums were made to have just one or two slits and more closely represent what is now called the slit drum. These days, tongue drums are typically made to have anywhere from 4 to 16 notes, and usually have their own unique tuning.

After watching this video, Click Here to see another unusual percussion instrument.

Music of the tongue drum

The tongue drum goes back thousands and thousands of years within many African, Asian and South American cultures.  Originally made of hollowed-out trees, the tongue drum is classified as an idiophone, which is a type of instrument whose sound is made by the vibration of itself, and so is part of the first group of instruments ever created (except of course for the human voice).

Here is a glimpse at a modern tongue drum, crafted using current technology. After the video, Click Here to check out another unique music instrument.

HAPI Music

By no means am I any kind of master with the HAPI in my hands, but I sure can have some fun with it!  This blog is dedicated to unique music worldwide and features many musicians playing their unusual and amazing instruments, this video is one of mine. 

I’m always critical of my own perfomance, so I’d say I start a bit slow here, but take it somewhere by the end. So hopefully you can sit back and enjoy this video better than I can…

As a matter of fact, HAPI stands for Hand Activated Percussion Instrument. It is one of several melodic percussion instruments created in recent years, and is inspired by the much more elusive hang drum.

After the video, Click Here and see another tongue drum in action.