Wisconsin Life

Well, a handpan is two sheets of steel that have been parted in some way either by heat treatment or hammering. It has notes on the top that are played with the hands. The bottom is like a resonating cavity. It's a very unique sounding instrument. The handpan originated in the year 2000. It was developed by two steel panned tuners in Switzerland. My first reaction was, What the heck is that thing? When I heard the sound, I knew that I had to bring that sound into my life in some way. I actually knew that I... I had to build it. I have a scrap pile of ones that didn't work out. That's probably around 80. I knew that I wasn't going to stop until I got an instrument. I'm one of a few woman in the world that is building handpans and definitely the only one in Wisconsin. So the first thing that we do, when the steel arrives in the workshop, is we will decide what scale we are about to build. After we've made the layout, we will put in the dimples for all of the intended notes. And we are ready to begin hammering to prepare for the process of tuning.

tat, tat, tat of hammer on metal

sound of one note

We do a rough tuning. Take hammers and hammer on one side. Flip it around, hammer on the other side. And then we begin the process of forming the note into the proper shape. After the rough tuning, we take the instrument and attach it with glue. From there the instrument cures for a number of days.

sound of one note

And then we do a final tune with a small hammer through the resonating hole. I ve shipped handpans all over the world. We actually have a pair going to Japan, to China, to Argentina. I get as much interest in handpans from outside of Wisconsin as I do in Madison. I think success is building a community to connect people to instruments that they absolutely love. That just makes me so happy that people are loving the instruments and just enjoying playing music People say that the handpan sounds a lot like water. I like that when I think about being in Madison, with the two halves of the shell joined together, and we're on an isthmus surrounded by two lakes and the sound of water. I think it's a really nice way to think about it.