About the Composer

Last year I posted a little item about my discovery of this wonderful instrument. Since then, that post has become increasingly popular, and so it seems appropriate to offer some updated information. The site of the people in Switzerland who make the hang is currently down, as is the site of the Canadian distributor whom I’d linked to in my previous post.

The long and the short of it is that hang drums will not be available again until next April, and then it can only be purchased in person, which means a trip to Bern, Switzerland. More details can be found among the more recent comments to this blog post. There is a comment at the bottom, dated today, from the creators of the Hang:

After a busy summer, with lots of visitors from all over the world, we are closing our doors for our yearly spell of Research and Development. During this time we will be looking at new ways of working with the metal and its music.

Hanghaus will remain closed to the public throughout the winter. During this period we will not be receiving visitors or selling instruments.

Please contact us in April of 2007, at which time we hope to be in a position to show you the results of our winter�s work.

Felix Rohner and Sabina Sch�rer

Hangbuilders

Also, I’ve been advised of a Yahoo group dedicated to the hang, and there is now an entry in Wikipedia. (Many thanks to Saggio for writing me with this updated information.)

NOTE: An update to this item was posted on September 12, 2006. You’ll find fresher information there.

One day last week while walking in Golden Gate Park, I heard an attractive percussion sound coming from near the fountain by the de Young. I went to investigate and discovered This Guy sitting on a bench and gently tapping what looked like a flying saucer or an inside-out steel drum. The sound was captivating; very similar to a steel drum, only the pitches were much more focused and rang for much longer. The guy playing it in the park was able to achieve counterpoint and harmony.

After listening for a while, I asked about the instrument, which I found out is called a “Hang” and made by a company in Switzerland. It looks like the Hang is in such high demand that you can’t even order one until March of next year.

Further research has revealed that… well, that there isn’t a lot of information on the internet about it, one exception being this very thorough site. The Hang is made to order, which means you choose the pitches (7 or 8 ), so virtually any scale can be achieved, including non-Western ones. The site referenced above also has a library of mp3 examples of various modes and scales.

It’s a beautiful sounding instrument, but I wonder how practical it would be to write for it as a classical composer. My first thought was how great it would be to have this in an orchestral percussion battery, but since it would require the orchestra to have access to a hang in the exact tuning your piece requires. (I think they cost in the neighborhood of $600) Maybe someone will get into the hang rental business.

The name “hang” is said to be from a Swiss German dialect’s word for “hand”. Hooray for David Kaetz (same site referenced above) for also knowing that “hang” is the Hungarian word for “sound”, “tone” and many related words. He has a very fun dictionary of Hungarian words based on the root “hang”.

My old friend Chris Mandra appeared out of nowhere this weekend, announcing that he was in San Francisco and on the way to Burning Man. When I say “old”… he was among my first friends when I arrived at the University of the Arts as a freshman, so we’re talking exactly twenty years now. Holy moly.

So, Chris is an interesting guy. He has gone from affable, endearingly pretentious, bearded composition student to shaved-headed Executive Producer of NPR Online to red-streaked, wild-haired electro-acoustic performance, uh, wizardy guy. (OK, not quite sure what’s up with my obsession with Chris’ hairstyle.)

Chris now goes by the name of “kataStatik” (and I relentlessly taunted him by calling him “katatastic”), and he performs on an instrument he invented called the “manDrum”. If I understand correctly, the manDrum consists of sensors he wears under his clothing that interact with software he wrote to control a synthesizer when struck. (Sorry, I’m not hip to all the real terminology.) So, basically, he beats himself silly, and music comes out.

There’s more to it than that. More details and video of the manDrum in action can be found on Chris’ web site. This is all quite removed from the musical world I live in, but it sure is interesting. Plus, I have to say: “manDrum” is a great name.