Scales and music theory

• 1: Choosing a scale
• 2: Music theory for handpan
• 3: Handpan scale directory
• 4: Understanding handpan scales

1 - Choosing a scale

SCA-17How do I choose my first scale?#

beginner

The process that works, in order:

1. Listen first, name later. Spend an evening on recordings, ideally solo playing rather than heavily produced tracks. Note down which ones you replay. Do not look at the scale names while you do this, because names bias you towards what sounds exotic on paper rather than what you actually enjoy hearing. Only afterwards check what the ones you liked were.

2. Notice the mood you keep returning to. Handpan scales sort roughly into melancholic and complete (Kurd, Aeolian), open and flowing (Celtic, Amara), suspended and hopeful (Equinox), bright and resolved (Sabye, Ashakiran, Golden Gate), hypnotic and forgiving (Pygmy, Akebono), and spicy and dramatic (Hijaz, Onoleo). You will almost certainly have a clear favourite.

3. Be honest about why you are buying. If this is primarily for personal calm, meditation or sound work, a pentatonic or a low Celtic will serve you better than a chord rich Kurd. If you want to write music, accompany singing or play with other people, you want a complete seven note scale. If you want to learn from tutorials, D Kurd has by a wide margin the most material.

4. Check the practicalities. Nine or ten notes for a first instrument. A ding around C#3 to E3 for the most manageable size and weight. And get the actual note list from the maker, because names are unreliable (SCA-05).

5. Accept that you cannot get this perfect. Most players who stick with the instrument own more than one within a few years. The first instrument’s job is to be good enough that you keep playing it, not to be your final answer.

The one genuinely bad way to choose is by reading a list of scale descriptions and picking the most evocative adjective. Every scale is described as mystical, meditative and deeply moving by somebody selling it. Your ears are the only reliable instrument here.

See also: SCA-18, SCA-09

SCA-18Should my first handpan be minor or major?#

beginner

The case for minor is partly musical and partly cultural. Musically, minor sets tend to sound complete and settled even when you play them randomly, because the intervals that occur naturally between adjacent tone fields resolve pleasantly. Culturally, the handpan sound that people fell in love with, from the original Hang onwards, is overwhelmingly minor. If you buy a major instrument expecting “that handpan sound”, you may be quietly disappointed for reasons you cannot articulate.

Minor is also more versatile than it looks. A D Kurd is not restricted to sad music. It contains F major, B flat major and C major triads, so you can play warm, resolved, even triumphant progressions on it. A major instrument, by contrast, has a harder time sounding genuinely dark. Minor scales cover more emotional ground than major ones on a fixed instrument.

The case for major is narrower but real. If you write or sing songs, a major scale gives you a I chord that resolves properly and makes accompaniment straightforward. If you play for children, for celebrations, or in a folk or pop context, major suits it. If you find minor handpan recordings gloomy rather than beautiful, trust that reaction and buy Sabye or Ashakiran instead. And if you already own something minor, major is an excellent second instrument.

There is a middle path worth knowing about. Scales such as Equinox and Celtic sit between the two: minor in construction but open and unresolved in feel, so they read as contemplative rather than sad. Golden Gate does the reverse, being bright in interval content but emotionally weighty in effect. If you dislike the choice as posed, those are the interesting options.

Going deeper. A common misconception is that minor is harder or more advanced. It is not. Nothing about a minor handpan is technically harder than a major one; the fields are the same size and the layout logic is identical.

See also: SCA-11, SCA-10

SCA-19How do I choose a scale I will not get bored of?#

intermediate

Boredom with a handpan usually arrives one of three ways, and each has a different fix.

You have run out of chords. This is the commonest and it hits pentatonic owners hardest. A five pitch instrument gives you a handful of intervals and essentially one harmonic colour. It is lovely and it is finite. Complete scales such as Kurd, Celtic, Sabye and Equinox give you five or six triads, which means you can spend a long time exploring progressions rather than just melodies. If you want one instrument to last, buy a complete scale.

You have run out of range. Nine notes covering an octave and a bit means melodies keep landing in the same place. This is why ten and twelve note instruments hold attention longer, and why bottom notes transform solo playing: once you can hold a low root under a melody, the same nine top notes suddenly have twice as much to say.

You have run out of ideas, not notes. This is far more common than players admit, and buying another instrument does not fix it. If you find yourself playing the same four bar loop every time you sit down, the problem is repertoire and technique, not scale. Learning a few named techniques, some rhythmic vocabulary and two or three actual pieces will revive an instrument you were about to sell.

Two practical predictors of longevity. First, count the triads available in the scale before buying; if it is fewer than four, expect to want a second instrument sooner. Second, ask whether the scale has a strong tonal centre. Scales with a clear home note (Kurd, Sabye) let you build tension and release, which is the engine of musical interest. Scales with no fixed tonic (Akebono, some pentatonics) are wonderfully atmospheric and much harder to make dramatic.

The counterargument deserves its space: many long term players are perfectly content with one pentatonic pan because they use it for meditation, not composition. If that is genuinely your use, buy the beautiful, forgiving thing and ignore all of the above.

See also: SCA-13, SCA-24

SCA-20Does the scale limit what music I can play?#

beginner

Be clear about the hard limits first. You cannot modulate to a distant key. You cannot play a chromatic passing note that is not on the instrument. You cannot play a piece written in E flat on a D Kurd unless you rewrite it. If a melody needs a note you do not have, you have three options: change the note, change the octave, or leave it out. There is no fourth option.

Now the encouraging part. Most folk melodies, a great deal of pop, and almost all ambient and meditative music sits inside a single seven note scale and moves between three or four chords. A D Kurd handles the entire universe of music in D minor, F major, and their close relations, which is enormous. Countless well known tunes fit into a nine note minor pan with only octave adjustments.

Adaptation techniques worth knowing:

• Transpose the whole piece into your key. On a fixed instrument this is a decision you make once, on paper, before you start.
• Fold the melody into range. If a phrase goes above your top note, drop that phrase an octave. It sounds deliberate more often than you would expect.
• Substitute the missing note. A melody note you do not have can usually be replaced by the note a third above or below within the scale, and the ear accepts it.
• Imply what you cannot play. A chord you lack can be suggested by playing its other members and letting context do the work. Handpan players do this constantly.

The real limitation is not repertoire, it is collaboration. Playing with other musicians means they come to your key or you do not play, and that is a genuine constraint on how spontaneously you can join in. See SCA-22.

Going deeper. Many experienced handpan players argue the constraint is the point. A fixed set of nine notes eliminates infinite choice and forces you to develop rhythm, dynamics, timbre and phrasing, which are the elements that actually make playing expressive. Players who move to large chromatic instruments often report their playing became busier and less musical for a while.

See also: SCA-25

SCA-21How do I choose a second handpan that complements the first?#

intermediate

Planet Handpan sets this out usefully as three strategies, and they map well onto how players actually use second instruments.

Complement: same tonal family. Pick a scale in the same parent key, or its relative major or minor. A D Kurd (D minor) pairs with an F major scale such as F Sabye, because they share the same seven pitches. Two instruments in the same key sound like one larger instrument, you can move between them without thinking, and duet playing is effortless. Handpan.World publishes a standard set of these parallel pairings, including D minor with F major, C# minor with E major, B minor with D major, E minor with G major, A minor with C major, and F# minor with A major. The downside is that you have added range and mood but almost no new pitches.

Challenge: minimal overlap. Pick a scale that shares as few notes as possible with your first, so that between the two instruments you approach a full chromatic set. Planet Handpan gives the example of pairing a D Kurd 8 with an E Sabye, which between them cover a complete chromatic octave. This is powerful and it is hard: switching between them mid piece requires real fluency, and playing both at once demands care to avoid clashes.

Compromise: one or two steps round the circle of fifths. You keep six of seven pitches in common, so improvising across both is still easy, but you gain a note that opens new chords and modal colours. This is the option most second time buyers are happiest with.

Practical additions to whichever you choose. Consider going higher or lower in pitch than your first instrument rather than staying in the same register, so the two occupy different sonic space. Consider a different note count, since a ten note and a low bottom noted twelve note make a better pair than two nines. And consider that if your first is a pentatonic, almost any complete scale will feel like a huge expansion regardless of key.

Going deeper. If you plan to play both simultaneously on a double stand, check the physical geometry as well as the music. Two large shells at playable angles take more space than people expect, and reaching across affects which notes are actually comfortable.

See also: SCA-22, SCA-14

SCA-22How do I pick a scale for playing with other instruments and voices?#

intermediate

With guitar and other fretted instruments. Guitars live in sharp keys because of the open strings, so a handpan in E minor, A minor, D minor, G major or C major will slot in with minimal friction. A handpan in F minor or E flat will force the guitarist to a capo or barre chords all evening. D minor (D Kurd) and E minor (E Kurd) are the two most useful all rounders. Remember that the handpan cannot change key, so the burden is always on the other instrument.

With piano and keyboards. Any key works, so choose on tone rather than compatibility. Consider register: a handpan around D3 sits in the same range as the left hand of a piano and can get crowded, so a higher pan or a keyboardist willing to stay above middle C helps.

With singing. This is where the root note matters most. The general rule is to put the ding below the singer’s comfortable range so the voice sits above the instrument rather than fighting it. A low male voice often works well over C#3 or D3; a higher voice frequently prefers E3, F3 or F#3. Major family scales such as Sabye make accompaniment straightforward because you get a proper resolving tonic chord, but minor scales are perfectly singable and often more affecting. Test this practically: sing over recordings of candidate instruments before buying.

With drums and percussion. Choose a higher pitched pan than you otherwise might. A cajon, djembe or kick drum occupies the same low frequencies as a deep ding, and in a live mix the handpan disappears. E, F and G roots cut through where a low A2 or B2 will not. A brighter, shorter sustaining instrument is also easier to play rhythmically in time with others.

For meditation, yoga and sound bath work. Go low and go simple. Low roots (A2, B2, C3, C#3) give the long, room filling sustain the work depends on, and pentatonic scales such as Pygmy and Akebono let you play continuously without ever producing a jarring interval, which matters when your attention is on the room rather than the instrument. If you already work with singing bowls, gongs or chimes, find out their pitches first and choose a handpan that shares notes with them, because a bowl a semitone off your ding will beat audibly and unpleasantly.

See also: SCA-14, SCA-21

2 - Music theory for handpan

SCA-23How much music theory do I actually need?#

beginner

Start with the honest position. The handpan’s whole design premise is that the wrong notes have been removed. You can sit down knowing nothing, strike fields at random, and produce music. Thousands of accomplished handpan players cannot read standard notation and never will. Anybody who tells a beginner they need theory before they can play is wrong.

That said, players usually hit a plateau somewhere in the first year, where everything they improvise sounds like everything else they improvise. A small amount of theory dissolves that plateau faster than anything else. The useful list, roughly in order of return on effort:

1. Know your note names and their positions. Write out your instrument’s layout, memorise which field is which, and learn where the ding sits in it. This alone is worth more than everything below.

2. Understand intervals. Specifically, know what a third, a fourth and a fifth feel like on your instrument, and notice that thirds are usually adjacent or near adjacent fields on the same side of the pan. Once you feel intervals rather than count notes, you can transpose a phrase by ear.

3. Understand triads. A chord is three notes stacked in thirds. Being able to find your instrument’s five or six triads unlocks accompaniment, and it turns aimless noodling into progressions. See SCA-24.

4. Understand what a tonal centre is. Knowing which note feels like home, and hearing when a phrase moves away from it and back, is what makes playing feel like it is going somewhere.

5. Basic rhythm counting. Being able to count in four and in six, and to feel where the beat is, matters far more to how your playing sounds than any amount of harmonic knowledge.

Everything beyond that (modes, functional harmony, voice leading, notation) is optional and useful mostly if you are writing, arranging or playing with other musicians.

Going deeper. There is a real risk in the other direction. Players who arrive with a strong theory background sometimes play the handpan like a keyboard, treating it as a pitch delivery system and neglecting timbre, damping, strike position and dynamics. Those are where handpan expression actually lives.

See also: SCA-24

SCA-24How do I find the chords available in my scale and use them?#

intermediate

The method, step by step, using D Kurd 9 (D3 / A3 Bb3 C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4) as the worked example:

1. List the distinct pitch classes: D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C.
2. Starting from each, take that note, skip one, take the next, skip one, take the next.
3. From D: D, F, A. That is D minor.
4. From E: E, G, Bb. That is E diminished, which is harmonically unstable and rarely used as a resting chord.
5. From F: F, A, C. That is F major.
6. From G: G, Bb, D. That is G minor.
7. From A: A, C, E. That is A minor.
8. From Bb: Bb, D, F. That is B flat major.
9. From C: C, E, G. That is C major.

So a nine note D Kurd gives you six comfortable triads plus one diminished. That is a serious harmonic vocabulary, and it is why D Kurd is recommended so often.

Now find them physically. Number your fields from the ding outwards and mark which fields carry each chord tone. On a D Kurd, D minor is available as the ding plus the A and F fields, and because those notes sit at different points on the circle you often have more than one way to voice it. The alternating layout means chord tones are typically adjacent or one field apart on the same side, so most triads are a single hand position rather than a scramble.

Using them is the part that changes your playing. Three exercises worth doing:

• Arpeggiate. Play each triad as a rolling three note figure, one note per hand alternating, until each is automatic.
• Block them. Strike all three notes together, or as a fast flam, so you hear the chord as a unit.
• Make a progression. Loop four chords, one per bar. Dm to Bb to F to C is the entire structure of an enormous number of songs, and all four are on your instrument. Then improvise melody over the loop using only scale notes.

Going deeper. Scales that drop a scale degree lose chords with it. D Celtic/Amara omits the Bb, so it loses B flat major and G minor entirely, which is precisely the harmonic difference between it and D Kurd. When comparing two similar scales, counting the triads is the most informative test available.

See also: SCA-09, SCA-19

SCA-25How do I transpose, or think in modes, on a fixed instrument?#

advanced

Transposing between instruments. Learn phrases as field numbers, not note names. “Field 1, field 3, field 2, ding” is the same gesture on a D Kurd 9, an E Kurd 9 and an F Kurd 9, and it will produce the same melody transposed. This is why handpan tab is almost always numeric (SCA-26). It also means that if you learn a piece on a borrowed instrument, you can carry it home to yours.

Transposing music onto your instrument. This happens on paper, once, before you play. Work out the interval between the piece’s key and your ding, move every note by that interval, then check whether the result fits inside your note set. If two or three notes fall outside, adjust them by a third or drop the phrase an octave. If half the piece falls outside, it does not fit your instrument and no amount of cleverness will make it.

Thinking modally. This is the genuinely powerful technique. A D Kurd contains the seven pitches of the D natural minor scale, which are also the pitches of F major, G Dorian, A Phrygian, Bb Lydian, C Mixolydian and E Locrian. You cannot change which notes exist, but you can change which one your playing treats as home, and that alone changes the emotional character completely.

In practice: play a long, insistent F in the bass, resolve your phrases onto F, and the same instrument sounds like F major, warm and resolved. Anchor on G instead, with an emphasis on the E natural, and you get G Dorian, which is minor but hopeful and jazz inflected. Anchor on C and you get Mixolydian, bright with a flattened seventh. This is one instrument playing four moods and it costs nothing but intent.

Two things make it work. First, you need to establish the new home firmly, through repetition, low register emphasis and phrase endings, because the ear defaults to the ding otherwise. Second, avoid the modes whose home note sits high in the tone circle with nothing beneath it, because you cannot ground them.

Going deeper. Modal playing is why an instrument with only nine notes does not run dry. It is also the reason experienced players get more out of a Kurd than a pentatonic: a scale with seven pitches contains seven modes, whereas a five pitch scale gives far fewer usable centres, and Akebono in particular is often described as having no fixed tonic at all.

See also: SCA-20, SCA-24

SCA-26How do I write down and notate handpan music?#

intermediate

Numeric tab. The dominant system. Each tone field gets a number, conventionally 1 for the lowest field and upwards, with the ding written as D or 0. A melody becomes a string of numbers, grouped into beats or bars. Hands are usually indicated by case, colour or a letter above the number (L and R). Dedicated handpan notation systems such as Notepan extend this with symbols for the non pitched sounds that matter on this instrument: palm mute, tak (a strike on the shoulder of a field), slap, knock, fist, ghost notes, muted notes, harmonics at the octave and fifth, finger rolls and flams.

The critical weakness of numeric tab is that numbering is not standardised. Some players number by pitch from lowest to highest, others follow the physical layout, others use B1, B2 and B3 for bottom notes. Notepan’s own documentation recommends attaching a photograph of the instrument with its numbering marked, and that is the right practice. Always publish your numbering key alongside your tab.

Numeric tab has a real strength that offsets this: it transposes for free. The same numbers play the same melody on any instrument sharing your scale shape, in any key.

Standard notation. Unambiguous about pitch, rhythm and dynamics, and immediately readable by any trained musician, which is why it is the right choice when you are writing for an ensemble or submitting a score. Its limits on handpan are significant. It cannot express which physical field you should use when a pitch appears twice on the instrument, it has no vocabulary for handpan specific timbres, and it does not indicate hand assignment, which on a handpan is not a detail but the substance of how a passage is played. Most handpan scores in standard notation end up carrying a page of custom symbol definitions.

Circular and diagram notation. Some teachers draw the pan as a circle with numbered fields and draw arrows or sequences across it. This is excellent for showing a hand shape or a chord voicing, and hopeless for a piece of any length.

What most players actually do. A video recording, plus rough numeric tab as a memory aid, plus a photograph of the instrument. That is not a cop out. The handpan repertoire is transmitted overwhelmingly by ear and by video, and there is no institutional pressure towards a written standard.

See also: SCA-02, SCA-25

3 - Handpan scale directory

A note on the layouts in this file. Every note list below was checked against at least one maker or curated scale database, and most against two or more independent sources. Handpan scale naming is not standardised (see SCA-05), so where sources disagreed, or where only one source existed, it is said so explicitly. Treat any layout here as a representative example, not a specification. Always confirm the actual note list with your own maker before buying.

SCA-09What is D Kurd, and why is it the default recommendation?#

beginner

This layout is one of the few in the handpan world that is genuinely consistent across makers. It was verified here against Isthmus Instruments’ scale database, the Mudra scale player, and two independent scale guides, all giving the same eight tone fields.

What makes it work musically is that it contains the whole natural minor scale with no gaps, plus a repeated A at both the bottom and top of the tone circle. That completeness is why it yields so many usable chords. From the standard nine note layout you get, at minimum:

• D minor (D, F, A) using the ding and two fields
• F major (F, A, C)
• B flat major (Bb, D, F)
• C major (C, E, G)
• A minor (A, C, E)
• G minor (G, Bb, D)

That is enough harmony to play a very large amount of Western popular and folk music, and enough to accompany a singer convincingly. The B flat is the note that distinguishes D Kurd from D Celtic/Amara, which omits it, and it is the reason Kurd has the fuller harmonic palette of the two.

The ecosystem argument matters as much as the music. More handpan tutorials, tab, backing tracks and duet arrangements are written for D Kurd than for any other scale. If you want to learn from YouTube or a course, D Kurd removes a layer of friction. It is also the easiest scale to sell on, because demand for it is permanent.

The honest counterargument: D Kurd is everywhere, and some players find it sounds generic precisely because they have heard it so often. It is also unambiguously minor and can feel relentlessly melancholic if that is not the mood you want. Neither of these is a reason to avoid it for a first instrument. Both are good reasons to think harder for a second.

Going deeper. D Kurd extends cleanly. D Kurd 10 adds C5 at the top (D3 / A3 Bb3 C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4 C5), verified in two sources. D Kurd 12 continues with D5 and E5. Larger versions typically add F3 and G3 as low fields or bottom notes.

See also: SCA-10, SCA-17

SCA-10What are the minor family scales?#

beginner

Kurd / Aeolian / Annaziska. These three names all commonly describe a natural minor note set, and are frequently interchangeable. As a rough tendency, Annaziska is applied to C# roots and Kurd to D and E roots, with Aeolian used when a maker prefers the theoretical term. Verified examples:

• D Kurd 9: D3 / A3 Bb3 C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4 (multiple sources agree)
• E Kurd: E / B C D E F# G A B (Isthmus and Mudra agree on the core)
• C# Annaziska 9: C# / G# A B C# D# E F# G# (Isthmus and Mudra agree exactly)
• F Kurd: F / C Db Eb F G Ab Bb C (single source, Isthmus; transposes consistently)

Character: complete, structured, harmonically rich, unmistakably minor.

Celtic and Amara. These two names are used interchangeably by makers, and Saraz credits Pantheon Steel with coining “Celtic Minor” for handpans around 2012. The defining move is dropping the sixth degree of the natural minor scale, the B flat in D minor, which removes one of the two semitone steps and opens the sound out. Verified examples:

• D Celtic / D Amara: D / A C D E F G A C (Isthmus and Mudra agree; some builds end on a high D instead of C)
• B Amara 9: B2 / F#3 A3 B3 C#4 D4 E4 F#4 A4 (Isthmus and Mudra agree exactly)

Character: flowing, open, wistful rather than heavy. Slightly easier to improvise on than Kurd because there is one less note that can sound leaning or unresolved. Slightly fewer chords for the same reason.

Integral. A minor set with a scale degree deliberately omitted to create space. Isthmus gives D Integral as D / A Bb C D E F A C, dropping the G. Be aware that other sellers publish a materially different note list under the same name, so Integral is a scale to confirm before buying.

Equinox. A minor family set with a distinctive suspended quality, often described as simultaneously contemplative and hopeful. Verified: E Equinox E / G B C D E F# G B (Isthmus and Mudra agree). The pitch content is E natural minor with the fourth degree, the A, left out, which is what produces the open, suspended quality: with no fourth there is no strong pull back to the tonic.

Where Hijaz sits. Hijaz is technically a minor family scale, built on a harmonic minor or Phrygian dominant foundation, but it sounds so different that it is treated separately in SCA-12.

See also: SCA-09, SCA-16

SCA-11What are the major and bright scales?#

beginner

Sabye. The best established major family name. Verified: E Sabye E / A B C# D# E F# G# B (Isthmus, corroborated in pitch content by Mudra’s E Sabye (Major) 17). That is E major, with the A (the fourth) sitting as the lowest tone field below the ding, which is what gives Sabye its lift: you get a IV chord under the tonic. Other verified roots include C Sabye C / F G A B C D E G and F Sabye F / Bb C D E F G A C, both single source (Isthmus), so confirm before buying. Character: warm, uplifted, resolved, good for singing over.

Ashakiran. Isthmus states that Ashakiran is another name for the Sabye idea, and the Mudra database labels its C Ashakiran as “(Major)”. Verified example: D Ashakiran D / G A B C# D E F# A (single source, Isthmus), which is D major with the G fourth below. Treat Sabye and Ashakiran as the same family under different labels.

Ionian. This is simply the theoretical name for the major scale. A few makers list “Ionian” instruments, but there is no distinct handpan Ionian layout convention separate from Sabye, Ashakiran or plain “Major”. No maker specific Ionian layout could be verified for this entry. If you see an instrument sold as Ionian, ask for the note list and expect a major scale.

Golden Gate. A Pantheon Steel coinage that has been picked up by other makers. Verified: C Golden Gate C3 / E3 G3 B3 C4 D4 F#4 G4 as eight notes (Isthmus), with the nine note version adding B4 (Mudra). Note the F#: this is not a plain C major but a Lydian flavoured set rooted in G major, which is exactly what gives Golden Gate its floating, cinematic quality. Isthmus describes it as expressive and emotionally weighty despite the bright intervals.

Magic Voyage. A pentatonic minor set despite the sunny name, described by HaganeNote as very close to Low Pygmy and built around a minor seventh chord. HaganeNote gives E: E G B D E F# G B D, F: F Ab C Eb F G Ab C, G: G Bb D F G A Bb D. This is a single source, and a different retailer publishes a completely different note list under the same name. Confirm carefully.

Why Pygmy is not major. Pygmy is a minor pentatonic. It sounds bright and open because pentatonic scales contain no semitone clashes at all, not because it contains a major third over its root. Players routinely mislabel it. See SCA-13.

See also: SCA-18

SCA-12What are the exotic and Middle Eastern scales?#

intermediate

Hijaz. The name comes from the maqam Hijaz of Arabic music, and the sound comes from an augmented second, a gap of three semitones between adjacent scale degrees. Where that gap falls depends on how the set is read: between the flattened second and the major third in a Phrygian dominant reading, and between the flattened sixth and the leading note in the harmonic minor sets that most handpan Hijaz layouts actually use. Saraz describes it as spicy, suspenseful and sensual, and notes it was popularised on early PANArt Hang instruments before spreading to essentially every builder.

Hijaz is the least standardised common scale in the handpan world. Verified layouts from different sources genuinely conflict:

• Isthmus gives D Hijaz as D / G A Bb C# D E F A
• Isthmus gives A2 Hijaz as A / D E F G# A B C E
• The Mudra database’s D Hijaz and A2 Hijaz have materially different note content from both of the above

Both are real instruments sold as Hijaz. Neither source is wrong; the name simply covers a range. If you want a specific Hijaz sound, get the note list and play a recording before committing.

Romanian Hijaz. A recognised variant where the lowest side note sits a fourth above the ding. Saraz notes it is also called Ukrainian Dorian in Eastern European contexts. Verified: E Romanian Hijaz E / A B C D# E F# G B (Isthmus; Mudra’s twenty note version has consistent pitch content).

Hijaz Kar. In maqam theory, Hijaz Kar is the double harmonic scale, with augmented seconds in both tetrachords. Some retailers list handpans under variations of this name. No consistent maker published Hijaz Kar handpan layout could be verified for this entry. If offered one, treat the name as descriptive of intent and insist on the note list.

Raga Desh. Named after the Hindustani raga. Verified: C# Raga Desh 9 C#3 / F3 F#3 G#3 B3 C#4 F4 F#4 G#4 (single source, the Mudra database). The character is drone like and modal, with the repeated fourth and flattened seventh giving it a strong Indian classical colour. Single source, so confirm.

Onoleo. A maker coinage with a dark, unsettled quality. Verified: B2 Onoleo 9 B2 / F#3 G3 B3 D#4 E4 F#4 G4 B4 (single source, Mudra), which combines a minor second above the fifth with a major third, an unusual and quite striking combination. Also built in C as a sixteen note. Single source, so confirm.

Annaziska. Despite the exotic sounding name, this is a natural minor set, usually on C#. It belongs with the minor family in SCA-10, and is listed here only because buyers often assume the name signals something unusual.

Blues. Handpans are occasionally described as having a blues scale, meaning a minor pentatonic with an added flattened fifth. No maker published handpan blues layout could be verified for this entry. The blue note is a semitone away from two of its neighbours, which is difficult to place on a handpan without introducing exactly the clashing adjacency the layout normally avoids. Where blues playing happens on handpan, it is usually done on a minor pentatonic instrument such as Pygmy, with the blue note implied by phrasing rather than present as a field.

See also: SCA-15, SCA-05

SCA-13What are pentatonic scales like Pygmy and Akebono, and why are they so forgiving?#

beginner

The mechanism is worth understanding because it explains a lot about the handpan generally. In a seven note scale there are two places where adjacent degrees sit a semitone apart, and those two places are where dissonance and tension come from. They are also what gives a scale its pull towards a home note. Remove them, as Pygmy and the other anhemitonic pentatonics do, and you get a scale with no built in tension, no strong pull, and no wrong combinations: you can strike any two fields simultaneously and get a pleasant interval, every time.

Pygmy. A minor pentatonic, popular from the earliest Hang days. Saraz notes the name was probably first attached to handpans by PANArt in the early 2000s. Verified layouts:

• F Pygmy: F / G Ab C Eb F G Ab C (Isthmus)
• F2 Low Pygmy 9: F2 / F G Ab C Eb F G Ab (Isthmus and Mudra agree in content)
• G Pygmy: G / A Bb D F G A Bb D (Isthmus)
• C# Pygmy 17: C# / (D E) F# G# A (B) C# (D) E F# G# A (B C# D E) (Isthmus and Mudra agree exactly)

Saraz describes three structural forms of Pygmy, differing in the interval from the ding to the first side note, which is another reason the name alone is insufficient.

Akebono. A Japanese pentatonic. Saraz calls it hypnotic, majestic and simultaneously haunting, and notes that it has no fixed tonic, so any note in the set can function as the root. Verified layouts:

• F# Akebono: F# / B C# D F# G B C# (Saraz) or F# / B C# D F# G B C# D (Isthmus, eight fields)
• G Akebono: G / C D Eb G Ab C D (Saraz) or with an added Eb (Isthmus)
• D Akebono: D / G A Bb D Eb G A (Saraz)

Note that Akebono contains a semitone (the flattened second above its functional root), so it is not quite as blandly safe as Pygmy. That semitone is exactly what gives it its distinctive, slightly aching Japanese colour.

The trade off. Fewer distinct pitches means fewer chords and fewer melodies. Pentatonic pans are wonderful for meditative playing, sound bath work and effortless improvisation, and they are limited for accompanying songs or playing with other musicians in a fixed key. Some players find them liberating for years. Others find them one dimensional within months. The variable is what you want the instrument for.

See also: SCA-19, SCA-22

SCA-14What changes when the same scale is built low or high?#

intermediate

Handpan roots in common circulation run roughly from A2 up to G3, with F2 and G2 instruments at the deep end and occasional higher builds above that. Broadly:

Very low (A2, B2, C3, and F2/G2 specialist builds). Big shells, big fields, long sustain, a genuinely chest resonating bass. These are superb for meditation, sound bath and solo ambient work, where the ding acts as a drone that hangs in the room for many seconds. They are heavy, they are usually more expensive because the shells are harder to build, and the melodic notes can feel slow and slightly indistinct. Rhythmic playing is harder because the fields keep ringing into each other.

Low middle (C#3, D3). The most popular territory, and D3 in particular is the reference point for the whole instrument. Enough bass to feel grounded, enough clarity for fast melodic work, and a shell size most people can carry comfortably. C#3 sits a semitone lower and is noticeably warmer for a small change.

Middle and high (E3, F3, F#3, G3). Brighter, faster, more articulate. Notes speak immediately and decay sooner, which makes rhythmic and percussive playing much easier and cleaner. Higher pans project well in a group and are less likely to be swallowed by a guitar or a drum. They are lighter to carry. The cost is less bass weight, and some listeners find them a little thin or nervous compared to a D.

Three practical consequences:

1. Sustain and damping. Low instruments require more active damping technique. If you like busy, rhythmic playing, a higher root will flatter you.
2. Vocal range. If you intend to sing over the instrument, the root matters enormously. A low voice sits well over C#3 or D3; a higher voice may find E3 or F3 easier to pitch against without the ding muddying the low end.
3. Ensemble. In a mixed group, low handpans compete with bass guitar, cajon and kick drums for the same frequency space. A higher pitched pan cuts through and stays audible.

Going deeper. Key is not the same as scale. A D Kurd and a C# Annaziska share a nearly identical interval structure and will feel almost the same under the hands, but they sound meaningfully different in the room. Conversely two instruments in the same key with different scales feel completely different to play. Decide the mood (the scale) first, then the weight (the pitch).

See also: SCA-22, SCA-06

SCA-15What about rare and custom scales?#

advanced

Isthmus Instruments reports having catalogued well over 200 distinct handpan scale names, and the true number of unique note sets built is higher still. Most of those names describe instruments made in tiny numbers. Scale databases carry entries such as La Sirena, Mystic, Jibuk, Aegean, Oxalis, Nordlys, Ursa Minor, Hokkaido, Deep Elysian, Harmonic Lora and Voyager, many attributed to a specific maker or the player who commissioned them. Some of these will become standards. Most will not.

Three routes into rare scales:

Buying an existing rare instrument. You are buying a specific pan, not a scale, so the usual advice applies with extra force: get the exact note list, get a recording of that instrument, and if possible play it. There is no reference recording online to compare against.

Commissioning a custom scale. Most established makers will build to a specified note list. Expect a longer wait, a premium, and a conversation about feasibility, because not every note set is physically buildable on a given shell size. Intervals that require two large adjacent fields, or notes far outside the shell’s comfortable range, may be refused. A good maker will tell you when your idea will not sustain properly, and you should listen.

Designing your own. Genuinely rewarding if you already know what you want to play. Write out the note list, check every interval against every other, and pay particular attention to which notes end up adjacent on the tone circle, because semitone neighbours will beat and muddy. Then send it to a maker and expect them to push back.

The honest warnings. Rare scales have thin resale markets; a D Kurd sells in days, a bespoke fourteen note Nordlys may sit for a year. There will be no tutorials, no tab and no backing tracks. And you will have no duet partners, because nobody else has your instrument.

None of that should stop a player who has hit a real ceiling and knows precisely which notes are missing. It should stop a player who wants something unusual for its own sake.

See also: SCA-05, SCA-21

SCA-16Is there a quick reference table of the common scales?#

beginner

Layouts are written as ding / tone fields ascending. Unless a version number is given, the layout shown is the common nine note form.

How to use this table. Shortlist two or three moods, then get the exact note lists from the specific makers you are considering, then listen to recordings of those specific instruments. The table narrows the field. It does not replace the last two steps.

See also: SCA-05, SCA-17

4 - Understanding handpan scales

SCA-01What is a handpan scale, and why is the instrument fixed to one?#

beginner

Every tone field on a handpan is a dimple of steel whose size, depth and surrounding tension determine its pitch. The tuner then shapes that field so its fundamental, its octave and its compound fifth all line up. That triple tuning is what gives the handpan its bell like ring, and it is also what locks the instrument down. You cannot retune a field by a semitone the way you retune a guitar string. A skilled tuner can nudge a field a few cents back into place during a service, and can occasionally shift a note by a semitone or so on a forgiving instrument, but that is repair or conversion work, not a performance option.

So a handpan is closer to a set of tuned bells than to a keyboard. A nine note instrument gives you nine pitches and nothing else. Anything outside that set has to come from somewhere else: a second instrument, a voice, a guitar.

This sounds like a severe limitation and it is, in the narrow sense. In practice it is the reason the instrument is so approachable. There are no wrong notes. Every combination inside the set has been chosen by the maker to be at least tolerable and usually beautiful, so a complete beginner can strike anything, in any order, and produce something that sounds intentional. Almost no other instrument offers that.

The trade off is that the choice of scale is the single most consequential decision in owning a handpan, more consequential than the maker, the steel or the finish. A poorly chosen scale is an instrument you stop reaching for.

Going deeper. The word “scale” is used loosely here. Many handpan note sets are not scales in the theoretical sense at all. They are curated pitch collections that sit somewhere between a mode and an extended chord, often with notes repeated at the octave and a scale degree or two deliberately missing. Calling them scales is convention, not analysis.

See also: SCA-04, SCA-20

SCA-02How do I read a handpan note layout?#

beginner

Written layouts follow a standard shape. A slash separates the ding from the tone circle:

D3 / A3 Bb3 C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4

That is D Kurd 9. The ding is D3. The eight tone fields, listed in ascending order, are A3, Bb3, C4, D4, E4, F4, G4 and A4. This layout is confirmed by multiple independent maker and database sources.

Physically, the lowest tone field (A3) sits closest to you, immediately below the ding. The next note up (Bb3) sits on the opposite side of the ding, near the top. C4 comes back down to the near left or right, D4 goes back across, and the sequence continues to alternate, working upwards and outwards until the highest note sits at the top of the circle. Whether the low note starts on your left or your right depends on the maker and sometimes on the individual instrument.

Octave numbers matter. D3 is roughly 146 Hz, an octave and a bit below middle C. When a layout is written without octave numbers, as many shop listings are, you lose the information about where the instrument actually sits in pitch, and two instruments written identically can sound an octave apart.

Notes in brackets, as in (Bb2) (C3) D3 / (F3) (G3) A3 Bb3 ..., are bottom notes: tone fields tuned into the lower shell around the gu hole. See SCA-07.

Going deeper. Some makers number fields rather than name them, with the ding as 0 or D and the tone fields as 1 upwards from the lowest. Numbering is the basis of most handpan tablature, and it travels between instruments in a way note names do not: field 3 to field 5 is the same physical gesture on a D Kurd and an E Kurd.

See also: SCA-03, SCA-26

SCA-03Why do the notes zigzag rather than run round in order?#

beginner

Consider the alternative. If the notes simply ran clockwise from lowest to highest, playing a scale would mean one hand chasing round the circle while the other sat idle, and a five note run would take you halfway round the pan. Worse, the notes that belong together harmonically, the root, third and fifth of a chord, would end up two or three fields apart in the same direction, awkward for either hand.

The alternating layout solves both problems at once. Consecutive scale degrees land on opposite sides, so an ascending line naturally alternates hands, which is exactly what you want for speed and evenness. Meanwhile, notes a third apart, which is what stacks into chords, end up adjacent or nearly adjacent on the same side. On a D Kurd, the notes on one side tend to give you one triad and the notes on the other side another, so a chord is a single comfortable hand shape rather than a reach.

There is an acoustic reason too. Adjacent tone fields on a handpan are coupled: striking one excites its neighbours slightly. Neighbours that are a third or a fifth apart reinforce each other pleasantly. Neighbours a semitone apart would beat and muddy. The alternating layout tends to keep semitone pairs on opposite sides of the ding, which is one reason handpans sound so clean when you play freely.

Finally, the layout makes the instrument playable without looking. Because the pattern is consistent across almost every maker, the geometry of “up a step” is the same physical crossing motion whatever pan you sit at. Muscle memory learned on one instrument transfers to another in the same note count, even in a different key.

Going deeper. The pattern was established by PANArt on the original Hang and has been near universally adopted. Exceptions exist, particularly on very high note count instruments and mutants where the maker has to compromise geometry to fit the fields in, and on some deliberately experimental layouts. If you are buying an unusual instrument, ask for a photograph of the actual field positions rather than assuming.

See also: SCA-02, SCA-24

SCA-04What does a name like “D Kurd 9” or “C# Annaziska 10” actually mean?#

beginner

Take each part in turn.

The letter is the ding, the centre note, which is almost always the tonal home of the instrument. D Kurd means the ding is a D, usually D3. Occasionally a maker writes the octave in, as in “F2 Low Pygmy”, and when they do it is worth paying attention, because an F2 ding is a full octave below an F3 ding and produces a physically much larger, deeper instrument.

The middle word is the scale family: Kurd, Celtic, Amara, Pygmy, Hijaz, Sabye, Equinox, Integral, Annaziska, Akebono and so on. Some of these names are ordinary music theory (Aeolian, Dorian, Major, Harmonic Minor). Most are handpan specific coinages invented by makers, sometimes because the note set has no clean theoretical name, sometimes because “Golden Gate” sells better than “C major with a raised fourth and no fourth degree in the lower octave”. Both motives are real and neither is dishonest, but it does mean the middle word carries no guarantee.

The number is the total count of tuned fields, ding included, and normally including any bottom notes. A “D Kurd 9” has the ding plus eight tone fields on top. A “D Kurd 10” adds one more, usually a C5 at the top of the circle. Counting conventions are the one place makers are fairly consistent, though a few list top notes and bottom notes separately, as in “9 + 3”.

Some names carry a fourth element. “Low” in “F Low Pygmy” signals a ding an octave down from the usual. A builder’s name appended to a scale, as in some database listings, means that particular player or maker specified that particular arrangement, and it is effectively a custom layout.

Going deeper. The number does not tell you the range. A twelve note instrument might spend its extra fields extending upwards, filling in a missing scale degree, or adding bottom notes below the ding, and those are three very different instruments. Always ask for the full written layout with octave numbers, not just the name and the count.

See also: SCA-05, SCA-06

SCA-05Why does the same scale name differ between makers?#

beginner

This is not a minor caveat. It is one of the most important practical facts about buying a handpan, and it catches out experienced players.

Some concrete examples, all documented by makers and scale databases:

• Celtic and Amara are used interchangeably. Isthmus Instruments states plainly that the two names refer to the same thing. Some sellers use “Amara” for C and C# roots and “Celtic Minor” for D and E roots, but this is a tendency, not a rule. Saraz credits Pantheon Steel with first applying “Celtic Minor” to a handpan scale around 2012.
• Kurd, Aeolian and Annaziska overlap heavily. All three often describe a natural minor set. Annaziska tends to be used for C# roots and Kurd for D and E roots, but the underlying note relationships are frequently identical. A C# Annaziska 9 (C#3 / G#3 A3 B3 C#4 D#4 E4 F#4 G#4) is a Kurd shape by another name.
• Sabye and Ashakiran are both major family names for essentially the same idea, and some databases simply append “(Major)” to both.
• Hijaz is the worst offender. Instruments sold as Hijaz vary substantially in their actual note content between makers, some sitting closer to harmonic minor, others to Phrygian dominant, others to a Romanian or Ukrainian Dorian shape. Two Hijaz pans from different builders may share fewer notes than you would expect.
• “Low Pygmy” originally meant a Pygmy with the ding dropped, but different makers drop it by different amounts, and some now build F2 dings where others build F3.

Isthmus reports having catalogued well over 200 distinct handpan scale names since the instrument’s invention, many of them near duplicates of each other under different labels.

The practical rule is simple and non negotiable: never buy on the scale name alone. Ask the maker or seller for the full written layout, with octave numbers, and if possible a recording of the actual instrument. If they cannot or will not provide it, that tells you something too.

Going deeper. Naming inflation has commercial causes. A distinctive name differentiates a maker’s offering and is not something a competitor can straightforwardly claim. The result is that the useful, load bearing information (the note list) is the part most often omitted from a listing, while the decorative part is prominent.

See also: SCA-16, SCA-15

SCA-06What does a 9 note, 10 note or 12 note instrument actually give me?#

beginner

Eight and nine notes is where the instrument started and where most players stay happy for years. On a nine note pan you get the ding plus a full octave and a bit of the scale. That is enough for melody, for three or four usable triads, for ostinato patterns under a melody, and for practically all the repertoire beginners learn. The fields are large and well separated, which means good sustain, a forgiving strike area and clean harmonics with minimal interference between neighbours. Many long time players consider nine notes the sweet spot for tone.

Ten notes has become the common default for new buyers. The tenth field usually goes at the top of the circle, extending the range upwards by one step and, on scales like D Kurd, completing the octave (adding C5 above the A4). It costs you very little in tone and gives melodies somewhere to go. If you are choosing between a nine and a ten from the same maker at similar price, the ten is rarely a mistake.

Twelve to fourteen notes changes the instrument’s character. You get most of two octaves, which means you can play a melody up high while an accompaniment sits low, and you get far more chord voicings. The cost is real: fields are smaller and closer together, sustain per field is typically shorter, cross talk between neighbours increases, and the surface demands more accuracy. These are performer’s instruments, and they take a while to map.

Seventeen and above, often bottom noted or mutant, are specialist tools. See SCA-07.

There is also a build reality behind the price differences. Every additional field has to be shaped and tensioned without disturbing the fields already tuned, and the difficulty compounds. A seventeen note instrument is not twice the work of a nine note; makers commonly describe it as several times the work, with a much higher chance of the shell simply refusing to cooperate.

See also: SCA-08, SCA-07

SCA-07What do bottom notes and mutants add?#

intermediate

Bottom notes sit on the underside, arranged around the gu (the large sound hole). They are conventionally written in brackets in a layout: (Bb2) (C3) D3 / (F3) (G3) A3 Bb3 C4 .... Most commonly they extend the instrument downwards, giving you bass notes below the ding, which is transformative for solo playing because you can finally hold a low root while the melody moves above it. Some makers also put high notes down there when the top shell has run out of room.

The catch is that you play them blind and upside down. The pan sits on your lap or a stand, the bottom fields face away from you, and your hand has to go underneath and strike a field you cannot see, with the geometry mirrored. It is entirely learnable, but it is muscle memory rather than aim, and it takes months rather than weeks. Bottom notes also interact with the gu: heavy playing near the hole affects the gu’s own resonance and can muddy things.

Mutants are the looser term. In common usage a mutant is any instrument whose note set goes beyond a single coherent scale, typically by adding chromatic passing notes or by fitting a second scale’s notes into the spare fields. A well designed mutant lets you modulate: play in D minor for a while, then shift the tonal centre and play in F major or D Dorian without changing instrument. A poorly designed one is a chromatic muddle where the “no wrong notes” property of the handpan is lost and you have to actually know what you are doing.

That last point is the real trade off. The reason a handpan feels magical to a beginner is that the note set has been curated so that random striking sounds intentional. Mutants and heavily extended instruments deliberately give up some of that safety in exchange for harmonic freedom. That is a good trade for a player who has repertoire and knows their theory, and a bad one for someone still learning to strike cleanly.

Going deeper. Bottom notes and mutant fields also complicate resale and servicing. Fewer tuners are comfortable working on a crowded bottom shell, and the tension interactions mean a bottom note going flat can pull neighbouring top fields with it.

See also: SCA-06, SCA-08

SCA-08Is more notes better?#

beginner

The temptation is obvious. A seventeen note pan looks like it can do more, and in a narrow sense it can. But consider what actually limits a beginner. It is not the number of available pitches. It is strike accuracy, dynamic control, rhythmic independence between the hands, and knowing what to do with the notes you already have. None of those improve with more fields, and all of them get harder.

The acoustic argument is real too. A handpan shell has a fixed area. Adding fields means each one is smaller, which generally means less sustain and a thinner fundamental. The fields are also closer together, so striking one excites its neighbours more, and on a densely packed instrument that turns into a persistent wash of ringing that you have to actively damp. On a nine note pan you can let everything ring and it sounds like a chord. On a seventeen note pan letting everything ring can sound like a dropped tray.

There is a psychological cost as well. Handpan players consistently report that a small note set drives creativity, because constraint forces you to find new things inside the same material rather than reaching for a new note. Players who move to large instruments often find they use a familiar subset of nine or ten fields and rarely touch the rest.

None of this means large instruments are bad. If you play with other musicians, need to modulate, want to accompany a singer across a wide range, or perform solo sets where a single scale gets monotonous, the extra notes earn their place. The question is whether you have hit the ceiling of a smaller instrument, and most players have not.

A reasonable path: start at nine or ten, play it for at least a year, and let the second instrument answer a problem you have actually experienced rather than one you have imagined.

See also: SCA-17, SCA-21