Easy, Groovy Handpan Composition 1
Techniques
- Muted hits (on tone fields and ding)
- Short triplet roll
- Harmonics (on ding, optional)
- Percussive strokes (interstitial slap)
Quick Tips
- Make use of multiple fingers, especially in the A section when playing adjacent tone fields. When playing quick bits like 12341, use your thumb (T) and middle (M) fingers in a TTMMT pattern.
- Practice the triplet rolls starting on both your right and left hands to maintain the hand-to-hand nature of the composition. Sometimes I cheat and start with my RH on all of them, but that only works because of the speed of this particular composition.
- Practice getting in and out of the groove in different spots, like how the A section returns to the second half of the groove on beat 3.
- Experiment with making this your own by using this groove as a base and changing the tone field notes.
- Utilize Youtube's slow down feature (lower right hand corner) to practice along to the video.
Notation
Form: A B A B A' B'
Groove
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
D (2) (D) K D (2) (D) K D
A Section
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
D 1 2 3 4 1 (2) (D) K D
D (2) (D) K D (2) (D) K D
D 3 4 5 6 3 (2) (D) K D
D (2) (D) K D (2) (D) K D
Repeat
B Section
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
D [8 8 8]3 8 7 6 5 6 7
D (2) (D) K D (2) (D) K D
D [7 7 7]3 7 6 5 4 5 6
D (2) (D) K D (2) (D) K D
D [8 8 8]3 8 7 6 5 6 7
D (2) (D) K D (2) (D) K D
D [7 7 7]3 7 8 5 6 4
D (2) (D) K D D*
A' Section
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
D 1 2 3 4 1
D 3 4 5 6 3
D 1 2 3 4 1
D 3 4 5 6 3
B' Section
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
D [8 8 8]3 8 7 6 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 1
D [7 7 7]3 7 6 5 4 5 6
1 2 3 4 1
D [8 8 8]3 8 7 6 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 1
D [7 7 7]3 7 8 5 6 4
Key
D = Ding
# = Tone Field
[###]3 = Triplet
(#/Letter) = Muted Stroke
K = Interstitial Hit
* = Harmonic
Red = Right hand
Black = Left Hand