A standing bell or resting bell is an inverted bell, supported from below with the rim uppermost. Such bells are normally bowl-shaped, and exist in a wide range of sizes, from a few centimetres to a metre in diameter. They are often played by striking, but some—known as singing bowls—may also be played by rotating a suede covered mallet around the outside rim to produce a sustained musical note. Struck bowls are used in some Buddhist religious practices to accompany periods of meditation and chanting. Struck and singing bowls are widely used for music making, meditation and relaxation, as well for personal spirituality. They have become popular with music therapists, sound healers and yoga practitioners. Standing bells originated in China. An early form called nao took the shape of a stemmed goblet, mounted with rim uppermost, and struck on the outside with a mallet. The manufacture and use of bowls specifically for 'singing' is believed to be a modern phenomenon. Bowls that were capable of singing began to be imported to the West from around the early 1970s. Since then they have become a popular instrument in the US-originating new-age genre often marketed as 'Tibetan music'.
Nomenclature Standing bells are known by a wide variety of terms in English, and are sometimes referred to as bowls, basins, cups or gongs. Specific terms include resting bell, prayer bowl, Buddha bowl, Himalayan bowl, Tibetan bell, rin gong, bowl gong and cup gong. A bell that is capable of producing a sustained musical note may be known as a singing bowl or Tibetan singing bowl. Contemporary classical music scores use a variety of other names including temple bell, Buddha temple bell, Japanese temple bell, Buddhist bell, campana di templo and cup bell. In Japan, the name for a bell of the standing type varies between Buddhist sects. It may be called rin (りん), kin (磬), dobachi, keisu, kinsu (きんす), sahari or uchinarashi, among other things. Large temple bells are sometimes called daikin (大磬), while small versions for a home altar are known as namarin. The Chinese term qing (磬, or historically 罄), which historically referred to a lithophone used in state rituals, has more recently been applied to this type of standing bell. Early Chinese standing bells are called nao (traditional Chinese: 鐃; simplified Chinese: 铙; pinyin: náo).
Origins and history There is evidence that the metal bell originated in China, with the earliest known Shang dynasty (16th–11th centuries BCE) bells being among the oldest bronze objects found in China. They possibly originated from grain scoops of standard capacity (the word chung or 'grain measure' is used in many ancient texts to mean a bell). Early bronze standing bells called nao embody some of the highest technical skills of Chinese civilisation and represent the earliest known form of chiming bell. Taking the shape of hollow-stemmed goblets with a curved rim, nao were made in sizes varying between 8 and 50 cm (3.1 and 19.7 in). They were mounted on their stem, with rim uppermost, and struck on the outside with a mallet. Nao from southern China were produced as single specimens, while in the north they were produced in chimed sets of three. Some were constructed such that striking at two different points would produce different ringing tones. Bronze bells of substantial size were being cast in China at least as early as the 13th–11th centuries BCE, and the spread of Buddhism in the 2nd–7th centuries CE gave new impetus to the production of large bells for use in rituals. Chinese tradition was, however, unique in that bells were made not only from bronze but also from cast-iron. Some writers have suggested that the modern singing bowl developed from bowls originally used for food; but others consider that to be unlikely, pointing out that there would be no reason for food bowls to be manufactured with thick rims and with great attention paid to their acoustic properties.
Although it is sometimes stated that 'Tibetan singing bowls' date back to a pre-Buddhist, shamanic Bon-Po tradition, the manufacture and use of bowls specifically for the purpose of 'singing' (as opposed to standing bells/bowls that are intended to be struck) is believed to be a modern phenomenon. The historical records and accounts of the music of Tibet are silent about singing bowls. Such bowls are not mentioned by Perceval Landon (a visitor in 1903–1904) in his notes on Tibetan music, nor by any other visitor. Likewise, though ringing and clanging sounds were noted by missionaries interested in traditional Tibetan healing practices, they make no mention of singing bowls. The objects often now referred to as 'Tibetan singing bowls', and marketed as Tibetan ritual instruments, have been called "dharma products" that in fact come from northern India or Nepal, and are neither Tibetan nor ritual in origin.
Operation
Types of operation
Musically, these objects are classified as a type of bell (a bell is a hollow object which has maximum vibration around an open rim; a gong on the other hand has maximum vibration towards the centre). They are usually placed on a pillow, to allow the rim to vibrate freely, though small bells may be held gently in the hand. They are often played by striking, in which case they sound a bell note as a struck idiophone (Hornbostel–Sachs classification 111.242.11). Alternatively, some bells may be capable of 'singing bowl' operation as a friction idiophone, (Hornbostel–Sachs classification 133.1). In this mode, a wooden mallet sometimes called a wand or puja is rotated around the outside rim to excite continuous vibrations in the bowl by the slip-stick mechanism, the principle being the same as that of water-tuned musical glasses. The volume of the continuous note depends on the speed of the mallet and the force that is applied.
Singing bowls may be partly filled with water, allowing them to be tuned. A Chinese form known as a 'spouting bowl' has handles which, when rubbed with damp hands, causes water droplets to leap up as a result of standing waves known as Chladni patterns on the water surface. Such bowls are said to have been manufactured from as early as the 5th century BCE.
Vibrational behaviour
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