Standing bell
A singing bowl, also known as a Himalayan bowl, cup gong or (in Japan) a rin gong, is a musical instrument used in Buddhist meditation, dating back many centuries. They are traditionally played in Tibet, Nepal, India, China, Japan, and Korea, mostly by Buddhist monks and in monasteries. Today they are enjoyed around the world by meditators, health professionals, and anyone who enjoys their beautiful sound.
The instrument is made of metal. New singing bowls are made with the mixture of copper, tin and zinc and are exported widely from Nepal and India. Bronze singing bowls are made today in Nepal, Japan and Korea but are not widely available.
Singing bowls can be categorised into two types - Hand Beaten (hammered) singing bowls and casting singing bowls. Hand beaten singing bowls have excellent sound quality than Casting singing bowl and different sound from one another. Most antique singing bowl are hand beaten made but nowadays new singing bowls are found to be made as antique with antique finish. The vast majority of bowls sold as 'antique' are not antique. As most bowls come from Nepal and it is against the law to import antiques from Nepal. Be very cautious buying bowls from people who claim they are antique.
Antique singing bowls were made of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin that often included precious metals such as silver and gold. Many other metals, including zinc, lead, iron, and, nickel may also be present. New singing bowls are made of copper with zinc - brass and Copper with Tin - Bronze and these bowls are decorarted, itched and carved with various religious quote, figures and symbols and also colored in black, green, marron, red, blue and in antique look. New bowls sound like bells while antique singing bowls produce a warm, complex and melodious tone and the sound produced by brass singing bowls and bronze singing bowls are vary different. Bronze made bowls produces good quality sound however there are seven metal singing bowls which contains gold and silver as well, it produces enchanting sound.
Singing bowls are played by striking with a soft mallet. This produces a warm bell tone. They can also be played by slowly rubbing a wooden mallet around the rim of the bowl to produce a continuous 'singing' sound.
Antique singing bowls produce multiple harmonic overtones. Being made of several metals, they produce several harmonic frequencies at once. The sound is very relaxing and the subtle harmonic overtones have been shown to activate alpha and beta brainwaves. New singing bowls also produce a nice sound, but do not produce the multiple harmonic overtones like the antique bronze bowls. Most singing bowls available today are new and few produces high quality singing bowls. A few specialized dealers sell genuine antiques. Singing bowls are used for meditation, yoga, healing, music, sound massage, sound therapy, and chakra balancing.
Singing bowls can be found in a variety of shapes, sizes, designs and colors. New bowls are often decorated and made with various religious themes and symbols, like Tibetan mantra chant om mani padme hum, pictures of the Buddha, mandalas, asta mangal (eight auspicious good luck symbols),hand carvings etc. Antique singing bowls never feature such complex ornimentation but often have abstract decoration like lines, rings and circles etched into the surface. The making of traditional bowls is now considered a lost art. New bowls are sometimes made to look antique and many dealers unknowingly sell new bowls as antiques.