Understanding all the differences within the world of handpan can still be quite a challenge. First, of course, you have the choice of stainless steel, ember steel or nitrided steel. Then you have all sorts of differences in fundamental tones, ranging from a lovely low F2 to a crisp high F3 (or even higher). Then you also have all sorts of different builders, who
all have their own modus operandi.
Those three components already give a lot of options, but one important one is still missing: specific hand pan tuning. And here it works slightly differently from many other instruments.
Why handpans have so many different names
Because hand pan tunings cannot be changed as they can be when tuning, say, a guitar, each small change results in its own name.
This means that within the popular minor scale, which is enough information for some instruments, there are still a huge number of specific build-ups named within handpan, each with their own little difference. Sometimes it is the complete scale, sometimes one note is missing from the sequence, sometimes it is two. And if notes are missing, there is of course the choice of which note or notes to skip.
So, all in all, a lot of options. It is very nice that these scales all have their own name, because this ensures that you don't have to dive into the theory books to explain what you like. After all, ‘The minor scale with the minor sixth skipped’ sounds a lot less catchy than ‘a Amara’.
However, there is still a small clumsiness here. With the free naming of tunings, it sometimes happened that the same tuning was named by different people. An accident is in a small corner of course, and one builder may have thought he was the first, and thus could come up with a name, while another builder had already assigned another name.
Overview of duplicate names in handpan votes
To help you make this tangle of names a little easier, we have made a list of all duplicate names. Nice and easy!
Kurd / Annaziska / Aeolian
Let's start with the most popular vote: the Kurd-vote. This is the most neutral structure there is. It is full minor tuning, with no notes skipped. So it is exactly the same minor scale you would play on a guitar, piano or any other melodic instrument.
Funnily enough Annaziska much less known, even though it is exactly the same. The elaboration now is that within the keynotes C and C# Annaziska is called, and with everything else - B, D and E, for example - Kurd. So that means that a D Kurd and a C# Annaziska (apart from the keynote) are exactly the same.
There are builders who break with this, perhaps because two names for the same thing is quite awkward anyway. So you could also use a C or C# Kurd may come across. So now you know: that is exactly the same as a C# Annaziska!
A nowadays less common name for this vote is Aeolian. This is the original name, as it is thus called in a regular music landscape. Because not all handpan names have a name in the mainstream landscape, but many do. So too Kurd and Annaziska, which to a pianist, for example, is thus known as Aeolian (or in Dutch: Aeolian).
Celtic / Celtic Minor / Amara
After Kurd surely the most popular tuning. This tuning is also a minor tuning, but here one note is consistently skipped. This is the minor sixth, although it is more often said in English: minor sixth.
Skipping this note creates a more open and peaceful sound. It is very similar to pentatonic, although this would require skipping another note (the minor second).
The same distribution is used here as for Kurd and Annaziska: at C and C# Amara used, in all other keynotes Celtic or Celtic Minor. Technically Celtic not complete, as there is also a Celtic Major-stemming. So for completeness, you should say Celtic Minor, but not every builder adheres to this.
Again, the division between C/C# and the other fundamentals is not necessarily observed. There are builders who use for all tunings Amara use, and builders who prefer to do so with Celtic Minor. So again, a (e.g.) B Amara or B Celtic Minor is exactly the same.
Sabye / Ashakiran / Morning Glory
In recent years, the Ashakiran made quite an advance. Especially with the advent of mutants (handpans with extra tones at the top and/or bottom of the handpan), the Ashakiran increasingly came into focus.
Ashakiran is a major tuning, in which the entire scale passes. Tones are skipped, but every note in the sequence passes at least once. It is a tuning with a distinct character of its own, a positive, sunny tuning. Not surprising, then, that it also goes by the name Morning Glory has been devised for.
Morning Glory is not just a vote similar to Ashakiran, it is exactly the same. The same goes for Sabye. The latter designation was around first, but is just not used as often anymore. So whichever of the three you come across is exactly the same.
Mystic / Mystical
This is a fun oddball. Because while these two names are almost identical, the mood is not! Indeed, within the name Mystic is even still varied.Usually Mystic a scale with five of the seven notes; thus, two notes are skipped.
The observant reader would now say: ‘hey, then this is pentatonic!’ That sounds logical, but pentatonic involves skipping two specific tones (the minor fourth and sixth).At Mystic/Mystical is (usually) the minor seventh and fourth skipped. So no pentatonics, though also five of the seven notes.
The “usually” in brackets here is where it sometimes gets a bit vague. Sometimes only the minor seventh skipped, and sits the fourth into it. Sometimes, in addition to the minor seventh a different tone from the fourth skipped. The common thread here seems to be skipping
of minor seventh to be, and that indeed - as the name suggests - gives a somewhat mystical character to the scale.
There is another vote that Mystic or Mystical is called. This variation - usually called Mystical - is a tuning where even more is skipped in the low end. Here, at the start of your scale, the minor sixth I minor seventh. The fourth is further down the series, unlike at Mystic, again in Mystical.
The minor sixth is not in it at all, the minor seventh only in the high. Eventually, six of the seven tones pass here (as in Amara/Celtic Minor), but in a completely different construction.
All this makes Mystical a vote that, like Mystic sounds pretty mystical. Of course, they are not called that for nothing. So they are similar in atmosphere, but slightly different in structure. Herewith moves Mystical move a little faster towards the treble.
Integral
A name with no alternative. This is because there is not so much a double name here, but more the occasional sprinkling of this name in different places. Thus Kurd sometimes also Integral mentioned, but Celtic Minor also.
Neither is Integral. Integral is a scale in which only the fourth is skipped. This tuning was especially common when handpans still had eight notes (including the ding). With a limited number of tones, you have to skip tones. When handpans had nine, 10 or even more tone pitches, skipping was less necessary, and is Integral largely disappeared from the streetscape.
Sometimes you can still see a new Integral passing by. So that could be right, with this one skipped fourth, but sometimes it's secretly just a Kurd or one Celtic Minor.
Pygmy / Low Pygmy
The two are not the same, but are often mixed up. Especially also because Pygmy is also often used with low ground tones. You might easily think that's where the designation Dwarf matches, but it doesn't.
Pygmy is a vote in which the second and minor seventh are skipped. So again, five out of seven notes, but just short of pentatonic. For that, the minor sixth should be skipped, not the minor seventh.
At the regular Pygmy-tuning you start here (after the ding) at the fourth tone, the fourth.Here is the difference with the Dwarf: it starts after the ding on the second tone, the second. Dwarf begins after the ding so lower in the scale, hence the name Dwarf.
So it has nothing to do with the keynote, just the build-up. Indeed: Dwarf is a tuning mainly used for quite high fundamental tones!
Fun fact to Pygmy: this tuning is designed to be applicable within two tunings. A D Pygmy fits perfectly within the key of D minor (not surprisingly
since the D Pygmy called), but additionally within G minor. This is really a unique feature of the Pygmy-vote!
Not exactly the same, but related
Then there are a few moods that do really differ enough from each other to have their own name, but are related.
Thus, there are Nordlys and Aegean. Very different characters, but both are lydian
scales. If you dissect them, they are very similar, but the difference is in the starting point and sometimes a note that is or is not skipped.
The same applies to Romanian Hijaz and Melodic Minor. Actually Melodic Minor here more
the umbrella name, and becomes Romanian Hijaz used for a specific build-up.
New moods are added all the time, sometimes with the name of a well-known player in them. So it always remains a bit of a search for the differences (which means there are not always any). Hopefully this blog will help you understand a little better what's out there!
