Matching moods
The handpan is a wonderful instrument to play with others. To inspire each other and learn from each other, but certainly also to experience the richness of the sound of several handpans at the same time!
How do you choose a second handpan to play together?
We therefore regularly get the question: which matching hand pan tunings are there if I want to play together? This blog will give you a little more background on this. Hopefully, after reading this, you will understand better which tunings go together, and why that is. We also share some pretty unexpected gems: tunings that are completely different at first glance, yet are built from the same scale. Want to learn more about tunings first? Then read our blog Choosing the right key handpan.
Handpan playing together: minor tunings
Minor is popular within the handpans scene. Not surprisingly, minor is known for its versatility. It has melancholy in it, but can also sound upbeat, energetic or just relaxing. A vast majority of handpans are minor, the most famous of which for many of you is probably the Kurd tuning.
Yet there are many more minor moods within the handpan world. Moods that are all constructed slightly differently, but have the same basis. Among these minor bases are Kurd, Annaziska, Celtic Minor, Amara, Mystic, Pygmy, Low Pygmy & Integral, among others.
At Handpanshop, the majority of handpans are in one of the above tunings, and for good reason. These are the tunings that are by far the most common, and popular among both beginner and advanced players.
For all these tunings, if you have the same root tone (D, for example), it goes together completely. So a D Kurd goes perfectly with a D Pygmy. They don't have exactly the same tonal structure, but all the notes match. When you start playing together, these differences in construction are actually fun: you can both play freely, but the result per player is still different!
Handpan playing together: major tunings
Major is the more cheerful scale. This scale colours more towards cheerful and sunny sounds, bringing a smile to everyone's face. So Majeur is clearly a bit more on one side of the emotional spectrum, but a wonderfully cheerful one.
Majeur has recently made quite a stir within the handpan world.
In particular, the popular Ashakiran mood has contributed to this. You see this tuning coming up more and more, and with good reason. It is a beautiful sunny sound, which fits nicely with the character of the handpan.
There are more major tunings within the handpan world. The most popular are Paradiso, Celtic Major, Sabye and Ashakiran. Again, if it has the same root tone, it gives 100% matching handpan tunings. To give you an example, a D Paradiso goes perfectly with a D Ashakiran.
Handpan playing together: lydian tunings
With minor and major, we have had the lion's share of handspan tunings. Nevertheless, new hand scales are added regularly, and less standard scales are also explored. Such as the lydian scale. Lydian gives a dreamy and positive character to your playing, it is a very expressive scale. It is very similar to major, but compared to major it has one tone that differs.
For a long time, Aegean was the only handpan tuning that was lydian. A few years back, the now popular Nordlys tuning was added. Nordlys is completely different in structure from Aegean, but the basic scale is identical. Both are lydian, and so again, these two can produce perfectly matching handpan tunings if they have the same fundamental.
It should be noted here that these two tunings do not often share the same keynote. Aegean usually sits somewhere around B, C or D; while Nordlys is often around low F. So in practice, you won't easily come across matching Aegean and Nordlys anyway.
Handpan playing together: doric tunings
Dorian is the most dreamy tuning of this series. It is a popular scale within the jazz scene, and has also been found within the
handpan tunings. La Sirena is the doric handpan tuning. For now, it is the only one, but I am sure this will change in the future!
Within doric, then, there are no matching handpan tunings; after all, there is only one doric handpan tuning. Still, this tuning is worth mentioning. At the bottom of this page, among the unexpected gems, you will definitely find La Sirena.
Summary handpan combining
So you can most easily find matching handspan tunings if you find a player who has the same scale as you (minor, major, lydian or dorian), and in the same root (e.g. D). So it doesn't have to be exactly the same tuning. Everything within the same root and scale matches, even if it doesn't produce an identical scale.
Unexpected gems
But what if you want to play together with handpans in a different tuning? It can be too crazy to encounter two handpans together that are completely different on first hearing, but still go together. Explaining why some tunings go together quickly becomes quite complicated and theoretical. We will therefore omit this within this text. However, we do like to share with you which matches are possible!
It is important to know the following: if the basic scale (minor, major, lydian, Dorian) does not match, the fundamental (e.g. D) will never match either. Scale and root go together. So it is either a match between both the root (e.g. D) and the scale (e.g. minor), or a match where both factors do not match.
So this does not mean that, for example, a minor and a major tuning never go together. It means that two non-identical scales only fit together if the fundamentals are also not identical (but have a fixed relationship to each other).
The latter - difference in both scale and root tone - is what you're going to see in the examples below. These examples seem completely different, but surprisingly fit 100% together!
The above paragraph may already sound a bit complex. Since the theory goes a lot further, we will therefore leave that part out. However, in this text we do share with you the most beautiful matching handpans.
D3 Kurd + F3 Major
D minor is a perfect match with F major. So you could also swap Kurd here for any other minor handpanscale out there. The same goes for the major tunings. So, for example, D3 Pygmy also goes perfectly with F3 Paradiso. As long as it is a D minor tuning and an F major tuning.
C#3 Annaziska + E3 Ashakiran
Actually, this is exactly the same as the combination above, but all 1 note lower. Annaziska is minor, Ashakiran is major. C# minor goes perfectly with E major. So this also applies, for example, to C# Amara and E Sabye. Also a perfect match!
B2 Celtic Minor + D3 Paradiso
A popular match! Both B Celtic Minor and D Paradiso are popular tunings. We almost always have this match in stock at Handpanshop. Nice to try it out live as well. This match is actually the same as the two above, but a whole tone lower. So B Minor goes perfectly with D Major. So, for instance, you could also perfectly match a B Kurd with a D Ashakiran.
Then the less easy-to-find matches:
F#2 Nordlys + Eb3 La Sirena
At first glance AND hearing, these two moods seem unrelated. Yet they 100% share the same notes. If you want to see it in written notes, you will have to convert F# Nordlys to Gb Nordlys (which sounds exactly the same). So you don't have to do the latter, because we have already done that for you. All you need to know: these two tunings sound completely different from each other, but match perfectly!
D3 Aegean + F#3 Low Pygmy
This unexpected match was made famous by Malte Marten. They are two of his favourite moods. And they don't go together a bit, they deliver (like other examples in this text) a perfect match. Again, since Low Pygmy is a minor tuning, any other minor tuning in F# also matches perfectly with D3 Aegean. In practice, minor in F#3 is usually Low Pygmy, so you will encounter this match most quickly.
D3 Aegean + F#2 Pygmy
This is basically the same tuning as the one above, but within F#, two specific minor tunings are popular. Besides F#3 Low Pygmy, this is F#2 Pygmy. The names may be similar, but the characters are completely different. What they have in common: they are both minor, and they fit perfectly with D3 Aegean.
C#3 Aegean + F3 Low Pygmy
This is basically the exact same match as D3 Aegean + F#3 Low Pygmy, but all one note lower. C#3 Aegean is somewhat less common, but F3 Low Pygmy is actually quite popular. Aegean and Low Pygmy are completely different tunings, but at the same time a wonderful and perfect match!
C#3 Aegean + F2 Pygmy
This too is a similar match to one mentioned earlier: D3 Aegean and F#2 Pygmy.
This match is similar, but then C#3 Aegean and F2 Pygmy is one tone down. F2 Pygmy has become incredibly popular because of its famous video on Kabecao's Chinese Wall. So a perfect match with C#3 Aegean!
C3 Aegean + E3 Amara
The last match, but certainly not the least. Both C Aegean and E Amara are incredibly popular moods! So this match is still fairly easy to make. We usually have both moods in house, so this match can be tried live with us!
Handpans that are difficult to match
So tunings match easily if they are the same key (minor, major, lydian, dorian). They match a little less easily if they are two different keys (like, say, minor with lydian). But are these matches to be found , then they are beautiful! You've read about the most likely ones above.
Perhaps you play on a tuning that is not listed here. In this case, it could be that your tuning is more difficult to match. In particular, scales that sound more oriental do not match easily.
Do you have a Hijaz, Saladin or a Ragadesh? Then the only ‘match’ is the same tuning: a D Hijaz obviously always goes with a D Hijaz. Other than that, these tunings unfortunately do not have tunings that are a 100% match.
For completeness
Within this text, the number of tones on the handpan has not been discussed. Indeed, that is irrelevant to the matches . A D Kurd20 definitely plays and sounds very different from a D Kurd9, but it is exactly the same in terms of scale.
Also, within this text, we have only named matching handpans that match 100%, as this works best with playing together.
So, should you be okay with skipping some tones when playing together because they don't go together with another handpan, you could find matches that only go together for 75%, for example. That's still a lot of tones that do go together.
In that case, all kinds of new matches are created again. However, this is truly custom-made and cannot be worked out in a single text. If this is what you are looking for, we recommend you come and visit us in Driebergen. Coffee is waiting for you!
