Acoustics 08 Paris

Sound of the HANG

D. Wessela , A. Morrisonb and T. D Rossingc
a

Center for New Music and Audio Technologies, 1750 Arch Street, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
b
Illinois Wesleyan University, Department of Physics, 1312 N. Park St., Bloomington, IL
61701, USA
c
Stanford University, CCRMA, Department of Music, Stanford, CA 94305, 26464 Taaffe Rd,
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022, USA
rossing@ccrma.stanford.edu

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.Abstract

TheHANGisapopularhandplayedsteelinstrumentthathasgonethroughcontinualdevelopmentsinceitwasfirst
introducedin2000.WecomparethetuningandthemodesofvibrationoftheoriginalhighvoiceHANG,thelow
voiceHANG,andtheintegralHANGrecentlyintroducedbyPanART.SincetheHANGisahandplayedsteel
instrument,awidevarietyofplayingtechniquesareusedbyperformers.WereportonthesoundoftheHANGwhen
playedinvariousways.RecordingsoftheHANGweremadebytakingmultiplesamplesofeachofanumberof
strikingtechniqueswiththehand,includingsinglestrokesfromthesoftpartofthefinger,aswellasthefingernail.
Variousgracenotetechniqueswereinvestigatedaswell.Loudnotestendtoringlongerthansoftones,andtheyalso
showsignificantamplitudemodulation.WemodeltheHANGwithfilterscenteredateachofthefrequency
components;gainsanddecaytimesfortheseresonantfilterwereestimatedfromtheanalysis.Fromtheanalysiswe
havesynthesizedrealisticsoundsoftheHANG.

1.Introduction

ThefirstHANGwetestedhadninenotesbeginningwitha
centrallylocatedG3noteareaasshowninFigure1.The
notesaretunedtoapentatonicscale. Playingthecentral
G3noteexcitesastrongcavity(Helmholtz)inthebodyof
theinstrument.Theresonatorcanbetunedbyinsertinga

TheHANG is ahandplayed steel instrument. Since its

introduction in 2000, over 7000 instruments have been
created by PANArt Hangbau AG in Bern, Switzerland.
Sinceitisplayedwiththehands,itispossibletocreate
manydifferenttimbresfromitsnotes.

DUM into the hole, thus changing its diameter or by

varying the spacing of the players knees to change the
acousticallengthoftheneck.

The history of the HANG has been described by its

creaters,FelixRohnerandSabinaSchrer[1,2].Theway
inwhichthenoteareasvibrateandproducesoundandthe
way in which the sound is radiated have also been
describedinseveralpapers[3,4].Inthispaperwediscuss
someplayingtechniquesandthesoundsthattheyproduce.
WeapplytheseplayingtechniquestotheoriginalHANGas
wellastotwolaterinstrumentdesigns.Wealsocompare
themodesofvibrationandsoundradiationfromthethree
instruments.

2.Thethreeinstruments
TheHANGisshowninFigure1.Thetop(DING)sidehas
7to9harmonicallytunednotesaroundacentraldeepnote
whichcouplesstronglytothecavity(Helmholtz)resonance
ofthebody.Thebottom(GU)sidehasalargeholewhich
acts as theneck of the cavity resonator. The HANG is
usuallyplayedhorizontallyinthelap,althoughitcanbe
playedverticallyoronastand.

DING side

Figure2.TuningandnotelayoutofthehighvoiceHANG
usedinthesestudies.

GU side

Figure1.TheHANG(DINGsideandGUside)

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3.ModalAnalysis

ThelowvoiceHANG,thesecondonetested,had9notes
beginningwithacentrallylocatedF3notearea.Thetuning
isshowninFigure3.

Bymeansofholographicinterferometrywehaveexamined
mode shapes for individual note areas on all three
instrumentsaswellastheentireplayingsurfaceathighand
lowamplitude.
Theelectronicholographicanalyserusedformodalanalysis
of the highvoice and the lowvoice HANG has been
describedpreviously[3,4].Theobjectbeamisprojectedon
theHANG,andthereflectedlightisfocusedontheCCD
array of a TV camera, while the reference beam is
transmittedtothecamerabymeansofanopticalfiber.The
resultinginterferencepatternisreadout,pixelbypixel,and
theholographicinterferogramisconstructedbyacomputer.
Thus,aninterferogram is created andupdatedat theTV
framerate(30HzintheUnitedStates).
FivemodesofvibrationinthecentralG3noteareaofthe
highvoice hang are illustrated by the interferogram in
Figure5.Inthe(0,1)modeoflowestfrequency,theentire
noteareavibrateswiththesamephase,whileinthe(1,1)a
and(1,1)bmodesanodallinebisectsthenotearea. The
nodallinesinthetwolattermodesareorthogonaltoeach
other,sotheyrepresentnormalmodes.Thesethreemodes
atHzhavefrequenciesnearlyintheratioof1:2:3.Also
showninFigure5arethe(2,1)aand(2,1)bmodeshaving
twonodaldiametersandfrequenciesHzwhicharenot
harmonicallytuned.ThethreelowestmodesintheE4note
area,showninFigure6,alsohavefrequenciesintheratios
1:2:3,althoughthehighermodesarequitedifferentfrom
thoseseenintheG3mode.

Figure3.TuningofthelowvoiceHANGusedinthese
studies.
To satisfy requests for even deeper sounds, the integral
HANG was developed by PANArt in 2006. We have
recently tested an integral HANG with seven (?) notes
beginning with the central D3 note area. The tuning is
showninFigure4.

G3 note area

Figure5.ModesofvibrationinthecentralG3noteareaof
thehighvoiceHANG[4].
HolographicinterferogramsofthelowvoiceHANGdriven
atsmallandlargeamplitudeat frequencies nearthefirst
three resonance frequencies of the central F3 note are
showninFigure6.Themodeshapesofthe(0,1),(1,1)aand

Figure4.TuningoftheintegralHANGusedinthese
studies.

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(1,1)btunedintheratios1:2:3aresimilartothoseshownin
Figure5.Thecouplingbetweenvariousnotescanalsobe
seen. At 348Hz,for example, theF4 note is strongly
drivenandtheF4#isweaklydriven,whileat520Hzthe
(1,1)a modeintheC4noteandthe(0,1)modeintheC5
noteshowappreciableresponse.

Allprocessingofthetheimagescapturedbythecamerais
done in software, custom written for the interferometer.
Contiguousframesaresubtractedtorevealtheinterference
fringes.Pixelvaluesaremultipliedbyaconstanttoincrease
thecontrastoftheimages.Inordertoincreasethesignalto
noise ratio an averaging routine has been implemented.
Final images are typically an average of a few hundred
frames.

Figure6.LowvoiceHANGdrivenatsmallandlarge
amplitudeatfrequenciesnearthefirstthreeresonancesof
thecentralF3notearea[4].
Figure8.Holographicrepresentationsoffourresonances
ofthecenternoteoftheIntegralHANG:148Hz,295Hz,
445Hzand1344Hz.

InFigure7thelowvoiceHANGisdrivennearthefirst
three resonance frequencies of the F4# note. The (0,1),
(1,1)a,and(1,1)bmodesareshown,alongwithcouplingto
the(1,1)amodeoftheC5#note.

4.Soundspectra
Sound spectra were recorded using a Tektronix FFT
analyzercontrolledbyalaptopcomputer.Eachnotearea
wastappedlightlywitharubbermallet.Thespectraforall
8notesareshowninFigure9.
Eachspectrumshowsthethreeprincipalharmonics,which
havefrequenciesintheratios1:2:3. Alsovisibleineach
spectrum is asmall peakat 85Hz,thefrequency ofthe
cavityresonance(nearF2).

Figure7.LowvoiceHANGdrivenatsmalland large
amplitudenearthefirstthreeresonancesoftheF#4note
[4].
A new holographic interferometer, constructed at Illinois
Wesleyan University, has been used to do holographic
modal analysis of the integral HANG. An inexpensive
specklepattern interferometer (or holographic
interferometer), constructed at Illinois Wesleyan
University,hasbeenusedtodoholographicmodalanalysis
oftheintegral HANG. Theinterferometer issimilarin
designtotheinterferometerintroducedbyMoore[5].The
interferometermakesuseofalowcostdiodelaserandan
inexpensiveboardlevelcamera (aUnibrainFireIboard
levelcamera,withaCmountedzoomlens).Thecamera
interfaces to the computer via the firewire bus, which
allows for framegrabbing without the need for an
expensiveimageacquisitioncard.

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Figure9Soundspectraof8notesontheintegralHANG.
Notethatthefrequencyscaleisextendedto2000Hzinthe
F4andA4notesinordertoseeallthreeoftheprincipal
harmonicpartials.

5.Playingtechniques

Figure10Waveformandspectrogramofanoteplayedat
ppplevel(top)comparedwiththewaveformand
spectrogramofanoteplayedatffflevel(bottom).

ThemannerinwhichtheHANGisplayedhasconsiderable
influenceonthequalityofthesoundsthatitproduces.
Playing more or less intensely influences the spectral
content, the decay time, and additional features of the
amplitudeenvelope.

Animportantsetofplayingtechniquesinvolvesplayinga
HANGnotewitharapidsuccessionofimpacts. Thiscan
beaccomplishedinavarietyofways,themostelementary
of which involves playing single stroke roles with the
fingersofalternatinghands.Aseachstrokearrivesitfinds
theHANGinadifferentstate.Asaresult,eachofthenotes
in the roll has a slightly different timbre. This timbral
variation provides a quality to the sound that cannot be
achieved by repeating the same sample of a HANG to
simulatearoll.Todemonstratethiseffectwemodeledthe
HANG with filters centered at each of the frequency
components.Thegainsanddecaytimesfortheseresonate
filterswereestimatedfromtheanalysis.Wedemonstrate
the difference in sound quality by comparing the free
runningsetofresonatefilterswithaversionofthemodel
where the state of the filters remains constant at each
impulse.
Anothereffectivewaytoplayarapidsuccessionofsingle
notes is to use a technique analogous to the way a
percussionist using sticks plays a flam. This can be
accomplishedbyplacingthemiddlefingerjustaheadofthe
indexfingerwhenstrikingtheHANG.Thearrivaltimesof

InFigure10wecontrastasoftnotesayoneatpppwitha
note played loudly at fff. The upper panels plot overall
amplitudeasafunctionoftimeandthelowerpanelsplot
resonatepeaksasafunctionoftimeinamanneranalogous
toaspectrogram.Theseresonatepeakswereextractedby
fitting sinusoidal tracks to temporally overlapping short
timeFouriertransforms(STFT)ofthesignal.Asexpected
theoverallamplitudeisdramaticallychangedandtheloud
noteringslongerthanthesoftone.Thereareconsiderably
moresinusoidaltracksintheintensenote. Thesoftnote
hadbuttwoaudiblysignificant componentsinanoctave
relationship whereas the intense notes higher frequency
components are inharmonic with respect to the
fundamental. In addition, the intense note shows
significantamplitudemodulationsduetobeating.

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the two fingers can be controlled by how far they are
34spacedapartpriortotheimpact. Avarietyoftimbres
canbeobtainedbycontrollingthefingerspacinginthis
manner.Morecomplexeffects,suchasaflurryofnotes,
canbeobtainedbyarrangingthefingerssothatthebaby
fingerstrikesfirstfollowedbythering,middle,andindex
fingersinrapidsuccession.
TheHANG'scenternotewithitsoutwardlyextendingboss
invitesavarietyoftechniquesincludingstrikingitwitha
largersurfaceofhandaswithflattenedfingersorthebase
ofthepalm.
OneofthemostimportantaspectsofHANGtechniqueis
howlongthefingerorhandremainsincontact withthe
instrumentduringthestroke.Thelongerthecontacttime
the greater the damping effect. Many beginning players
have difficulty striking the instrument and pulling away
quicklymakingithardforthemtoproducenotesthatring.
Onetipistoactuallypracticemakingtheupstrokerapid
separatelyfromthedownstokeandthencombiningthemto
effectivelycontrolthecontacttimewiththeinstrument.

[2] Rohner,F.andSchrer,S.(2007)Historyand
developmentoftheHANG,ProceedingsofISMA
2007,Barcelona.
[3] Morrison,A.(2006)AcousticalStudiesoftheSteelpan
andHANG:PhaseSensitiveHolographyandSound
IntensityMeasurements(PhDdissertation,Northern
IllinoisUniversity,DeKalb,Illinois)
[4] Rossing,T.D.,A.Morrison,U.Hansen,F.Rohner,and
S.Schrer(2007)AcousticsoftheHANG:Ahand
playedsteelinstrument,ProceedingsofISMA2007,
Barcelona.
[5] Moore,T.(2004)Asimpledesignforanelectronic
specklepatterninterferometer,Am.J.Phys.,72,1380

6.Conclusion
We have compared the three HANGs produced by
PanART.: the original highvoice HANG; the lowvoice
HANG;andthenewintegralHANG. Wehavecompared
the sound of the HANG when played in various ways.
Loudnotes tentoringlongerthansoft ones,andthey
alsoshowsignificantamplitudemodulation.
TheHANGcanbemodeledwithfilterscenteredateach
ofthefrequencycomponents;thegainsanddecaytimesfor
theseresonantfilterscanbeestimatedfromtheanalysisof
multipleplayingstrokes.Fromtheanalysisitispossibleto
synthesizerealisticsoundsoftheHANG.
AneffectivewaytoplaytheHANGistoplayarapid
succession of single notes is analogous to the way a
percussionist uses sticks to play a flam. This can b e
accomplishedbyplacingthemiddlefingerjustaheadofthe
indexfingerwhenstrikingtheHANG.Thearrivaltimesof
thetwofingerscanbecontrolledbyhowfartheyarespaced
a0part prior totheimpact. A varietyof timbres canbe
obtainedbycontrollingthefingerspacinginthismanner.
OneofthemostimportantaspectsofHANGtechniqueis
howlongthefingerorhandremains incontactwiththe
instrumentduringthestroke. Thelongerthecontacttime
thegreaterthedampingeffect.

References
[1] Rossing,T.D.,Hansen,U.J.,Rohner,F.,andSchrer,
S.(2001)TheHANG:AHandPlayedSteelDrum,
142ndASAmeeting,December2001.
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