There are a lot of musical instruments out there and a lot of ways to make music or sound. I love music in a great variety of forms as my Ipod will attest. Music stirs our emotions, sets moods, helps us through hectic days, moves our bodies and soothes our souls. The sounds and music that comes from Singing Bowls is something altogether different from all of that.
There are Tibetan Singing Bowls which are bowls made of a specific mixture and variety of metals hammered to the perfect shape and thickness so they not only ring with a certain tone when struck, but when a tapper is rubbed along their outside rim they begin humming or ‘singing’. I own one that I love as it sings two octaves when played and is always a delight. The sounds they make cause a corresponding vibration in the body that is soothing and healing.
Crystal Singing Bowls are similar, but instead of being crafted from metal, they are clear quartz crystal gown in labs to produce one particular note. They range in size from something you can hold in your palm to something the size of a small end table, although size does not determine tone. I’m told that the growers can aim for a tone with a specific bowl, but they can never be sure. The crystals seem to have a mind of their own in that regard. They too have a struck town and a sung tone. And if I were to compare the sounds from a Tibetan bowl with a Crystal one I would have to say the former makes a sound that shines and the latter makes one that glows. There are several practitioners that have made albums of music using their Crystal bowls. Check them out and feel it for yourself.