Most instruments you can buy today have centuries behind them. The violin, the guitar, the piano: their shapes were settled long before anyone alive was born. The handpan is different. Its whole story fits inside a single generation, and it starts in a precise place and year: Bern, Switzerland, in 2000.
The history of the handpan is short, but it is surprisingly eventful. An unusual steel instrument called the Hang, created by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer of PANArt, turned into a worldwide fascination, then a scarcity, then a new family of instruments made by builders everywhere, and finally a crowded market where excellent instruments sit next to rough imitations.
We tell this story because it explains almost everything about buying a handpan today: why they cost what they cost, why tuning matters so much, why some sellers have waiting lists and others have warehouses. Here it is, from the steel drums that came before to the instrument that might end up on your lap.
The short answer
- The handpan's ancestor, the Hang, was created in Bern, Switzerland, in 2000 by PANArt (Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer).
- It grew out of the world of tuned steel, the tradition of the Caribbean steelpan.
- Because the Hang was hard to get, other builders began making similar instruments, and the generic name "handpan" took hold.
- Since then the instrument has gained more scales, more notes, bottom notes and new steels.
- Today's market ranges from $300 marketplace copies to waiting-list makers; tuning quality is what separates them.
🥁 Before the Hang: the tradition of tuned steel
The handpan did not appear out of nowhere. It belongs to a family of instruments where steel is shaped and tuned to sing, and the head of that family is the steelpan of Trinidad and Tobago.
The steelpan
In the middle of the 20th century, musicians in Trinidad and Tobago discovered that the head of a discarded oil drum, hammered into a concave shape and divided into areas, could produce clear musical notes. Over the following decades, the steelpan became a refined orchestral instrument, with its own tuners, its own techniques and a sound people recognize the moment they hear it.
What the steelpan taught the world
- That hammered steel can hold a precise pitch.
- That each note area, a note field, can be tuned not only for its main pitch but for its overtones.
- That tuning steel is a craft of its own, separate from building the shell.
Those three ideas run straight through the handpan's story. The workshop in Bern that created the Hang had its own background in steelpan making, and you can hear that heritage in how a handpan note blooms.
Other echoes
People who study the Hang often mention other influences too, such as clay-pot drums like the Indian ghatam, played with the hands and resonating through an opening. Whatever the exact mix of inspirations, the result was new: a steel instrument played with bare hands, held on the lap, with no sticks at all.
🏔️ Bern, 2000: the Hang is born
In 2000, PANArt, the Bern workshop of Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer, presented the Hang. The name comes from the Bernese German word for "hand," which says a lot about how it was meant to be played.
What made it so unusual
- Two steel shells joined at the rim, forming a closed, lens-like body.
- A central raised note on top, the ding, surrounded by a circle of tuned note fields.
- An opening in the bottom shell, generally called the gu, that shapes the instrument's low resonance.
- Played with the hands, softly, on the lap, producing notes with a long, warm ring and rich overtones.
Nothing else looked or sounded quite like it. It was part drum, part bell, part steelpan turned inside out. People who heard one for the first time tended to have the same reaction: stop, listen, ask what on earth it was.
Why it caught on
The Hang arrived just as the internet made it easy to share music videos. Clips of people playing it on streets, in parks and in living rooms spread widely, and each one sent new people looking for the instrument. The sound was striking, the look was unforgettable and, crucially, it sounded beautiful even when played simply. You did not need to be a trained musician to make it sing.
📛 From "Hang" to "handpan": how the name was born
This is the turning point in the history of the handpan. Demand for the Hang grew far faster than a small, careful workshop could (or wanted to) supply. Getting one meant contacting the makers directly and often waiting, and secondhand prices climbed well above the original price.
Other builders step in
Over the following years, other steel instrument builders began making their own instruments inspired by the Hang's basic design: two shells, a ding, a ring of notes, a bottom opening. Since "Hang" was the original makers' own name for their instrument, the community needed a generic word for this new family. The word that stuck was "handpan", sometimes written "hand pan."
Why the naming matters today
You will still see people call any handpan a "hang drum." It is an understandable habit, and search engines are full of it. Strictly speaking, though, the Hang is the original instrument from Bern; everything made since by other builders is a handpan. The original makers themselves continued to take their own work in new directions over the years, and the classic Hang became a piece of instrument history.
🗓️ The history of the handpan at a glance
| Period | What happened | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-20th century | The steelpan develops in Trinidad and Tobago from oil drums | Establishes hammered, tuned steel as a real musical craft |
| 2000 | PANArt presents the Hang in Bern, Switzerland | The basic design every handpan still follows |
| 2000s | Online videos spread the sound; demand far outstrips supply | The start of long waits and high secondhand prices |
| 2000s to 2010s | Independent builders start making "handpans"; the generic name takes hold | Choice appears, and so does variation in quality |
| 2010s | More scales, more notes, bottom notes ("mutants"), new steels | You can now choose a sound, not just an instrument |
| Today | Mass-produced marketplace copies alongside long waiting lists | Tuning quality, warranty and retunability matter more than ever |
🔩 How the instrument grew up
The basic shape has stayed remarkably close to the original. What changed is almost everything inside that shape.
Scales
Early instruments offered a limited set of tunings. As builders multiplied, so did scales, many of them borrowed from or inspired by traditional modes. Today, names like D Kurd, C# Pygmy, D Celtic, D Amara, D Hijaz or E La Sirena are common vocabulary among players. Each one gives the instrument a different mood: D Kurd is minor, grounded and a little melancholy (and where most players start), C# Pygmy is low and dark, D Amara is bright and open, D Hijaz carries a Middle-Eastern color.
Note count
A ding plus 7 or 8 notes was typical in the early years. Builders then fitted more fields onto the top shell. Ten notes (a ding and 9 around it) became a very popular layout, offering a full range for melodies without crowding the shell.
Mutants: notes underneath
Then came a bolder idea: putting notes on the bottom shell as well, around the gu. These instruments, nicknamed "mutants", have two playable faces and a much wider low register. They are harder to build and to tune, because every note on both sides has to work as one voice.
Steel and pitch
Builders experimented with different steels and treatments. Nitrided steel and stainless steel became widely used, each with its own sound and care needs, and makers developed their own signature materials. Players also began asking for a choice of reference pitch: 440 Hz, the standard that matches guitars and pianos, or 432 Hz, a warmer, rounder tuning many sound practitioners prefer.
The steel drum's cousin
A parallel story happened with the steel tongue drum, which grew out of DIY drums cut from propane tanks in the 2000s. It works differently (tongues are cut into the steel rather than hammered fields), but it shares the handpan's appeal: gentle, melodic, easy to play from day one.
🛒 Where the story stands today
Twenty-six years after Bern, the history of the handpan has reached a slightly strange chapter. There are more handpans in the world than ever, and it has never been harder for a beginner to know what they are buying. The market has roughly split into three camps.
| No-name marketplace handpans | Waiting-list makers | Dreemelody | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical price | $300–800 | $2,000–4,000+ | $1,349, $1,790 or $2,590 |
| Shell | Often pressed or machine-formed | Hand-hammered, often beautiful | Hand-hammered |
| Tuning | Often approximate, no published tolerance | Skilled | By hand to ±5 cents, checked twice |
| Wait | Whatever is in stock | 6 to 18 months | 3–5 weeks to your door, built to order |
| Scale choice | Whatever is in stock | The scale they have | 4 to 11 scales depending on the model |
| Warranty | Usually none | Varies | 1 to 3 years depending on the model |
| Retunable | Frequently not | Generally yes | Yes, by any handpan tuner |
Our founders met both ends of this market personally. Their first handpan arrived flat, and stayed flat. The alternative was a maker with a nine-month waiting list and a $3,000 invoice. Neither felt like a fair way to hand someone their first instrument, and that is the gap Dreemelody was built to fill.
The waiting-list makers deserve real respect: many of them carry the craft forward with care. Their downsides are practical ones, time, price and limited scale choice. The marketplace copies are a different matter. Many use the look of the instrument without the tuning work that gives it its voice, and a handpan without that work is, as the history shows, missing the very thing that made people fall in love with the Hang.
How we do it at Dreemelody
- We follow the path the history of the handpan laid out: every note field is hammered and tuned by hand, fundamental and overtones, to ±5 cents, then checked twice.
- We keep the range small: three handpans. The Essential (10 notes, nitrided stainless steel, $1,349), the Signature (10 notes, Ember Steel, $1,790) and the Master (16 notes, a mutant with 6 bass notes underneath, $2,590).
- The Signature and the Master are tuned by a master tuner; the Essential by an experienced tuner.
- Every handpan is built to order in the scale you choose, at the same price whichever scale; the Ember Steel models offer 432 or 440 Hz.
- Every shell can be retuned later, and comes with a 1-year (Essential) or 3-year (Signature, Master) warranty.
📚 What this history teaches a buyer
A short history has a practical advantage: its lessons are easy to apply. Here is what we take from it when someone asks us how to choose.
1. The magic was always the tuning
People did not fall for the Hang because of its UFO shape. They fell for the sound: notes that bloom, overtones that shimmer, a scale where every note belongs. A shell that looks right but is tuned approximately is a souvenir, not an instrument. Ask any seller for a published tuning tolerance.
2. Scarcity is not the same as quality
Long waiting lists started with the Hang and never really went away. A long wait can mean an excellent maker, but it is not in itself a sign of quality, and it does not suit everyone. It is fair to want a well-tuned instrument in weeks rather than a year.
3. A handpan is a living instrument
Hammered steel holds its tuning through tension that relaxes slowly. A good handpan holds its pitch for 1 to 3 years with normal care, then needs a tuner. Make sure the shell you buy can be retuned; many pressed ones cannot.
4. The scale is a choice, not an accident
Since the scales multiplied, you can pick the mood that suits you. Don't accept "whatever is in stock." If you are unsure, D Kurd is where most players start, and C# Pygmy is the usual sound-bath choice.
5. Real listening beats marketing
From the first videos of the Hang, sound traveled through recordings. Today, many demos come drenched in reverb. Look for unprocessed recordings of the same model, played dry, so you hear the instrument and not the effects.
How to choose your place in the story
If the history of the handpan has made you curious to own one, here is a quick way to think about our three models.
- A first handpan, bright and clear, forgiving and resistant to humidity: the Essential, in D Kurd, C# Pygmy, D Celtic or D Amara, at 440 Hz. ✨
- The warm, long-sustain sound that draws so many people to handpans in the first place: the Signature in Ember Steel, in any of 11 scales, at 432 or 440 Hz.
- The modern mutant, with bass notes on the underside and two playable faces: the Master 16-note handpan, the newest chapter of the design.
You can compare all three side by side, with their recordings, in our handpan collection. The Essential and the Signature arrive in 3–4 weeks, the Master in 4–5 weeks. Every one ships free with tracking in the US.
FAQ: The Story of the Hang: From Bern in 2000 to Today's Handpans
Who invented the handpan?
The instrument that started it all, the Hang, was created in Bern, Switzerland, in 2000 by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer of PANArt. Instruments made since by other builders, following the same basic design of two shells, a central ding and a ring of notes, are called handpans.
Is a Hang the same as a handpan?
Not exactly. The Hang is the original instrument made by PANArt in Bern. "Handpan" is the generic name for the whole family of similar instruments made by other builders. Many people still say "hang drum" for any handpan, and that is fine in conversation, but they are not the same thing.
Why are handpans so expensive?
Each note field is hammered and tuned by hand, including its overtones, which takes skill and many hours per instrument. The history plays a part too: demand has outpaced skilled supply since the Hang. Our complete guide to what a handpan is covers the rest of what to know before you buy.
What does the word "Hang" mean?
"Hang" comes from the Bernese German word for "hand," a nod to how the instrument is played: with bare hands, not sticks or mallets. It fits well, since mallets can permanently dent a handpan's tone fields. Hands give the soft, warm touch the instrument was designed for.
What is a mutant handpan?
A mutant handpan has extra notes on the bottom shell, around the opening called the gu, as well as on top. That gives it two playable faces and a wider low register. It is one of the newer steps in the instrument's evolution; our Master handpan is one, with 10 notes on top and 6 underneath.
A young instrument with a clear lesson
The history of the handpan runs from the steelpan's hammered oil drums to a workshop in Bern in 2000, then out into the world through videos, waiting lists and a new generic name. Along the way it gained scales, notes, bottom notes and new steels. What never changed is the heart of it: hand-shaped steel, tuned carefully, note by note.
That is the lesson we took into our own workshop, and the one we would pass on to anyone buying today. If you want to know how we got here ourselves, from a flat first handpan to building our own, our founders tell it in the story behind Dreemelody.
And when you are ready to add your own chapter, take a look around Dreemelody's hand-tuned handpans, listen to the dry recordings of each model, and write to us if you would like a player's help choosing a scale.