Chatter in My Singing Bowl!

During my travel in Nepal, I was amazed by the marvellous place with all its amazing aesthetic culture. It was during this time that I came across a master piece that was designed to let out beautiful sounds, called a Singing Bowl.

When I heard a lady playing the bowl for the first time, ‘Heavenly’ and ‘healing’ were the words that came to my mind as I heard its sound. However, when I played one, it started chattering. I was disappointed and asked her if I had to firstly learn how to play a singing bowl to hear its relaxing music. I was intrigued and wanted to know more about it. I asked her about the chatter in my singing bowl and why it was happening.

She smiled and told me that no one needed hard core lessons to learn it. They just had to do it in the right manner. She also called them “Standing Bells” and humbly proceeded on to explain more about it. However, these alluring Standing Bells have more questions than answers.

There are no evidences of its origin. They are also called Tibetan singing bowls, prayer bowls, yoga bowl, standing bowls, resting bowls, meditation bowls and many more. They can be played either by rubbing the millet or striking the bowl with a mallet.  Both produce unique and exclusive sounds.

There are various reasons to use a Prayer Bowl. Sonic music from these bowls help reduce stress, and bring positive changes as the body reacts to the vibrations of these singing bowls. These days people are also inclined towards peaceful meditation for which they use meditation bowls as a backdrop during their practice.

Tibetan singing bowls have excellent and absolute healing powers. It can engage the mind and body’s’ vibration with its power to lead to a state of relaxation. It can also help in channelizing energy towards concentration, meditation, resting, prayer etc. As it is widely used for religious purposes, it is also called a prayer bowl.

But I was still wondering why my yoga bowl was chattering?
The lady told me that many people have trouble when they run the striker around the singing bowl. She informed me that it was a common problem and disappointment while playing the standing bowl for the first time was quite normal. Sometimes singing bowl produce knocking sounds which we call chatter. I was amazed to discover the answer to this chatter. It was simple physics and simply intriguing!

These resting bowls are made of common metals like bronze, silver, zinc, gold and more. When the rim is struck with a padded mallet the effect is called ‘puja’. This effect is the same as moist fingers being rubbed around the rim of a wine glass. It’s called resonant frequency.

As per the study done; the occurrence and phenomena of “Chatter” is little different in Himalayan singing bowl. As Puja proceeds around the bowl rim, it quickly switches and skips on the metals. We expect puja to lie on bowl node in vibratory motion but it does not remain stuck. So while moving, the speed increases and so does the voice and there it is, it’s Chattering.

So that is how singing bowl or standing bowl chatters at times.
There are so many places, you can get or purchase alluring singing bowls. Best Himalaya has a wide range of singing or yoga bowls from which you can choose the right one for you.