by Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou
One great way of sharing cultures is to explore the different instruments that are found in various countries around the world. Many American children learn how to play piano and other traditional instruments, but if you were to visit the area around China, Tibet, Nepal or Northern India, you might see some really unique instruments including a bowl that sings, and small cymbals attached to a string that are carefully struck together to make a sound like a beautiful bell. Let’s learn about these two unique instruments, and listen to the sounds they make.
First there’s the singing bowl. Here is a picture of four of my favorite singing bowls – each only has a different size, shape and decoration, as well as a unique voice when played with a wooden stick. No one actually knows how old this instrument is but most historians think it was probably created about 3,000 years ago when the bronze age began in ancient China.
If you get a chance to explore a singing bowl, you’ll find that you can play it two different ways. You can tap it with a mallet and it will ring like as bell, or you can apply pressure with a wooden stick in a circular motion to the side of the bowl and a sweet, sustained note will ring out – as if it were singing! We have a wonderful little singing bowl that we’re giving away this month and we’ll write all about the Tibetan singing bowl on our Making Multicultural Music Blog. Here’s some great background music for your class or home that features a Tibetan singing bowl:
Next, there’s the tingsha (or ting-sha). These are two small, rather heavy cymbals that are attached to a rope or piece of rawhide. They are usually about 2.5 to 4 inches in diameter and are played by gently striking them against each other. The sound is relaxing, beautiful and it’s no wonder that these two instruments are often heard in the United States as part of yoga or meditation practices.
Award-winning children’s performer, DARIA (Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou) has five CD’s that have won national honors. She has the most awesome job of traveling the world to sing for kids and peace. Her website, dariamusic.com, was given a 2009 Parents Choice Award for its musical and cultural content.
We adopted our son from Ethiopia and we listen to Ethiopian music quite often. We have also bought a few small different musical instruments from different countries on the Ten Thousand Villages website that we love to play! I never knew those above are what is used in yoga/meditation.
Since I have two children from China, we enjoy listening to various Chinese songs.
Our heritage is African and we love world music from Africa. Also, a couple of years ago we visited The Musical Instrument Museum of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona. AMAZING!!! My son stared at the video installation from Peru for a looooong time.
I am so excited to hear the great responses from parents here. I love to see how parents are nurturing their children’s love of music and culture at the same time! BTW, Ten Thousand Villages sells great instrument and they are all fair trade – meaning that the artisan has been paid a fair amount for their work – hooray!
I have a world music CD that my kids love. It is in my car and they all have their favorite song.
I enjoy all the Putamayo CDs with my grandkids and just for myself!
We love Putamayo, but since I am Russian, and my husband is German, we also listen to a lot of German and Russian songs that we knew when we were growing up. It was very interesting to learn about these instruments, by the way. Thanks for sharing them with us.
My kids both play musical instruments, and we have an assortment around the house – African drums, Mexican maracas, Appalachian dulcimer, etc. Although they play traditional instruments – piano, guitar and violin – they love all kinds of music. They were adopted from China, and we love listening to the Twelve Girls Band. They also love Bluegrass and Celtic music. They are really world citizens!
Lee W.!!!! Congratulations! You won the giveaway!:) Please contact us at kidworldcitizen (at) gmail (dot) com!!! Congratulations!:)
Congrats!!!!!!! I hope you and your girls enjoy hundreds of happy hours playing and listening to the instruments!
Mama Kea
Hi! We have one son whom we adopted from Ethiopia, and two daughters whom we adopted from China, so we listen to all sorts of Ethiopian music and Chinese music too. Oh, and my two-year-old son is also a huge fan of Adele! 🙂 Thank you for sharing your instruments with us!
I teach music in a very poor district that is multi-cultural. We also have a son from Russia and a daughter from China, and are in the process of adopting another China daughter. It is important in our family and in my school to listen to and play music from all over the world.
My children loves Mexican and Latin music, they love to dance to these rhythms.
My tweet : https://twitter.com/#!/ValerieTheberge/status/161890457721384960
We listen to a range of music from around the world – my husband has quite an eclectic collection. Our daughter is from Ethiopia, and I think overall she prefers a latin beat!
My daughters and I enjoy listening to music from the country of their birth… China. It is always a pleasant day when we do our chores while listening to our favorite music.
My Ethiopian-born daughter (home now 1 year, 9 months), age 11, is thrilled with all she has learned about China with her classmates the last several weeks. The entire school has a China theme during this period, and she’s learned music, history, art, theatre, poetry, and other subjects in relation to China. This week she’s performing in a play about a dragon and helping to celebrate the Chinese New Year. As a World Music Fanatic, I’ve consistently exposed her to music from cultures worldwide. We adore Putumayo! I used to teach in Benin, West Africa, and have worked in Haiti and studied in Europe (and speak languages from all the above places and others). We sing lots of songs together, and dance everything from hip-hop to fox trot as a fun-loving pair! Thank you, Daria, for all you do! I’ll be sharing your web site with my daughter’s teachers and other world music friends!
We enjoy listening to the music of Nepal by Sur-sudha. Quite unique, quite wonderful 🙂
I am an elementary music teacher, grades K-5. We are constantly immersed in songs from around the world. This school is especially interesting to me as we children from all over the world, with a total of 80 dialects. These instruments are amazing!!
I am a Sound Therapist and Tibetan Singing Bowl Therapist. I offer programs to Libraries and schools throughout Maine and do Peace ~ Wave concerts for children and adults. I would love to have a traveling bowl that made its way throughout Maine. I share about music from all around the world, though my focus is to share the history of Singing bowls and share the story of their special secret…they can sing!