For children
A first instrument that rewards them in the first minute instead of the first month. Nothing to tune, nothing sharp, and no wrong note to be corrected on. Ages five and up, with an adult nearby for the mallets.
steel tongue drum for beginners
Everything you need is in the box. Free shipping, and it is in stock today.
Steel tongue drum
Play it the day it arrives.
Every tongue is numbered. The songbook uses the same numbers. If you can count, you can play a song tonight.
Numbered tongues
Songbook included
Free shipping
No experience needed
Sheet music is a second language. This is not.
Most instruments ask you to learn notation before you make anything worth hearing. Weeks of it, usually, before the first song. Plenty of people quit in that gap.
This one skips the gap. Each steel tongue carries a printed number. The songbook in the box lists songs as sequences of those numbers. You read a number, you tap that tongue. That is the entire method.
- 1Find the number in the songbook.
- 2Tap that tongue with a mallet or your fingertip.
- 3Keep going. There is no wrong note on the drum, so nothing you play sounds like a mistake.
One instrument, four different reasons
The drum does not change. What people come to it for does.
For yoga teachers
A soft way to open a class, mark a transition, or close a savasana without raising your voice. It carries across a room at low volume and the decay is long enough to hold a held pose.
For meditation
Long sustain, no sharp attack. Ten minutes of slow tapping asks for the same attention a breathing practice does, which is most of the reason people keep it beside the cushion rather than in a case.
For musicians
A pentatonic drum you can improvise on without thinking about theory. Useful for writing, for layering under a track, and for the evenings when you want to play something that does not feel like practice.
A first instrument that does not need a teacher
Most starter instruments hand a child something that sounds bad until an adult intervenes. A recorder squeaks. A keyboard has a wrong note under every finger. Both need someone standing over the child correcting them.
This one has no wrong note. A five year old hitting it at random still produces something that sounds deliberate, which is usually the moment they decide they are musical.
- No tuning, no setup, nothing to break
- Rounded edges and a soft jute rim
- Quiet enough to survive an afternoon indoors
- Keep the mallets with an adult for under-fives
How it sounds, honestly
Warm and round rather than bright. The note blooms, holds for several seconds, then fades on its own. It is closer to a handpan or a singing bowl than to a xylophone.
Quiet, too. Full strength with a mallet sits somewhere near normal conversation, and fingertips bring it down to almost nothing. You can play this in a flat at eleven at night.
- Tuned to a pentatonic scale, so every combination is consonant
- Titanium steel alloy body, holds its tuning without adjustment
- Hand-woven jute rim that damps the shell and softens the edge
- Play with the mallets, the finger picks, or bare hands
Nobody has ever been told they are tone deaf by this drum.
Every tongue belongs to the same scale. Tap them in any order, at any speed, and the result is still music. That is not a beginner mode. That is how the instrument is built.
Everything arrives ready to play
No separate purchases, no adapters, no assembly. Open the box and the first song is a few minutes away.
The drum13 or 15 notes, your colour
Two malletsWooden, rubber tipped
Finger picksFor a softer, closer tone
SongbookSongs written as numbers
Note stickersSpare tongue markers
Carry bagPadded, with a strap
Choose yours
Thirteen notes or fifteen
Colour
$155.95
$329.99
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Free shipping. Mallets, finger picks, songbook, stickers and carry bag are all included at both sizes.
Questions people ask first
I have never played an instrument. Really, is that fine?
Yes, and it is the main reason this instrument exists. The tongues are numbered, the songbook lists songs as number sequences, and the drum is tuned so that any two tongues sound good together. There is no notation to learn and no wrong note to hit.
13 or 15 notes?
Take the 13 if this is a first instrument or a gift. It is lighter, the tongues are easier to hit cleanly, and everything in the songbook plays on it. Take the 15 if you already play something and want the extra range and a deeper low end.
How loud is it?
Quiet. Struck firmly with a mallet it sits around the level of ordinary conversation, and played with fingertips it is quieter still. It is a realistic instrument for a flat, a shared house or a late evening.
Does it need tuning?
No. The notes are cut and tuned into the steel itself, so there is nothing to adjust and nothing that drifts. Keep it dry and wipe the surface occasionally.
Is it safe for a child?
The drum has no sharp edges and nothing to swallow. The mallets and finger picks are small parts, so keep those with an adult for younger children. We would put the sensible age at five and up.
What is in the box?
The drum, two wooden mallets, finger picks, a songbook written in numbers, spare note stickers and a padded carry bag, all inside the printed gift box.
The first song takes about ten minutes.
Open the box, find a number in the songbook, tap that tongue. There is no step before that one.
Choose mine from $155.95In stock. Free shipping. Mallets, songbook and carry bag included.
$155.95$329.99
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