Ultimate Easy Tongue Drum Guide: Even if you've never played music before

Playing traditional music notes is difficult for people who have no musical knowledge. You need to know the rhythmic value of each note, its place on the staff, note duration, and combination with other notes. To be aware of all this simultaneously demands music experience and advanced skills. Nevertheless, even if you have never studied music, you can begin to play complicated melodies, and also experiment with your tongue drum in a meditative way.

The steel tongue drum (aka tong drum, tank drum, gluck-o-phone, hapi drum, mandala or lotus drum) and the handpan (aka hank drum, UFO drum, zen drum) are percussion musical instruments designed to help you focus on your feelings, sensations and body. You don’t need classical music training or knowledge of music theory to play them.

I collect very simple and well-known songs and melodies with easy rhythms. You can begin to play in just two steps. First, you will play using circles that contain either a number, without having to consider note duration, key, or time signatures. These numbers correspond to those on the keys of your tongue drum. So you just need to follow the numbers.

You can get an idea of how the song might be played by listening to the YouTube clip of the same song, which you can access with the QR code below each song. Then, if you find that you can play the song with more confidence, you can try using the second page of the same song, with the actual notes. There, the same melody is written in a traditional manner with all the necessary musical symbols. However, I simplified the melodies in this step as well, transposing the most songs for one octave, leaving the numbers under the notes. I hope that playing these simple melodies will bring you a new relaxation and meditation experience filled with a lot of joy.

Contents

Alphabet Song
Bobby Shafto
Cobbler, Mend My Shoe
Chumbara
Ding Dong DiggiDiggiDong
Five Little Monkeys
Humpty Dumpty
I Love Little Kitty
Jack and Jill
My Hat
Old Mother Hubbard
Rain, Rain, Go Away
The Big Sheep
This Old Man
Ten in the Bed