Featuring Tuned to Scale Tongue Drums by Steve Roberts From the craftsman to your door

Featuring Tuned to Scale Tongue Drums
Handcrafted by Steve Roberts

International Orders Welcome
Please email for shipping details

Give Steve a call at 530 894-6349
steve@tonguedrum.com

Click Pictures Below to Hear Audio Samples and get more details

12 Key Bass Giant

12 Key Standards

14 Key Bass Giant

Sparrow 6 Key
Tongue Drums

May Specials

Order any 12 or 14 Key tongue drum on the website from now until the end of May,
and receive a free set of Ideal Mallets.

Every tongue drum listed, except the 6 Key Sparrows, will be shipped
with the Ideal Mallet Set.

12 Key Bass Giant
Caribbean Tuning

12 Key Bass Giant in A Pent. Minor
Download Audio

What Are Tongue Drums?

Tongue drums are a musical instrument made of wood, usually in the shape of a box, with tongues or keys
on the playing surface. Tuned to scale tongue drums are tongue drums with the keys tuned to specific
notes in the musical scales.

Tongue drums are members of the Idiophone family of instruments. An idiophone is an instrument which vibrates
throughout its body when hit to produce sound. The only instrument older than the idiophone is the human voice itself.

Tongue drums are known by many different names including Xylodrums, Log Drums, Ozi Boxes, or Teponaztli.
If you were to trace back the origin of the tongue drum, you would find a version in early African and Asian cultures.
Early tongue drums had a wide variety of functions within these cultures, from story telling to beating out war cries over long distances.

Steve's hardwood tongue drums are direct descendants of these ancient instruments, with a modern twist,
harmonics and tuning. Steve carefully selects the highest grade hardwoods available, and skillfully crafts the finest tongue drums made. His unique designs and attention to detail have garnered worldwide renowned. Every tongue drum is tuned to concert pitch. They are made in Chico, California and follow in a long tradition of high-quality American-made crafts.

With such distinctive sounds and styles of play, it's little wonder these fascinating instruments
are finding their way into recordings from Artists around the world.

From the Craftsman to Your Door.

Click on the following links to learn more about the fascinating tongue drum.

Tutorial on Tongue Drums
(2 Min. Video 1.2MB)
A quick overview of the Tongue Drum

How Tongue Drums are Played	Woods Used
Mallets	Construction
Sizes and Models	About Steve Roberts
History of Tongue Drums	Custom Orders
	Contact Us

How Tongue Drums are Played

The Tongue Drum is tuned so that all notes are within a scale, a series of notes which fit together. This means you can't hit a "bad" note. It can be played with rubber mallets to lightly strike the tongues or the tongue drum can be played with the tips of your fingers. The longest tongue on the drum makes the lowest note in the scale. Find the scale by playing from the longest note to the shortest (high) note. Two or more notes played in unison create harmonies and chords. Create songs by playing three or four notes in a repeated pattern creating a melody or motif. Add complexity by playing your pattern on other notes of the drum.
Play one note repeatedly for a drone note effect and create a melody by playing other notes around it. Experiment! Try to remember the distinct note of each wood tongue or think of songs and melodies as patterns on the drum. If you are into writing music and songs, the melodies you come up with may surprise you.

Technique

The tongue drum is immediately enjoyable as an instrument that is tuned in a pleasing scale which makes
beautiful sounds. But like all other instruments, the more you explore different ways of playing, the more
proficient you will become.
There are two basic methods used to play the tongue drum; with mallet and by hand.

When playing with mallets, the size and weight of the mallet, as well as the hardness or softness of the mallet end, determine the sound produced.

Hard mallet ends, such as wood-tipped mallets, produce a bright tone.
Softer mallet ends, such as wound yarn or cotton, produce a more mellow sound.

When playing by hand, your hand becomes the mallet. And on your hand, there are areas which are harder
and softer. The side of the thumb, in the joint below the thumbnail, is a hard surface. And when quickly rapped
against a tongue on the drum, will make a fairly bright sound. Conversely, the pad on the thumb or fingers, the
opposite side of the nail, will make the soft mellow sound when struck against the tongue of the drum.

And where the drums tongue is struck also determines the type of sound. For the fullest ring of the keys,
play near to the very end of the key. To emphasize the organic wood tone, play at the very base of the key.
And tapping the key in the middle will produce a nice combination of both sounds.

You're in good company when you purchase a Steve Roberts tuned-to-scale tongue drum. Here's what Tony Humecke, award-winning composer, performer, producer, and creative partner in Percussive Adventures 2, used extensively in the Hollywood film "Crash" had to say.....

Hi Steve, Wow, the drum came Saturday and I couldn't be happier! It is fantastic sounding, and looks great too, but the sound is better than I expected. In fact this one sounds better than a beautiful older one my wife has that I always thought was the best sounding drum I'd heard. Now it's a second to the one you sent. I will send people to your site whenever I can. And I hope I find a place for it in the new film I'm scoring. It's called "El Muerto". If you give me a mailing address I'd like to send you my latest soundtrack release from "Naked In Ashes". All the Best, Tony Humecke

Related Links:

Go to the William Ruiz official website and hear a sample of our Steve Roberts Tongue Drums being played by a Taino drummer.

http://rhythmweb.com/peyman   Drumming from all over the World featuring Peyman Nasehpour on Ghaval Drums

Tomás Howie Drumming Web
   Download Drum Loops And Drum Samples @ DooleyDrums.com
Acoustic drum loops and drum samples with free high quality .wav file previews.

Music Loft - New, used and vintage guitars, drums, keyboards, bluegrass, band and orchestra instruments and accessories.

Rivertown Recording Studio - The Midwest's most convenient recording studio. No job too big/small. Graphic/web design, music videos, & promotion too.

Please rate my site at Music-Sites.net

www.tranquilflute.com   Inspired Native American Flute with CDs and Samples

Percussive Adventures 2

Click here to visit
Soundsonline.com and find out
more about this incredible audio engine interface

Music Stores and Shops
Call or Write for Price List

To place an order or to correspond through U.S. Mail, write to:
Tonguedrum.com,
P.O. Box 8892, Chico, CA 95927
Need help selecting a tongue drum?
Give Steve a call at 530 894-6349
You can now order by Credit Card over the phone

Please email first for International Orders