Singing bowl questions

[AstraeaLunaAvani]

I have been a fan of listening to singing bowls on YouTube and finally bought some of my own today. One is a small (size of your hand) Tibetan bowl and the other is pretty big (about the size of a big mixing bowl). The big one isn't a Tibetan one, I forget where she said it was made, but it's not crystal either. Anyway, my questions are;

I can't get the small one to sing, but the big one works fine. Is this because the smaller decorative ones aren't made for singing? You can tap it and it makes the chime sound but for the life of me I can't get it to sing by rubbing the rim. It was $45 at a holistic expo (same place I bought the big one, but a different exhibitor). My big one was $300. Which brings me to my next question;

I know I sound like a cheapskate but is there any place that has big ones cheaper than $300? I want to have a set, preferrably one for each chakra. But I can't afford to spend $2000 on these things. Which brings me to my last question, lol;

Do you get the same benefit from listening to them on YouTube videos as you do from having one physically next to you? I do love feeling the vibration but like I said, $2000 to buy a whole set is just crazy. How do they expect the average person to be able to enjoy these, most people can't even afford ONE of them. But with only one you're only helping that chakra, right? You need one for each one so they're all balanced correctly?

[Silver]

Did the small one come with its own mallet? I read on wiki that some bowls use different types of mallets: "Singing bowls are played by striking the rim of the bowl with a padded mallet. They can also be played by the friction of rubbing a wood, plastic, or leather wrapped mallet around the rim of the bowl to emphasize the harmonic overtones and a continuous 'singing' sound."

I'd love to have a set but I hear they can be expensive. I'd be willing to try a mixing bowl set!

[AstraeaLunaAvani]

Originally Posted by Silver

Did the small one come with its own mallet? I read on wiki that some bowls use different types of mallets: "Singing bowls are played by striking the rim of the bowl with a padded mallet. They can also be played by the friction of rubbing a wood, plastic, or leather wrapped mallet around the rim of the bowl to emphasize the harmonic overtones and a continuous 'singing' sound."

I'd love to have a set but I hear they can be expensive. I'd be willing to try a mixing bowl set!

Yeah my small bowl came with it's own mallet. Yeah the sets are insanely expensive. I almost bought a set at a different exhibitor's table, they were smaller so I thought they would be cheaper, but each bowl was different depending on it's size and some were over $100 for the smallest size! I don't get how something so small can be so expensive. The BIG ones should be $100, that's do-able, lol

[Klaatu24]

You've probably already tried this, but perhaps you can try moving the mallet different ways -- like at different speeds. For example, moving the mallet REALLY slowly. The next time a LITTLE bit faster. The next time a LITTLE bit faster again, etc. And try moving the mallet inside the bowl. Then try outside the bowl. And try using different parts of the mallet. Sometimes just a wooden stick works.

You might want to google "singing bowl" and contact the people on the webpages -- perhaps they've found other tools to get the bowl singing.

[AstraeaLunaAvani]

Originally Posted by Klaatu24

You've probably already tried this, but perhaps you can try moving the mallet different ways -- like at different speeds. For example, moving the mallet REALLY slowly. The next time a LITTLE bit faster. The next time a LITTLE bit faster again, etc. And try moving the mallet inside the bowl. Then try outside the bowl. And try using different parts of the mallet. Sometimes just a wooden stick works.

You might want to google "singing bowl" and contact the people on the webpages -- perhaps they've found other tools to get the bowl singing.

lol Yeah I did try all those things...no matter how fast or slow I move the mallet, no matter which end of it I use, no matter which part of the bowl i'm touching, no matter how lightly or heavily I press on it, after hitting it to make it chime, it deadens the sound almost right away. I watched about 5 videos and they're doing it exactly how I am! I just don't get it.