1f Metal singing bowls vs crystal singing bowls

The late '80s brought to the New Age community a very interesting instrument with an angelic tone – the crystal singing bowl. 

Crystal singing bowls are called "Quartz Crucibles", and they originated in the solar energy industry.

The crystal bowls are very popular these days and are really good sounding instruments (in good hands). Not many sound practitioners know how these bowls are manufactured.

High Purity Quartz powder (silica sand) is melted by heating to 4000 degrees Celsius and formed into the shape of a bowl. During the manufacturing process of crystal singing bowls, most of the physical properties of the raw quartz (such as piezoelectricity) are being lost. 

Since all glass manufacturing starts with silica sand, the more correct name for the crystal singing bowls is "glass singing bowls".

Most of the silica sand comes from China, and most of the singing bowls are being made in China!

Some of the crystal bowls are plated with precious metals or fused with semi-precious mineral powder. The mineral or metal coating is fused at a high temperature onto the surface of the frosted or clear crystal bowl.

Many people ascribe mystical properties of the mineral kingdom to the singing bowls made of glass. I have no comments on this. As long as the Ethos of sound is merciful, good intention and knowledge are present during the session; everything else is secondary.

Yes, indeed, crystal singing bowls sound good when in good hands, but no matter how you play these instruments, the range of overtones is not the same as in bowls made of metal. 

Himalayan singing bowls are much more complex instruments than the crystal bowls. In the next segment you will learn how to literally design sound through playing Himalayan bowls. There is a great deal of art and science involved in this process!

PLEASE USE YOUR HEADPHONES FOR THE FOLLOWING VIDEO