Top 10 'Resonance-and-Rest' Handpan Video Lessons to try for Finding Your Inner Rhythm - Goh Ling Yong
Have you ever been captivated by the ethereal, resonant sound of a handpan? It’s a sound that seems to float in the air, weaving a tapestry of melody and peace. But as many new players discover, making the handpan truly sing is about more than just hitting the right notes. It's about the space between them. It’s about the breath, the pause, and the patient decay of a single, perfectly struck tone.
This is the principle I like to call 'Resonance-and-Rest'. It's a meditative approach to playing that transforms the handpan from a mere percussion instrument into a powerful tool for mindfulness and self-expression. It’s the art of listening as much as playing. It’s about understanding that the silence is just as important as the sound. When you master this concept, you stop just playing patterns and start channeling your own unique, inner rhythm.
In this guide, we'll explore ten foundational video lesson concepts designed to help you connect with this very principle. Whether you’re a complete beginner feeling a little lost or an intermediate player looking to add more depth and soul to your music, these exercises will help you find the groove that’s uniquely yours. So, grab your handpan, find a quiet space, and let’s begin the journey into the heart of resonance and rest.
1. The Single Note Meditation
The journey begins with the simplest, most fundamental element: a single, resonant note. Often, we're so eager to play fast melodies that we forget to appreciate the profound beauty of one sound, born from a single touch and allowed to live its full life in the air. This lesson is about stripping everything else away and focusing purely on that one note, typically the central "Ding."
The exercise is simple. Sit comfortably with your handpan. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath in, and as you exhale, strike the Ding with a gentle, confident touch. Now, do nothing. Just listen. Follow the sound as it blooms, shimmers, and slowly fades into silence. The "rest" here is the entire duration of that decay. Feel the vibration through your hands and lap. Notice how the character of the sound changes over time. Repeat this for five to ten minutes, allowing your mind to anchor to the sound.
Pro-Tip: Experiment with your touch. How does a very soft, fingertip touch change the resonance compared to a firmer strike with the pad of your finger? Try to make the quietest possible sound that still has a clear tone. This exercise isn't about performance; it's about deep listening and connecting with the core voice of your instrument.
2. The Two-Note Conversation
Once you're comfortable with the life of a single note, it's time to introduce a partner. This lesson is about creating a dialogue between two notes. Think of it less as a melody and more as a call and response, a question and an answer. The space between these two notes is where the conversation happens. It's a pause filled with anticipation.
Choose two notes on your handpan, preferably on opposite sides to encourage movement and coordination. Strike the first note and let it resonate for a moment. Then, in the space after its peak, strike the second note. Listen to how they interact. Does the second note cut off the first, or do their frequencies blend for a moment? This interplay is central to the handpan's magic.
Pro-Tip: Vary the timing of your "response." What happens if you play the second note immediately? What if you wait until the first note has almost completely faded? This is your first step into creating rhythm and groove. Imagine one note is your inhale, and the other is your exhale. This simple connection to your breath can make the pattern feel incredibly natural and meditative.
3. Building a Simple Triad Arpeggio
Now we move from a dialogue to a small group discussion by introducing a third note to create a triad, the basic building block of a chord. An arpeggio is simply playing the notes of a chord one after another. But with the 'Resonance-and-Rest' approach, it becomes a cascading wave of harmony, not just a quick C-E-G.
Find a natural-sounding three-note combination on your handpan. Play them slowly, one after another: Note 1... Note 2... Note 3. Focus on letting the resonance of each note overlap with the next, creating a rich, harmonic texture. The "rest" in this exercise is the moment of silence you take after the full triad has been played, allowing the combined chord to ring out and fade.
Pro-Tip: After playing the arpeggio upwards (1-2-3), practice playing it downwards (3-2-1). Notice the different emotional feeling this creates. Then, try mixing the order (e.g., 1-3-2). This isn't about speed; it's about feeling how the sequence of notes changes the overall color of the chord. This is the beginning of melodic composition.
4. The Ghost Note Whisper
So far, our "rest" has been silence. Now, we're going to fill that silence with texture. Ghost notes are one of the most vital techniques for creating compelling handpan grooves. They are soft, percussive taps on the surface of the pan that have no melodic tone but provide a rhythmic pulse. They are the whispers between the sung notes.
Start by playing a simple pattern, like the two-note conversation from Lesson 2. Now, in the space where you would normally pause, add a soft tap with your fingertip or thumb on the flat space between the tone fields. Tap-note... tap-note... This creates a heartbeat for your music. It adds a layer of complexity without cluttering the melody, giving the listener's ear a rhythmic foundation to hold onto.
Pro-Tip: Practice creating different sounds with your ghost notes. A tap near the rim sounds different from a tap closer to the Ding. You can use multiple fingers to create a soft "thump" or a single finger for a sharper "tick." Integrating these non-melodic sounds is what separates basic playing from truly rhythmic, groovy handpan music.
5. Rhythmic Breathing Patterns
This lesson formalizes a concept we've touched on: connecting your playing directly to your body's most fundamental rhythm—your breath. This is a powerful meditative practice that ensures your music comes from an authentic and grounded place. When your playing is synchronized with your breath, it naturally incorporates 'Resonance-and-Rest'.
Begin with a simple two-beat inhale and a two-beat exhale. On the exhale, play a single note or a two-note pattern. The entire inhale is your "rest." Feel the expansion in your chest as you prepare to play, and the release as you strike the note. As you get comfortable, you can try more complex patterns: inhale for four beats, and play a four-note phrase on the four-beat exhale.
Pro-Tip: Don't force your breath to match a pre-determined rhythm. Instead, let your natural, relaxed breathing pattern dictate the tempo of your music. If your breath is slow and deep, your music will be calm and meditative. If it's a little faster, your music will have more energy. This is a cornerstone of finding your inner rhythm.
6. The Art of the Slow Roll
A "roll" or "diddle" is when you quickly alternate hands to play a series of notes. It's often used for a fast, percussive effect. This lesson turns that idea on its head. We're going to practice an intentionally slow, deliberate roll, focusing on the seamless transition of resonance from one note to the next.
Choose three or four notes in a sequence. Using alternating hands (Left-Right-Left or Right-Left-Right), play the sequence as slowly and smoothly as you can. The goal is to make it sound like one continuous, flowing wave of sound, rather than distinct, separate notes. Your touch needs to be perfectly even and controlled. The "rest" here is almost non-existent between notes, but the overall slow tempo creates a huge sense of space and calm.
Pro-Tip: Imagine your hands are gliding through thick honey. This mental image can help you achieve the required smoothness and control. This technique is fantastic for creating atmospheric, ambient textures in your playing.
7. Dynamic Exploration: From Pianissimo to Forte
Music isn't just about which notes you play; it's about how you play them. Dynamics—the variation in volume—are what give music its emotional power. A pattern played very softly (pianissimo) feels intimate and gentle, while the same pattern played loudly (forte) feels powerful and declarative. The "rest" can be a moment of extreme quiet that makes the following loud note feel even more impactful.
For this lesson, choose a single note. Your task is to play it ten times in a row, starting as quietly as humanly possible and gradually increasing the volume with each strike until the last one is strong and loud (without hurting your instrument, of course!). Then, reverse the process, going from forte back down to pianissimo. This exercise builds incredible touch control, which is essential for expressive playing. I've seen masterful players like Goh Ling Yong use this technique to build incredible tension and release in their compositions.
Pro-Tip: Apply this to a simple three-note melody. Try playing the whole phrase softly. Then play it loudly. Now, try mixing it up: play the first two notes softly and the last one loudly. This is how you begin to tell a story with your music.
8. Composing with Pauses
This is an advanced but crucial lesson. It flips the focus entirely. Instead of thinking about which notes to add, you will intentionally think about where to create silence. A well-placed pause can be more powerful than any note. It gives the listener a moment to absorb the phrase they just heard and creates anticipation for what's next.
Create a short, simple 4-note melodic phrase. Play it through once. Now, play it again, but after the phrase ends, count four full beats of silence before you repeat it. Feel the weight of that silence. It frames your melody like a matting frames a picture. It gives it importance and clarity.
Pro-Tip: Experiment with the length of the pause. What does a 2-beat pause feel like versus an 8-beat pause? You can also insert pauses within a phrase. For example: Note 1 - Note 2 - (pause for 2 beats) - Note 3 - Note 4. This is a high-level composition technique that immediately adds sophistication and maturity to your playing.
9. The Cross-Hand Pattern Challenge
As you become more comfortable, you'll want to play more complex patterns that involve your hands crossing over each other to reach different notes. The challenge here is to maintain the clarity, space, and rhythmic integrity of 'Resonance-and-Rest' even when the physical movements become more demanding.
Find a pattern that requires you to cross one hand over the other to strike a note. It could be something as simple as playing a low note with your left hand, a high note with your right, and then another low note next to the first one, again with your right hand (requiring you to cross over your left). Practice this movement incredibly slowly at first. Focus on not letting your hands or body tense up. The goal is to make the complex movement feel as effortless as a simple alternating pattern.
Pro-Tip: Isolate the difficult movement and practice it on its own. Don't worry about the full musical phrase. Just repeat the cross-hand motion until it feels fluid and natural. This kind of dedicated practice, which Goh Ling Yong often emphasizes in his teaching, is what builds the muscle memory needed for effortless flow.
10. Freestyle Flow State Jam
This final lesson is the culmination of everything you've practiced. It's time to let go of the exercises and just play. The goal isn't to perform a perfect piece of music, but to enter a flow state where you are simply responding to the sound, guided by your intuition and a deep-seated understanding of resonance and rest.
Set a timer for ten or fifteen minutes. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and begin. Don't plan what you're going to play. Let your hands wander. Play a single note and listen. Respond to it. Maybe that leads to a two-note conversation, which flows into a slow arpeggio. Maybe you feel the urge to introduce a ghost note pattern. Don't judge what comes out. Just be the channel for the music. Be fully present with the sound and the silence.
Pro-Tip: If you find your mind starting to analyze or critique, gently bring your focus back to the physical sensation of your hands on the steel and the sound vibrating in the air. This is your musical meditation, the ultimate expression of your inner rhythm.
The journey of learning the handpan is a beautiful paradox. The more you learn about technique and theory, the more you realize that the most profound music comes from a place of simple, intuitive listening. The space between the notes is not empty; it's filled with potential, emotion, and breath. It's where the soul of the music resides.
By practicing these 'Resonance-and-Rest' lessons, you're not just training your hands; you're training your ears and your heart. You're learning to speak the unique language of this incredible instrument. Be patient with yourself, enjoy the process of discovery, and listen deeply. Your inner rhythm is in there, waiting to be heard.
Ready to take the next step on your handpan journey? Explore our full range of handpan courses for all skill levels, or find the perfect instrument to begin your practice in our online shop. We'd love to hear about your 'Resonance-and-Rest' moments—share your experiences and breakthroughs in the comments below
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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