Singing Bowl Mallets and Beaters, Strikers

Hard Wood and Soft Wood

There are various mallets, also called beaters or strikers, available to play sounds on singing bowls. Each can be used to create different types of sounds. Typically when you purchase your singing bowl, a beater made from  hard wood  will be included.  Hard wood mallets create a higher pitched sound than soft wood mallets.

For softer tones, purchase a soft wood mallet.  These produce more soothing sounds.  However, hard wood mallets are better suited to playing in a larger room since they produce a louder sound. Experiment with both the hard wood and soft wood mallets to discover the balance of sounds you enjoy playing.

Mallets that are wrapped with leather or cloth will reduce most of the bowls higher tones and sounds. They produce sounds in the mid and lower tones. With wrapped beaters, one end is eft unwrapped so that you can play the wood or the wrapped end, depending on the sound you want and the tonal response  of the singing bowl.

There are many sizes of beaters and generally the larger the bowl, the larger diameter beater for the best sounds.

For crystal or resin singing bowls, you have options of either suede, silicone  or glass mallets.   Mallets that normally are bundled with the frosted crystal singing bowls are wrapped in suede leather.  It can be a little difficult to produce a clean, smooth sound since the suede has to travel over a rough surface.  This is not an issue with smooth crystal singing bowls.  Other options include mallets that are made from glass and coated with silicone. The crystal mallets require very little pressure to make quiet and detailed sounds.  Some of these crystal mallets are coated in silicone on one half of the mallet and uncoated on the other half.  This provides you with more playing and sound flexibility. 

Recently, I have made my own beater using an old wooden shovel handle.   The wood is not covered with any material, so when striking my Tibetan singing bowls it produces a sharper sound. However when using it for making the bowls sing by circling the rim, it produces an excellent sound.  It has become my favorite mallet.