thumb| being struck at [[Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto]]
A standing bell or resting bell is an inverted bell, supported from below with the rim uppermost. Such bells are normally bowl-shaped, and exist in a wide range of sizes, from a few centimetres to a metre in diameter. They are often played by striking, but some—known as singing bowls—may also be played by rotating a suede covered mallet around the outside rim to produce a sustained musical note.
Struck bowls are used in some Buddhist religious practices to accompany periods of meditation and chanting. Struck and singing bowls are widely used for music making, meditation and relaxation, as well for personal spirituality. They have become popular with music therapists, sound healers and yoga practitioners.
Standing bells originated in China. An early form called took the shape of a stemmed goblet, mounted with rim uppermost, and struck on the outside with a mallet. The manufacture and use of bowls specifically for 'singing' is believed to be a modern phenomenon. Bowls that were capable of singing began to be imported to the West from around the early 1970s. Since then they have become a popular instrument in the US-originating new-age genre often marketed as 'Tibetan music'.
Nomenclature
Standing bells are known by a wide variety of terms in English, and are sometimes referred to as bowls, basins, cups or gongs. Specific terms include resting bell, prayer bowl, Buddha bowl, Himalayan bowl, Tibetan bell, rin gong,
In Japan, the name for a bell of the standing type varies between Buddhist sects. It may be called , , among other things. Large temple bells are sometimes called , while small versions for a home altar are known as .
The Chinese term (, or historically ), which historically referred to a lithophone used in state rituals, has more recently been applied to this type of standing bell. Early Chinese standing bells are called with the earliest known Shang dynasty (16th–11th centuries BCE) bells being among the oldest bronze objects found in China.
Early bronze standing bells called embody some of the highest technical skills of Chinese civilisation and represent the earliest known form of chiming bell. Taking the shape of hollow-stemmed goblets with a curved rim, were made in sizes varying between . They were mounted on their stem, with rim uppermost, and struck on the outside with a mallet.
Some writers have suggested that the modern singing bowl developed from bowls originally used for food; The historical records and accounts of the music of Tibet are silent about singing bowls. Such bowls are not mentioned by Perceval Landon (a visitor in 1903–1904) in his notes on Tibetan music, nor by any other visitor. Likewise, though ringing and clanging sounds were noted by missionaries interested in traditional Tibetan healing practices, they make no mention of singing bowls.
Operation
Types of operation
thumb|Japanese played as struck idiophone
thumb|Japanese played as friction idiophone, demonstrating chatter
thumb|Tibetan singing bowl struck and friction
Musically, these objects are classified as a type of bell (a bell is a hollow object which has maximum vibration around an open rim; a gong on the other hand has maximum vibration towards the centre). They are usually placed on a pillow, to allow the rim to vibrate freely, though small bells may be held gently in the hand. in which case they sound a bell note as a struck idiophone (Hornbostel–Sachs classification 111.242.11).
Alternatively, some bells may be capable of 'singing bowl' operation as a friction idiophone, the principle being the same as that of water-tuned musical glasses. and has been widely studied both under friction-induced puja excitation and greater angular velocity. Studies have investigated the behaviour of bowls partly filled with water, the way in which the resonant response varies with temperature, and the characteristics of drop-ejection from the liquid surface. includes slow motion video from one of the studies. In Chinese Buddhist temples the chanting of prayers may be punctuated by the striking of a , typically a hammered bronze bowl between in diameter. The is usually paired with a (wood block). In Japanese temples, the is used along with a (a small hand bell), and two percussion instruments: an (a set of small gongs) and a (a stone or metal plate). The is also used in household worship. Buddhist ritual makes no use of the 'singing' mode of bell operation.
Use in music
A 1968 reference mentions the 'celuring-set', said at the date of writing to have been a rare instrument found only in the central Javanese principalities. This consisted of a large ornate frame, on top of which was mounted a set of bronze half-coconut-shaped bowls which were struck with a small iron bar.
thumb|Singing bowls
Bowls that were capable of singing began to be imported to the West from around the early 1970s. The musicians Henry Wolff and Nancy Hennings have been credited with the singing bowl's introduction for musical purposes in their 1972 new-age album Tibetan Bells (although they gave no details of the bowls used in the recording). This was the first in what would become a series of five related releases: Tibetan Bells II (1978), Yamantaka with Mickey Hart (1983), Tibetan Bells III (1988), and Tibetan Bells IV (1991). The albums are based on the concept of taking a spiritual journey, with the music as a guide.
Wolff and Hennings' seminal recording was followed by the development of a unique style of American singing bowl music called 'Tibetan music'. This has remained very popular in the US with many recordings being marketed as World music or New-age music since the introduction of those terms in the 1980s. 'Tibetan singing bowls' have as a result become a prominent visual and musical symbol of Tibet, to the extent that the most prevalent modern representation of Tibet within the US is that of bowls played by Americans.
Standing bells/bowls are called for in several contemporary classical music scores, including Philipe Leroux's (2001);
Spirituality and healing
thumb|Healing ritual at a beach in [[Goa (2019)]]
In the West, singing bowls are sometimes used in alternative medicine, their modern popularity for that purpose perhaps deriving from the modal vibration studies known as Cymatics carried out by the physician Hans Jenny (1904–1972).