The steel tongue drum (aka tong drum, tank drum, gluck-o-phone, hapi drum, mandala or lotus drum) and the handpan (aka hank drum, UFO drum, zen drum) are percussion musical instruments designed to help you focus on your feelings, sensations and body. You don't need classical music training or knowledge of music theory to play them. The main purpose is relaxation, meditation and traveling through your inner world.

No previous training or skills are necessary to enjoy these fascinating instruments. It is impossible to play them incorrectly. Anyone can play them: those who want to develop a good sense of rhythm and an ear for music, those who are seeking relaxation after a hard day at work, those who have always had an interest in learning how to play a musical instrument, and those who want to introduce something unusual into their lives and explore their inner selves.

This book is aimed for those who want to add popular melodies to their experimentation.

All songs in this book have been written without using the classic music score system, because it is for absolute beginners who cannot read sheet music.

We use circles with numbers because most modern tongue drums have numbers engraved or painted on their keys. We do not show the note duration - we just group the circles closer to each other to show the rhythms. You can experiment with duration on your own. Because most tongue drums include and are tuned to involve the notes of the main octave, all songs from this book are possible to play in one octave.

Each tongue drum is very different and it is impossible to accommodate songs for all kinds of tongue drums in one book. This book is basically for beginners.The songs which have been collected in this book can be played on most drum models. If you have less than 1 octave of keys on your drum, you may need to skip some songs. However, if your drum has many sharp notes, you will need a book which contains chromatic songs. Here, we have collected only simplified diatonic melodies.

Very small tongue drums don't have the F note (4), so if this is your model, just skip the songs that need this note. Fortunately, most songs assembled here don’t use it.

This book includes very simple, popular children's and folk songs, but even well-known children's songs played on the drum will create an unusual magical sound.

Contents of the tongue drum book

1. How to play tongue drum?
2. A Ram Sam Sam Moroccan Folk Song
3. Ahrirang Korean Song
4. Anile, Anile Indian Tamil Song
5. Au Clair de la Lune French Folk Song
6. Bound for South Australia Australian Folk Song
7. Bim Bum Biddy American Song
8. Che Che Koolay Ghanian Folk Son
9. Cumpleaños Feliz! Columbian Song
10. ¿Dónde Están las Llaves? Spanish Folk Song
11. Debka Hora Hebrew Song
12. Epo i Tai Tai e New Zealandian Maori Song
13. Frère Jacques French Song
14. Giro Giro Tondo Italian Folk Song
15. Gretel, Pastetel German Song
16. Hotaru Koi Japanese Folk Song
17. Kalinka Russian Folk Song
18. Kanzenzenze Congolese Folk Song
19. Kum Ba Yah African American Spiritual
20. Kum Bachur Atzel Jewish Song
21. La Cucaracha Mexican Song
22. Lost My Gold Ring Jamaican Folk Song
23. Mein Hut German Song
24. Pounto to Dakhtilidy Greek Folk Song
25. Short'nin' Bread African American Folk Song
26. Singapura, Oh Singapura Singaporean Song
27. The Grand Old Duke of York English Folk Song
28. Un Petit Cochon French Song
29. Vous Diraije Maman French Song
30. Zhao Peng You (Looking looking for my friend) Chinese Song
31. Zimbole African Song