Crystal Singing Bowls

Crystal singing bowls come in several different sorts.  The clear ones Carlos and LeAnn play are made from mountain crystal, and the opaque bowls are silicon quartz crystal. 

Alchemy Bowls

The most precious bowls played by Wavegarden are combinations of quartz crystal and precious gems and/or minerals.  LeAnn and Carlos buy them from CrystalTones in Salt Lake City, Utah, and each one has its own vibration and personality.  For specific properties of various alchemy bowls, see the Crystal Tones web site.

The alchemy bowls played on Wavegarden's Zen CD are:

9-inch Androgynous, flat bottom, lower octave A
7-inch Egyptian Blue, flat bottom, D
7-inch Laughing Buddha, round bottom, E
7-inch Rose Quartz, flat bottom, F
7-inch Moldavite, flat bottom, G
6-inch Ruby, flat bottom, A

Wavegarden has, since that recording, acquired a 12-inch Ocean Gold, flat bottom, lower octave D. And whenever they can (this depends on whether it's practical to transport it or not) Carlos and LeAnn include their 19-inch Aqua Gold bowl, which vibrates on a low C and has a priceless and unique beauty.

Flutes and Whistles

Simple-system Monzani flute, 8 keys, conical bore, cocus wood and sterling silver, c. 1814, London

Concert pitch during the early nineteenth century was lower than now, so this flute was probably made to play at A = 435.  Someone in the past altered this flute to try to make it play at A = 440, by making several holes larger, and (perhaps) by shortening the body.  When LeAnn bought the flute, its internal tuning was pretty off, and she is grateful that Hammy Hamilton, one of the world's best wooden flute makers, based near Cork, Ireland, was able to restore it so that it's easier to play in tune.

Keyless gidgee wood flute made by Terry McGee in Canberra, Australia, 2002

Terry is another of the world's best wooden flute makers.  This flute is a copy of an antique Firth, Pond & Co. played by Grey Larsen, and it has an interesting history , because it is the prototype Terry made in developing his "Grey Larsen Preferred" model.  Terry not only makes great flutes, he also has put together an incredibly comprehensive web site about wooden flutes, with sections on history, maintenance, and purchasing.

Solid silver Prima Sankyo flute, open-hole, inline with B foot, Japan, 1996

Low D Overton whistle made by Colin Goldie , Cologne, Germany, 2004

LeAnn is lucky to live just down the road from one of the world's best whistle makers.  For more great info on whistles of all sorts, see the wonderful site put together by Dale at Chiff & Fipple .

Zithers

Zithers are stringed instruments found in many cultures in various forms.

LeAnn and Carlos were inspired to add zither to their sound when they had the chance to meet and play with Laraaji in late 2007.  Since then, they've acquired several, most of which were originally autoharps made by the Oscar Schmidt company.  One of them, an Ozark model, was customized for us by Jeff Dantzler.  We have removed the chord mechanisms from our zithers and re-tuned them in various modes, rather than playing them using a traditional chromatic scale.

Tabla

Carlos has been playing tabla drums for many years, and began his study in India with Tarun Banerjee.  He has several sets of bayan (the left metal drum providing bass notes) and dayan (the right wooden drum providing treble notes), some of which were custom made in India.