A tank drum, hank drum or hand pan is a round steel slit/tongue drum originally fashioned from a propane tank.
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A tank drum is made from an empty (often 20 lb) propane tank. The tank is flipped over, the base cut/knocked off; and seven to ten tongues are cut radially into the 'bottom' of the tank (which becomes the 'top' of the tank drum). The tongues can be tuned by the player by varying the length of the cuts. The tank drum is often tuned to pentatonic scales but can be tuned to the diatonic scale, the chromatic scale, or any set of notes the maker chooses. The instrument is played with the fingers or with mallets. The tone is bell-like.
The tank drum as a steel tongue drum had several predecessors, most notably the Whale Drum by Jim Doble and the Tambiro by Felle Vega.[1] In February 2007 Dennis Havlena,[2] inspired by the physical properties of the Tambiro[3] and the tone layout of the Hang, created a steel tongue drum with a circular cross pattern layout and from an empty 20-pound propane tank. The name 'hank drum' came from a combination of "Hang" and "tank".[4]
The tank drum, in turn, has inspired other steel slit drum inventions, including a number of commercial versions.[5]
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