Max Mandt-Merck runs Klangauszeiten in Hamburg-Altona. He works as a sound practitioner with gongs, singing bowls, native flutes and handpan, leads meditation sessions and teaches handpan as a certified Malte Marten Method teacher. His aim is to bring people back to their core and clear their view of the everyday distractions.
The moment it clicked
Max's first handpan had nine notes. The real turning point came years later on a retreat, when he heard someone play an F# Pygmy. He was moved on the spot, and the range of that scale has stayed close to him ever since.
Today three scales define his playing: D Kurd, E Amara and F# Low Pygmy. Which one he picks depends on the moment. As Max puts it, sometimes the situation chooses the handpan.
What beginners need to hear
The handpan reflects how relaxed you are. Loosen your body and your mind, and a beautiful sound comes almost by itself.
– Max Mandt-Merck
His first message to beginners: don't be frightened. It is easy to make a nice sound on a handpan, as long as you relax. What people struggle with later is a different step, moving from playing by structure to playing by feel.
What the handpan taught him
For Max, the handpan was a lesson in letting go: to stop trying to control everything, to trust his intuition more and to leave behind the rigid way many of us learned music. He wants the music to flow from within, so that the instrument sounds the way you truly are.
He loves seeing people take part in their own growth, and in sound sessions he waits for one moment in particular: when people open their eyes again and realise how deeply they have relaxed.
Better together
Max prefers playing with others. When the scales match, the players' styles melt into one sound. At home he plays for himself; in the park he still feels a little nervous before starting, and that is exactly what pushes him out of his comfort zone.
