Chinese Chau Gong, 34" (86.4 cm); meditative playing

Please take the time to read this description. While trains and thunderstorms are two of my interests, another of them is gongs. **High Quality seems to be a little better in sound quality in terms of range of sound from the instrument. Also, you can wear headphones for an even better experience.**

I am pleased to share with you the wonderful sounds of this massive Chinese chau gong. Its diameter is 34 inches. This gong does not belong to me, but I know the owner, and that person lets me play it on occasion. The original provider is Steve Weiss Music, so we know it sounds great. I give several examples of ways to play it, most of which are ones that I found for myself. That is not to say that I am the first one to use them; I just found them for myself, and did not see them somewhere else beforehand. They include adding dissonant tones by lightly tapping the rim, removing the fundamental tone by holding a mallet on the center boss to create interesting sounds, and playing the line between the bottom of the center boss and the lathed brass (this causes many overtones to build in droning sounds). Sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Unfortunately I had to cut the video short at the end because of the length. I get my last strike in, but I could not leave room for the fade of the gong, even though I did originally film it.

The mallets I use are both Mike Balter mallets; GM-1 mallet is the black mallet and GM-2 is the brown one. Both are made from rubber hockey pucks (or an equivalent thereof) wrapped in yarn. The black mallet has one puck with a little yarn for a harder mallet. The brown mallet has two pucks with a little more yarn for a softer and broader mallet.

Note that this instrument is often called a tamtam. A tamtam is a sister instrument to the gong, and many sources refer to the tamtam as a type of gong with no precision tuning. The tamtam is not precision-tuned, although it can have a strong fundamental pitch. Many precision-tuned gongs have domes in the center (although there are also tuned gongs with a flat center, like a tamtam). I refer to this as a gong because (1) of the similarities between the two, and (2) becuase more people (in general) are familiar with "gong" than with "tamtam", so please don't flame me for calling this a gong.

Please note that I am not an expert gong player or a sound healer. I just wanted to share the sounds of this wonderful instrument.


This video is meant to entertain those who are and might be interested in gongs and their sounds. Any rude, unnecessary and/or inappropriate comments will be removed. Otherwise, feel free to post comments and rate! This video and all of its contents are my property, and are not to be used by anyone else for any gain.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Chinese
• chau
• gong
• 34
• inches
• diameter
• china
• wuhan
• zildjian
• mallet
• mallets
• beater
• beaters
• tones
• overtones
• music
• instrument
• tam
• tam-tam
• meditation
• sound
• healing

[stevenscottoddballz]

I am partial to the "Boss Gong". It produces a specific tone. Have you played one, yet? What about the "Slit Gong"?

[Cchrisbud813]

@stevenscottoddballz I do own a small gong from Vietnam. It has a boss design. I picked it from a group of them because the specific one actually had two focused tones in its center (an A and a B, perfectly in tune). I have not played a Slit Gong before.

[aseedoftruth]

I love your music.

Have you done studio recordings?

[Cchrisbud813]

@aseedoftruth Thank you for your kind words. No, I haven't done studio recordings (as I am an amateur player). This routine was improvised, save for a few techniques that I mixed in. I do hope to post a video with sounds from my small collection of instruments at some point.

[Gnarm0]

maybe you should try to knock it with your elbow slightly so there is a sound thats influenced by the hard bone and the soft skin

[Cchrisbud813]

Though I no longer have access to this instrument, I've actually tried tapping an even bigger Paiste gong with the back of my wrist and my elbow. The sound produced is pretty interesting.

[wiirluvenit]

Am I hearing Halflife?

[ziggyart]

Very helpful information and sounds for someone who just found gongs 30 minutes ago and love them. )

[fourplusseven]

@jakethepianist Me too! Good to know.

[jakethepianist]

@fourplusseven According to Steve Weiss... $540.

I expected much, much more...

[MetalAndWood]

goooooood. that sounded soooo talented -.-

[jalofnotrade]

i just sampled this for a song

[stevenscottoddballz]

@Cchrisbud813

WOW! "A" and "B" are the notes I like! I like LOW tones better than high tones. For SOME reason, they are more relaxing for me.