Gong

Types

Suspended gongs are played with hammers and are of two main types: flat faced discs either with or without a turned edge, and gongs with a raised centre boss. In general, the larger the gong, the larger and softer the hammer. In Western symphonic music the flat faced gongs are generally referred to as tam-tams to distinguish them from their bossed counterparts, and the term "gong" is reserved to the bossed type only. The gong has been a Chinese instrument for millennia. Their first use may have been to signal peasant workers in from the fields as some gongs are loud enough to be heard from up to five miles away. In Japan, they are traditionally used to start the beginning of sumo wrestling contests.

Large flat gongs may be 'primed' by lightly hitting them before the main stroke, greatly enhancing the sound and causing the instrument to "speak" sooner, with a shorter delay for the sound to "bloom". Keeping this priming stroke inaudible calls for a great deal of skill. The smallest suspended gongs are played with bamboo sticks, or even western-style drumsticks. Contemporary and avant-garde music, where different sounds are sought, will often use friction mallets (producing squeals and harmonics), bass bows (producing long tones and high overtones), and various striking implements (wood/plastic/metal) to produce the desired tones.

Rock gongs are large stones struck with smaller stones to create a metallic resonating sound.

Chau gong (Tam-tam)

By far the most familiar to most Westerners is the chau gong or bullseye gong. Large chau gongs, called tam-tams (not to be confused with tom-tom drums) have become part of the symphony orchestra. Sometimes a chau gong is referred to as a Chinese gong, but in fact it is only one of many types of suspended gongs that are associated with China.

A chau gong is made of copper-based alloy, bronze or brass. It is almost flat except for the rim, which is turned up to make a shallow cylinder. On a 10-inch (25 cm) gong, for example, the rim extends about ¹⁄₂ inch (1 cm) perpendicular to the gong surface. The main surface is slightly concave when viewed from the direction to which the rim is turned. The centre spot and the rim of a chau gong are left coated on both sides with the black copper oxide that forms during the manufacture of the gong, the rest of the gong is polished to remove this coating. Chau gongs range in size from 7 to 80 inches (18 to 203 cm) in diameter.

The earliest Chau gong is from a tomb discovered at the Guixian site in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China. It dates from the early Western Han Dynasty. They were known for their very intense and spiritual drumming in rituals and tribal meetings.

Traditionally, chau gongs were used to clear the way for important officials and processions, much like a police siren today. Sometimes the number of strokes on the gong was used to indicate the seniority of the official. In this way, two officials meeting unexpectedly on the road would know before the meeting which of them should bow down before the other.

Uses of gongs in the symphony orchestra

The tam-tam was first introduced as an orchestral instrument by François-Joseph Gossec in 1790, and it was also taken up by Gaspare Spontini and Jean-François Le Sueur. Hector Berlioz deployed the instrument throughout his compositional career, and in his Treatise on Instrumentation he recommended its use "for scenes of mourning, or for the dramatic depiction of extreme horror." Other composers who adopted the tam-tam in the opera house included Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini and Richard Wagner; Rossini in the final of act 3 of Armida (1817), Bellini in Norma (1831) and Wagner in Rienzi (1842). Within a few decades the tam-tam became an important member of the percussion section of a modern symphony orchestra. It figures prominently in the symphonies of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Gustav Mahler, Dmitri Shostakovich and, to a lesser extent, Sergei Rachmaninov and Sergei Prokofiev. Giacomo Puccini used both gongs and tam-tams in his operas. Igor Stravinsky greatly expanded the playing techniques of the tam-tam in his The Rite Of Spring to include short, quickly damped notes, quick crescendos, and a triangle beater scraped across the front of the instrument. Karlheinz Stockhausen used a 60" Paiste tam-tam in his Momente.

Nipple gong

A nipple gong has a central raised boss or nipple, often made of a different metals than other gongs with varying degrees of quality and resonance. They have a tone with less shimmer than other gongs, and two distinct sounds depending on whether they are struck on the boss or next to it. They are most often but not always tuned to various pitches.

Nipple gongs range in size from 6 to 20 inches (15 to 51 cm) or larger. Sets of smaller, tuned nipple gongs can be used to play a tune.

Nipple gongs are used in Chinese temples for worship.

In Indonesian gamelan ensembles, instruments that are organologically gongs come in various sizes with different functions and different names. For example, in the central Javanese gamelan, the largest gong is called gong ageng, ranges in size up to 1 meter in diameter, has the deepest pitch and is played least often; the next smaller gong is the gong suwukan or siyem, has a slightly higher pitch and replaces the gong ageng in pieces where gong strokes are close together; the kempul is smaller still, has a higher pitch, and is played more frequently. The gong ageng and some gong suwukan have a beat note.

Opera gongs

An essential part of the orchestra for Chinese opera is a pair of gongs, the larger with a descending tone, the smaller with a rising tone. The larger gong is used to announce the entrance of major players and/or of men and to identify points of drama and consequence. The smaller gong is used to announce the entry of lesser players and/or of women and to identify points of humour.

Opera gongs range in size from 7 to 12 inches (18 to 30 cm), with the larger of a pair 1 or 2 inches (3 or 5 cm) larger than the smaller.

Pasi gongs

A Pasi gong is a medium-size gong 12 to 15 inches (30 to 38 cm) in size, with a crashing sound. It is used traditionally to announce the start of a performance, play or magic. Construction varies, some having nipples and some not, so this type is named more for its function than for its structure or even its sound.

Pasi gongs without nipples have found favour with adventurous middle-of-the-road kit drummers.

Tiger gong

A tiger gong is a slightly descending or less commonly ascending gong, larger than an opera gong and with a less pronounced pitch shift. Most commonly 15 inches (38 cm) but available down to 8 inches (20 cm).

Shueng Kwong

A Shueng Kwong gong is a medium to large gong with a sharp staccato sound.

Wind gong

Wind gongs (also known as Feng or Lion Gongs) are flat bronze discs, with little fundamental pitch, heavy tuned overtones, and long sustain. They are most commonly made of B20 bronze, but can also be made of M63 brass or NS12 nickel-silver. Traditionally, a wind gong is played with a large soft mallet, which gives it a roaring crash to match their namesake. They are lathed on both sides and are medium to large in size, typically 15 to 22 inches (38 to 56 cm) but sizes from 7 to 60 inches (18 to 152 cm) are available. The 22-inch (56 cm) size is most popular due to its portability and large sound.

They are commonly used by drummers in rock music. Played with a nylon tip drumstick they sound rather like the coil chimes in a mantle clock. Some have holes in the centre, but they are mounted like all suspended gongs by other holes near the rim. The smaller sizes, 7 to 12 inches (18 to 30 cm), have a more bell-like tone due to their thickness and small diameter.

Sculptural gongs

Sculptural gongs (also known as Gong Sculptures) are gongs which serve the dual purpose of being a musical instrument and a work of visual art. They are generally not disc shaped, but instead take more complex, even abstract forms. Sculptural gongs were pioneered in the early 1990s by Welsh percussionist and metal crafter, Steve Hubback, who was partially inspired by the work of the French Sound Sculptors, Francois and Bernard Baschet.

Hubback's works have been used by many musicians including solo percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and rock drummer Carl Palmer.

English gong and cymbal maker, Matt Nolan, partially inspired by the work of Hubback, also creates sculptural gongs of his own design or to private commission.

Other uses

In older Javanese usage and in modern Balinese usage, gong is used to identify an ensemble of instruments. In contemporary central Javanese usage, the term gamelan is preferred and the term gong is reserved for the gong ageng, the largest instrument of the type, or for surrogate instruments such as the gong komodong or gong bumbu (blown gong) which fill the same musical function in ensembles lacking the large gong. In Balinese usage, gong refers to Gamelan Gong Kebyar.

Gong manufacturers

Besides many traditional and centuries old manufacturers in places such as China, Tibet, Burma, Korea, Indonesia, and the Philippines, gongs have also been made in Europe and America since the 20th century.

Paiste is the largest non-Asian manufacturer of gongs. This Swiss company of Estonian lineage makes gongs at their German factory. Also in Europe, Meinl another newish German manufacturer also Italian company UFIP make a range of gongs at their factory in Pistoia.

In North America, Sabian make a small number of gongs and Zildjian sell Zildjian-branded gongs which have in the past been made by Zildjian, but current production looks to be Chinese in origin. Ryan Shelledy is an independent gong maker based in the Midwestern United States.

Some of the smaller Turkish cymbal companies have also been seen to dabble in gongs but very much as a sideline to their core business of hand-hammered cymbals.

Gongs – general

Gongs vary in diameter from about 20 to 60 inches (50 to 150 cm), and they are made of bronze containing a maximum of 22 parts of tin to 78 of copper; but in many cases the proportion of tin is considerably less. Such an alloy, when cast and allowed to cool slowly, is excessively brittle, but it can be tempered and annealed in a peculiar manner. If suddenly cooled from red heat, the alloy becomes so soft that it can be hammered and worked on the lathe, and afterwards it may be hardened by reheating and having all the qualities and timbre of the Chinese instruments. The composition of the alloy of bronze used for making gongs is stated to be as follows: 76.52% Cu, 22.43% Sn, 0.26% Pb, 0.23% Zn, 0.81% Fe. Interesting finding about Turkish Cymbals and Gamelan Gongs is that they share the same metallurgical roots and this is beta phase bronze.If you look in to tin and copper mix phase transition graphs, 21–24% tin content and 780 °C (1,440 °F) indicates to a very narrow up–down triangle graph in the big graph which is symbolized with B with tail. This is the secret of all bronze instrument making generations of the past. If you mix that bronze and heat it, it turns to very lively orangish red and it indicates you are in beta phase borders and you have to drop the metal in cold water to lock the phase in cymbal making. Author does not know whether in gong making, there was cold bath or not but everyone interested in should investigate that detail. In Turkish Cymbal making, addition to above analysis there is sulfur and silicon in the alloy also. Iron is very important and makes the grains smaller. The gong is beaten with a round, hard, leather-covered pad, fitted on a short stick or handle. It emits a peculiarly sonorous sound, its complex vibrations bursting into a wave-like succession of tones, sometimes shrill, sometimes deep. In China and Japan it is used in religious ceremonies, state processions, marriages and other festivals; and it is said that the Chinese can modify its tone variously by particular ways of striking the disk.

The gong has been effectively used in the orchestra to intensify the impression of fear and horror in melodramatic scenes. The tam-tam was first introduced into a western orchestra by François Joseph Gossec in the funeral march composed at the death of Mirabeau in 1791. Gaspare Spontini used it in La Vestale (1807), in the finale of Act II, an impressive scene in which the high pontiff pronounces the anathema on the faithless vestal. Berlioz called for 4 tam-tams in his Requiem of 1837. It was also used in the funeral music played when the remains of Napoleon were brought back to France in 1840. Meyerbeer made use of the instrument in the scene of the resurrection of the three nuns in Robert le diable. Four tam-tams are now used at Bayreuth in Parsifal to reinforce the bell instruments, although there is no indication given in the score. The tam-tam has been treated from its ethnographical side by Franz Heger. In more modern music, the tam-tam has been used by composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen in Mikrophonie I (1964–65) and by George Crumb. Crumb expanded the timbral range of the tam-tam by giving performance directions (in Makrokosmos III: Music For A Summer Evening, composed in 1974) such as using a "well-rosined contrabass bow" to bow the tam-tam, producing an eerie harmonic sound, while Stockhausen exploited amplification (via hand-held microphones) of a wide range of scraping, tapping, rubbing, and beating techniques using unconventional implements (plastic dishes, egg timer, cardboard tubes, etc.). Gongs can also be immersed into a tub of water after being struck. This is called "water gong" and is called for in several orchestral pieces.

Signal gongs

Gongs are also used as signal devices in a number of applications.

Railcar mounted

Gongs are present on rail vehicles, such as trams, streetcars, cable cars or light rail trains, in the form of a bowl-shaped signal bell typically mounted on the front of the leading car. It was designed to be sounded to act as a warning in areas where whistles and horns are prohibited, and the "clang of the trolley" refers to this sound. Traditionally, the gong was operated by a foot pedal, but is nowadays controlled by a button mounted on the driving panel. Early trams had a smaller gong with a bell pull mounted by the rear door of these railcars. This was operated by the conductor to notify the motorman that it is safe to proceed.

Vehicle mounted

In the Commonwealth, emergency vehicles were fitted with electric, manual, or vacuum operated Winkworth bell gongs in the time before Martin's horns became available or rotary sirens came into use.

Rail crossing

A railroad crossing with a flashing traffic signal or wigwag will also typically have a warning bell. Electromechanical bells, known in some places as a gong, are struck by an electric-powered hammer to audibly warn motorists and pedestrians of an oncoming train. Many railroad crossing gongs are now being replaced by electronic devices with no moving parts.

Boxing (sport)

A bowl-shaped, center mounted, electrically controlled gong is standard equipment in a boxing ring. Commonly referred to as "the gong", it is struck with a hammer to signal the start and end of each round.

Theater

Electromechanical, electromagnetic or electronic devices producing the sound of gongs have been installed in theatres (particularly those in the Czech Republic) to gather the audience from the lounge to the auditorium before the show begins or proceeds after interlude.

Time signal

German radio stations use a gong sound for the time signal.

Other uses

Gongs have been used in upper class households as waking devices, or to summon domestic help. In the British and Australian military, "gong" is slang for a medal.

In popular music, Marc Bolan and T. Rex had a hit song on their album Electric Warrior called "Get It On (Bang a Gong)". Queen's classic song "Bohemian Rhapsody" ends with the sound of a massive tam-tam. Roger Taylor is known for having one of the biggest tam-tams in rock.

In television, a gong was the titular feature on The Gong Show, a television variety show/game show spoof broadcast in the United States in three iterations (1976–80, 1988–89, 2008). If the celebrity judges found an act to be particularly bad, they could force it to leave the stage by hitting the gong.

In films, a man hitting a gong twice starts all Rank films. This iconic figure is known as the "gongman". The tam-tam sound was actually provided by James Blades OBE, the premier percussionist of his day (who also provided the "V for victory" drum signal broadcast during World War II).

The "sun gong" used in the annual Paul Winter Winter Solstice Celebration held at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York is claimed to be the world's largest tam tam gong at 7 feet (2.1 m) in diameter. (See the text for #1 image [1])

List of gongs