Two men (right) are lifting the gong depicted on the 13th-century temple reliefs at the Candi Induk,Panataran temple complex inEast Java, IndonesiaA gong collection in agamelan ensemble of instruments – Indonesian EmbassyCanberra
Agong[note 1] is apercussion instrument originating fromSoutheast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian andEast Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and are circular and flat or bowl-like in shape, and can come in various sizes. They are typically struck with a mallet. They can be played alone, giving a characteristic "crashing" sound, or played as part of a tuned set that produce bell-like sounds.
The earliest possible depictions of gongs is from the details on the surface of theNgọc Lũ Ibronze drum (c. 3rd to 2nd century BC) from theDong Son culture of northernVietnam. It depicts what looks like seven-gong ensembles along with other instruments (including cymbals/bells and the bronze drums themselves).[1] The oldest undisputed historical mention of gongs can be found in sixth century AD Chinese records, which mentioned it as a foreign instrument that came from a country between Tibet and Burma. The termgong (Javanese:ꦒꦺꦴꦁ) originated in theIndonesian island ofJava. Scientific and archaeological research has established thatAnnam,Java,Burma, and Southern China were the four main gong manufacturing centres of the ancient world.[2][3] The gong found its way into the Western World in the 18th century, when it was also used in the percussion section of a Western-stylesymphony orchestra.[4] A form of bronze cauldron gong known as aresting bell was widely used in ancient Greece and Rome: for instance in the famous Oracle ofDodona, where disc gongs were also used.[5][6]
Gongs generally fall into three types:Suspended gongs are more or less flat, circular discs of metal suspended vertically by means of a cord passed through holes near to the top rim.Bossed ornipple gongs have a raised centre boss or knob and are often suspended and played horizontally.Bowl gongs are bowl-shaped and rest on cushions. The latter may be considered a member of thebell category. Gongs are made mainly frombronze orbrass, though there are many otheralloys in use.
Gongs produce two distinct types of sound. A gong with a substantially flat surface vibrates in multiple modes, giving a "crash" rather than a tuned note. This category of gong is sometimes called atam-tam, to distinguish it from the bossed gongs that give a tuned note. In Indonesian gamelan ensembles, some bossed gongs are deliberately made to generate an additionalbeat note in the range from about 1 to 5 Hz. The use of the term "gong" for both these types of instrument is common.
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. Here, the term "gong" is reserved for the bossed type only. The gong has been a Chinese instrument for millennia. Its first use may have been to signal peasant workers in from the fields, because some gongs are loud enough to be heard from up to eight kilometres (five miles) away.
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.
The familiar "Chinese" gong (a 25 cm or 10 in chau gong)Large gong at AshikagaBanna-ji
By far the most familiar to most Westerners is thechau gong orbullseye gong. Large chau gongs, calledtam-tams[7] have become part of thesymphony orchestra. Sometimes a chau gong is referred to as aChinese 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 25-centimetre (10 in) gong, for example, the rim extends about 1 cm (1⁄2 in) perpendicular to the surface. The main surface is slightly concave when viewed from the direction to which the rim is turned. The centre spot and rim of a chau gong are left coated on both sides with the black copper oxide that forms during manufacture; the rest is polished to remove this coating. Chau gongs range in size from 20 to 200 cm (7 to 80 in) 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 earlyWestern Han dynasty. Gongs are depicted in Chinese visual art as of the 6th century CE,[8] and were known for their very intense and spiritual drumming in rituals and tribal meetings.[9] 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 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.
Adora is one of the Japanese Percussion instruments and anidiophone. It is made of bronze, brass or iron, and is suspended onto a dora stand. It is widely used in Buddhist memorial services,hayashi performances,kabuki music, and ship departure signals.[16]
A nipple gong has a central raised boss or nipple, often made of 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 15 to 50 cm (6 to 20 in) or larger. Sets of smaller, tuned nipple gongs can be used to play amelody.
Nipple gongs are used in Chinese temples for worship and Buddhist temples in Southeast Asia.
These are the primary gong in the traditional Philippine music ofkulintang.
In Indonesian gamelan ensembles, instruments that areorganologically gongs come in various sizes with different functions and different names. For example, in the central Javanese gamelan, the largest gong is calledgong ageng, ranges in size up to 1 meter in diameter, has the deepest pitch and is played least often; the next smaller gong is thegong suwukan orsiyem, has a slightly higher pitch and replaces thegong ageng in pieces where gong strokes are close together; thekempul is smaller still, has a higher pitch, and is played more frequently. Thegong ageng and somegong suwukan have a beat note.
An essential part of the orchestra forChinese 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 or men and to identify points of drama and consequence. The smaller gong is used to announce the entry of lesser players or women and toidentify points of humour.
Opera gongs range in size from 18 to 30 cm (7 to 12 in), with the larger of a pair 3 or 5 cm (1 or 2 in) larger than the smaller.
APasi gong is a medium-size gong 30 to 40 cm (12 to 15 in) in size, with a loud 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.
Atiger gong is a slightly descending or less commonly ascending gong, larger than an opera gong and with a less pronounced pitch shift. Most commonly 38 cm (15 in) but available down to 20 cm (8 in).
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 NS12nickel-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 40 to 55 cm (15 to 22 in) but sizes from 20 to 150 cm (7 to 60 in) are available. The 55 cm (22 in) size is most popular due to its portability and large sound.
They are commonly used by drummers in rock music. Played with a nylon tipdrumstick 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, 18 to 30 cm (7 to 12 in), have a more bell-like tone due to their thickness and small diameter.
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 byWelsh percussionist and metal crafter, Steve Hubback, who was partially inspired by the work of the French Sound Sculptors, Francois and BernardBaschet.
Hubback's works have been used by many musicians including solo percussionistDame Evelyn Glennie and rock drummerCarl Palmer.
English gong andcymbal maker,Matt Nolan, partially inspired by the work of Hubback, also creates sculptural gongs of his own design or to private commission.
UK based sculptor Barry Mason[17] makes gongs in titanium and other elemental metals.
In olderJavanese usage and in modernBalinese usage, gong is used to identify an ensemble of instruments. In contemporary central Javanese usage, the termgamelan is preferred and the term gong is reserved for thegong ageng, the largest instrument of the type, or for surrogate instruments such as thegongkomodong orgong bumbung (blown gong) which fill the same musical function in ensembles lacking the large gong. In Balinese usage, gong refers toGamelan Gong Kebyar.
Besides many traditional and centuries old manufacturers all around China, includingTibet, as well asBurma,Java andAnnam gongs have also been made in Europe andAmerica 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 Germany, Oetken Gongs, founded in 2011 by Broder Oetken-former Paiste gong master-offers his own range of gongs. He also built the first generation of Symphonic and Planetary gongs forMeinl . Italian companyUFIP make a range of gongs at their factory inPistoia. Michael Paiste, outside of the larger family business, makes gongs independently in Lucerne,Switzerland. Other independent gong manufacturers in Europe include Welshman Steve Hubback, currently based in the Netherlands;Matt Nolan and Michal Milas in the UK; Barry Mason in the UK; and Joao Pais-Filipe in Portugal.
In North America,Sabian make a small number of gongs andZildjian 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.[18]
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-hammeredcymbals.
This sectionis largely based on an article in the out-of-copyrightEncyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, which was produced in 1911. It should be brought up to date to reflect subsequent history or scholarship (including the references, if any). When you have completed the review, replace this notice with a simple note on this article's talk page.(February 2023)
Gongs vary in diameter from about 50 to 150 cm (20 to 60 in). They are made of abronze alloy composed of a maximum of 22 partstin to 78 parts copper, but in many cases the proportion of tin is considerably less. Thisalloy is excessively brittle when cast and allowed to cool slowly, but it can betempered andannealed in a peculiar manner to alleviate this. When suddenly cooled from red heat, the alloy becomes so soft that it can be hammered and worked on thelathe then hardened by reheating. Afterwards, the gong has all of 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. In Turkish Cymbal making there is also sulfur and silicon in the alloy.[4]
Turkish Cymbals and Gamelan Gongs share beta phase bronze as a metallurgical roots. Tin and copper mixphase transition graphs show a very narrow up-down triangle at 21–24% tin content and 780 °C (1,440 °F) symbolized by β. This is the secret of all past bronze instrument making. When bronze is mixed and heated, it glows orange-red which indicates it has been heated to the beta phase borders where the metal needs to be submerged in cold water to lock the alloy in the beta phase for cymbal making.[citation needed] The gong is then beaten with a round, hard, leather-covered pad that is fitted on a short stick or handle. It emits a peculiarly sonorous sound which can be varied by particular ways of striking the disk. Its complex vibrations burst into a wave-like succession oftones that can be either shrill or deep. In China and Japan gongs are used in religious ceremonies, state processions, marriages and other festivals.[4]
The gong has been used in the orchestra to intensify the impression of fear and horror in melodramatic scenes and usually, but not exclusively, players interpret the term to call for atam-tam, as notedabove. The tam-tam was first introduced into a western orchestra byFrançois-Joseph Gossec in the funeral march composed at the death ofMirabeau in 1791.[4]Gaspare Spontini used the tam-tam inLa Vestale's (1807) Act II finale.Berlioz called for four tam-tams in hisGrande Messe des morts of 1837.[19] The tam-tam was also used in the funeral music played when the remains ofNapoleon were brought back to France in 1840.Meyerbeer made use of the instrument in the scene of the resurrection of the three nuns inRobert le diable. Four tam-tams are used atBayreuth inParsifal to reinforce the bell instruments although there is no indication given in the score.[4] In more modern music, the tam-tam has been used by composers such asKarlheinz Stockhausen inMikrophonie I (1964–65) and byGeorge Crumb. InMakrokosmos III: Music For A Summer Evening (1974), Crumb expanded the timbral range of the tam-tam by giving performance directions such as using a "well-rosined contrabass bow" to bow the tam-tam. This produced an eerie harmonic sound. Stockhausen created more interesting sounds using hand-held microphones and a wide range of scraping, tapping, rubbing, and beating techniques with unconventional implements such as plastic dishes, egg timers, and cardboard tubes. 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.
A bowl-shaped, center mounted, electrically controlled gong is standard equipment in aboxing ring. Commonly referred to asthe gong, it is struck with a hammer to signal the start and end of each round.
During the Victorian and Edwardian eras, it was often the custom in hotels, on ships, and in large, upper-class houses to sound adinner gong to announce a meal was about to be served.[20][21][22]
Arailroad crossing with a flashingtraffic signal orwigwag will also typically have a warning bell. Mechanical 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.
Gongs are present onrail vehicles, such as trams,streetcars, trains,cable cars orlight 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 wherewhistles andhorns 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 theconductor to notify thedriver that it is safe to proceed.
A vessel over 100 metres (330 feet) in length must carry a gong in addition to a bell and whistle, the volume of which is defined in theInternational Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.[23][24] A vessel at anchor or aground sounds the gong in the stern immediately after ringing a bell in her bows so as to indicate her length.[25]
Electromechanical, electromagnetic or electronic devices producing the sound of gongs have been installed in theatres (particularly those in theCzech Republic) to gather theaudience from the lounge to the auditorium before the show begins or proceeds after interlude.[26][27][28]
In the Commonwealth,emergency vehicles were fitted with electric, manual, or vacuum operated Winkworth bell gongs in the time beforeMartin's horns became available orrotary sirens came into use
^Tran, Hoai (3 August 2022).Doing "Gong Culture" Heritage Politics and Performances in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Lit Verlag. p. 63.ISBN9783643914064.
^Blades, James (1992).Percussion Instruments and Their History. Bold Strummer. p. 93.ISBN978-0933224612.The origin of the gong is uncertain, but there seems little reason to doubt the claim of the Chinese whose tradition ascribes it to the country Hsi Yu between Tibet and Burma, where it is mentioned early in the sixth century in the time of Emperor Hsüan Wu (AD 500-515).
^Morris Goldberg in hisModern School... Guide for The Artist Percussionist (Chappell & Co., Inc., New York City, 1955), says that "in modern symphony orchestra namesgong andtam-tam mean the same thing, that in scholarly circles, tam-tam is considered to be a slang expression taken from an African a word meaning drum", later associated with gongs of indefinite pitch, and as such was adopted by virtually all composers using the term and thus is used now interchangeably. There are exceptions:Benjamin Britten, in hisCello Symphony, calls for both gong and tam-tam, distinguishing the domed instrument from the more usual orchestral instrument.[1]
^"Gong".Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved4 June 2019.
^Muller, Max.TheDiamond Sutra (translation based on the Tang dynasty text, 蛇年的马年的第一天), sutra 1–4487, Oxford University Press, 1894.
^Although in modern, 20th century and beyond, performances sometimes conductors were adapting tam-tam in orchestra for the performances ofGluck'sAlceste andOrfeo ed Euridice (as ones used in theMetropolitan Opera historical productions), there is no trace of it in original scores of Gluck himself, so it must be considered an additional effect rather than the wish of the composer himself.
^Haravu Venkatanarasingha Verada Raj Iengar (2002).Snapshots of History: Through the Writings of H.V.R. Iengar. Ananya Publications.As we were walking through the corridor he showed me the dinner gong, which customarily is sounded by one of the servants to announce that a meal was ready .
^THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON MAGAZINE. 1855. p. 257.How startling is the sound of the dinner gong The tympanum suddenly recoils beneath the swell of the brazen instrument and echoes the alarum to its fellow member of the lower house of which Appetite is the speaker. In a large hotel the effect is magical What a rush from all quarters of the house to the dining room!
^Jane Greer (2003).Girls and literacy in America: historical perspectives to the present. ABC-CLIO.ISBN9791576076667.The dinner gong rang, so I walked to the mess hall slowly with my sister.
Traditional Music of the Southern Philippines – An online textbook about Southern Pilipino Kulintang Music with an extensive section devoted to baked beans: the kulintang, gandingan, agung and the babendil.
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