Playing the gong

A gong does not sound one note. It sounds many tones at once, and where and how you strike decides which of them come forward. What note is my gong? explains why.

1. 1The center strike

   Strike the gong at its center with a soft, heavy mallet. Let the mallet bounce off. Do not press it into the gong. This brings out the lowest tone and lets it ring longest. Most playing starts here.

2. 2Playing near the edge

   Nearer the edge, the higher tones in the gong come forward. Use a lighter mallet and quicker strokes. The sound is brighter and more shimmering.

3. 3Building a wave

   Strike in a steady rhythm, moving around the gong, and let each stroke be a little stronger than the last. Leave space between strokes so the sound can develop: players speak of letting the gong “breathe”. Go from very soft to loud over three to five minutes, then let the gong ring out.

4. 4Rubbing

   Draw a rubber friction mallet, often sold as a flumi, slowly across the surface. The gong sounds without being struck: a long tone that changes as you move.

5. 5Damping

   Touch the surface with an open hand or a pad to quiet part of the sound while the rest rings on.

6. 6The long crescendo

   The shape most used in gong baths. Begin with rubbing that can barely be heard, move to gentle strokes, build to the loudest point over 20 to 30 minutes, then fade slowly.

One way to shape a gong bath of 35 to 55 minutes. It is a pattern players use, not a rule.

1. 1Setting up

   5 to 10 minutes
   • Listeners lie on mats, with blankets. The room is warm and the light is low.
   • Choose the gongs you will use.
   • Say in a few words what will happen, how long it lasts, and that anyone may cover their ears, move back or leave.

2. 2Opening

   3 to 5 minutes
   • Let the room go quiet first.
   • Begin with rubbing or single soft strokes, widely spaced.
   • If you have an Earth gong, 136.10 Hz, begin with it. It is the tone Cousto identifies with OM.

3. 3Building

   10 to 15 minutes
   • Bring in further gongs one at a time. Players often pair Sun with Moon, and Venus with Mars.
   • Build slowly. Let the sound rise and fall, then rise again.
   • Respond to what the gong is doing. Players put it this way: “the gong plays itself”.

4. 4The loudest part

   5 to 10 minutes
   • The many tones of the gong merge into one dense sound.
   • Players describe this as the deepest part of a session. That is their account, not a tested effect.
   • Watch the room. This is where loudness matters most.

5. 5Fading

   5 to 10 minutes
   • Play less, and more softly. Return to one gong, then to silence.
   • Leave three to five minutes of silence. Players say the silence after the gong matters as much as the sound.

6. 6Closing

   5 minutes
   • Speak quietly to bring people back. Let them move slowly.
   • Offer water. Do not hurry anyone out.

• Loudness. Long exposure above 85 dB can damage hearing. A gong can be very loud up close. Use a sound level meter, and keep listeners at a distance from the gong. Going to a gong bath has the figures.
• When to be careful. Teachers commonly advise caution with sound sensitivity, epilepsy, severe PTSD, early pregnancy, metal implants and recent surgery. This is general caution, not medical advice. If in doubt, a listener should ask a doctor.
• Strong feelings. Some people find that a session brings up strong feelings. Have tissues and water to hand. Do not leave a group alone.
• Learning. Practice on your own for a long time before you play for others, and learn from an experienced player if you can.

Traditional: from gong practice

In planetary gong practice each gong carries the qualities that astrology gives its planet, and players choose gongs by them. These are traditions of practice. This site found no study that tested them.

• Earth, 136.10 Hz

  Grounding, centering, meditation. Cousto identifies this tone with OM.

• Moon, 210.42 Hz

  Emotion, intuition, dreams.

• Sun, 126.22 Hz

  Vitality, confidence.

• Venus, 221.23 Hz

  Love, relationships, beauty.

• Mars, 144.72 Hz

  Will, courage, getting unstuck.

• Jupiter, 183.58 Hz

  Growth, abundance, wisdom.

• Saturn, 147.85 Hz

  Structure, focus, limits.

• Neptune, 211.44 Hz

  Transcendence, deep meditation.

• Pluto, 140.25 Hz

  Deep change, facing what is hidden.

  Paiste tunes its Pluto gong to 140.25 Hz, the value in Cousto’s 1984 book. His current table gives 140.64 Hz.

• Chiron, 151.27 Hz

  The “wounded healer”, the teacher.

  This pitch is Paiste’s and does not come from Cousto’s method, which gives about 172 Hz for Chiron. This site could not find out where 151.27 Hz comes from.

The pitches themselves come from arithmetic on the length of each orbit. Planet gongs explained shows how.

Planet gongs are tuned to tones from Hans Cousto’s tables. Cousto had the idea in 1978 and published it in 1984: take the length of a cycle, such as a planet’s orbit, and double its frequency until it can be heard.

Jens Zygar, a sound artist based in Germany, began the development of planet gongs with Paiste, the Swiss maker of cymbals and gongs, in the late 1980s. He has worked with sound since 1984 and founded a Klanghaus, a “sound house”, in Germany. He co-founded the Star Sounds Orchestra, which plays planet gongs; he calls its music “cosmic octave sound music”. He teaches gong playing. His book is Das kreative Gong-Buch (1994).

In a table titled Der gute Klang, Zygar sets the five main tones beside Jean Gebser’s structures of consciousness, the five Platonic solids, the classical elements and the animals of Qigong. It is a set of ideas, not a measurement. Gebser’s ideas shows it.