Gong Articles

The Sound of Earth  “It has dimples!” she said as she looked at my gong. The Earth Sound Creation Gongs certainly look different from any other gong. They are distinguished by a pattern of small nipple protrusions all over the front of the gong, producing a seemingly...

Join Mehtab Benton on a 21-day European gong training tour through Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and England. Discover the global gong community and how to start your own gong journey online.

Take This Gong Outside! With the approach of Summer Solstice, I got the following email: “I was invited to a yoga festival to play the gong during relaxation. Any advice about playing the Gong outside?” First of all, playing the Gong outside is amazing. The ambient...

A Small Gong Is Good to Hold Many people start their gong playing career with a mid-size gong that can produce a wide range of sound. The 24” to 32” gongs are the friendliest to learn to play, not as hard to control as a small gong and easier to manipulate than a...

THE SOUND OF THE GONG When we hear the gong for the first time, it challenges us to experience sound in a surprising and almost totally unique way. It is unlike any other musical instrument, both in how it behaves and how it interacts with the listener. All musical...

The Gong From Another Planet Planetary Gongs, or gongs that are tuned based upon the orbital considerations of the planets, are very popular with people I teach. The planetary gongs are said to bring the various astrological attributed of the planets into our lives...

Gongs Are Priceless I train people all over the world how to play the gong. And by the end of first day of training, everyone wants to buy one. And then everyone finds out how much a nice gong can cost. The reality is that for a higher quality European made gong (the...

The Chau Gong: Honorable Ancestor The Gong that has the longest history of continuous use, as well as being the most prolific and popularly played, has its origin in the Han Dynasty of China (206 BC to 220 AD). This was the Golden Age of China, comparable to the...

Sleeping with the GONG Have you ever heard anyone snoring during a gong relaxation? It can be a little annoying, especially if it turns out to be yourself. Yet it does seem natural to zonk out during a deep relaxation. But if you do sleep with the gong, you may be...

Gong On the Run: Moving Into Sound For most people, listening to the gong is a static experience. You relax on your back, a single gong is played in one position, and of course magic happens. But what if you could hear the gong in a different way? What if the gong...

Gongs for Cats, Dogs, Whales and Eagles Yes,  I am finally doing it – writing about Gongs and pets (and actually all other beasts). After all, why should only humans get to be gonged? In my gong training courses, I almost always get the question: “Will my cat or dog...

Gong with the Wind, Roar like a Lion The most common and widely available gong in the world sometimes gets no respect. I’m referring to what is popularly called a “wind gong” or perhaps more properly called a “Feng” and sometimes referred to as a Lion Gong. The wind...

Go Gong Yourself Warning: If you do not own a gong yet, you may soon. It is a wonderful thing to be gonged, to show up and relax and hear the sound of one or many beautiful gongs played for you. And truly it would be amazing to hear the gong every day and receive its...

THE GONG AS ART In some of the ancient writings on the Gong, it was said that even “the sight of a gong could cure all ills.” One interpretation of this is that when you are within proximity, or sight of a gong, there is a constant healing field being generated by the...

The Two Sounds of Your Gong The Gong is renowned for its complexity and multiplicity of sounds, and its ability to create an incredibly rich soundscape. Yet there are are only two basic sounds the Gong produces: Fundamental Tones and Harmonic Overtones. The...

Gongs – Not Bongs My first experience is using the Gong was in a Kundalini Yoga ashram in 1974 where it was played by teachers for recovering drug addicts. Our ashram served as a half-way house for ex-drug users, primarily heroin and cocaine. They lived a yogic...

The Moody Blues Rock and Roll musicians “discovered” the psychedelic Gong in the late 1960s and 1970s. I think my first exposure to the sound of the Gong was at a Moody Blues concert when they performed “Knights in White Satin/Lament.” At the end of the 7-minute song,...

Dying to Hear the Gong The Gong has been used for centuries in almost every ritual, ceremony, and rite of passage known to humankind. In Buddhist monasteries, gongs call the attention of the gods. In ancient Greece, they open the realm of the dead. In Borneo, they are...

The Octagong When does a gong have eight sides? When it is made by Martin Blase, master gong maker in Germany. I obtained this gong from Martin last summer in his studio after hearing its amazing sound. My wife says the sound of the Octogong shatters old patterns and...

A Gong for Every Chakra! Many people experience healing and relaxation from the sound of the Gong. And the gong has been used therapeutically for a wide range of applications, from treating addictions, balancing the emotions, and even reducing inflammation in the...

Put On Your Gong Ears: How to Listen to the Gong How do you listen to the sound of the Gong? Most people simply relax on the back, with their feet pointing toward to the gong player, and let the sound pour over and through them. And that’s nice. But it may not be the...

The Gong as Therapy Are you ready for therapy? Gong Therapy, that is. If you have only experienced the gong in a group setting or yoga class, you may not fully realize the power of the gong to heal and transform. Gong Therapy is done one-on-one, the gong player and...

Gigantic Gongs:  When Size Matters Gongs are often priced by size, and the sound they produce varies dramatically as their size increases. So it’s no surprise that gong players, and people who love the gong, can be a little obsessive with this probing question: How...