Gamelan Gongs

The gongs of the gamelan are very distinctive. They are usually made from bronze though iron is not uncommon. The gongs of a gamelan tend to fall into two categories: vertically suspended gongs and those that are supported horizontally on a rack or a cushion. The vertically suspended gongs are the largest in the gamelan. They are used to begin, end and punctuate different parts of the metric cycle. 

The bass voice gongs in Java consist of two types. The Gong Ageng is the largest and deepest of the gongs. The other bass voice gong is the Gong Suwouk. This is smaller than the Ageng and there are usually two per scale. 

This is a super short video but this is the gong aneng. You can hear how low its pitch is and how long it resonates.

The middle voice gong is the Kempul. It has a bell-like sound.

The treble voice gong is the Kemong, which is high in pitch. This gong is played with a padded mallet or occasionally as with the bass gongs, with the fleshy part of the fist.

The horizontal gongs are played either in racks, on a box resonator, or in the lap. The Javanese version is the Bonang. It is a double horizontal row of 10 to 14 gongs with round gongs.

This video is super interesting; the gong player begins by playing simple patterns and familiarizing the audience with the pitches, and then goes on to play more complicated patterns and things that would probably occur in a performance,

 Here is another video of the vertical gongs,

Modern experiences with gongs usually happen in locations trying to promote peace and harmony, like salons. This is because gongs have become known for sound healing. "Sound healing is the practice of ‘re-tuning’ the body parts back to their optimum vibration frequency. The gong is particularly good at this, especially the large gongs known as tam-tams. They produce a wide range of frequencies, tones and harmonies and the body is very good at selecting the frequencies it requires to heal itself using a process known as entrainment. Essentially the body 're-tunes' itself using these vibrations rather like a piano tuner retuning a grand piano" (pmgongs.com). 

Here is a video of a gong bath. Sheila Whittaker hosts workshops for these baths and I just found it super interesting that one culture uses it for entertainment and others use it for medicine.

Sources:

http://www.pmgongs.com/gamelan-gongs

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