Working With Gongs: Part 5 - Gongs as Hand Drums

Here it is, Part 5 of my Gong video series. This time I look at using Gongs as Hand Drums. Pretty cool stuff.

~ MB

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Have Drummer's Lost Control Of Their Sound?

Image
This is a companion piece to last week's,  What Ever Happened To Individuality? post. Music today has become so homogenized. So much of it sounds the same because the same small group of producers/songwriters are making all the hit tracks. There often seems to be very little individuality left. This is especially true for the musicians playing on all these songs, but specifically drummers. Rather than controlling their own sounds/feel, drummers are increasingly at the mercy of producers.  Since the advent of digital recording, and software like Pro Tools and Logic, it's possible to completely change a recorded drum track. Individual drum and cymbal notes can be moved in time and retuned. Recorded drums can be easily replaced by samples of other drums. It's to the point where you could do a session, and when the recording comes out, you've been completely replaced and reshaped by the producer. Your actual performance was really nothing more than raw data that was u...
Read more

Tam Tam vs Gong

Image
I can't tell you how many times this argument of "A tam tam is not a Gong" comes up. It came my way no less than 3 different times this week. Actually, 'tam tam' (also tam-tam) was 1st used in symphonic music back in the 1800s to differentiate a flat faced Gong from a Gong with a raised center 'boss.' (There is no definitive answer as to where the term tam tam originated - some say it's Chinese, some say it's Hindi, still others say it's something else…) To add to the confusion, 'tam-tam' is a term often used for either an   African  djembe or talking drum. When a score calls for a 'tam tam' (like Messiaen’s 'Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum' or various works of Richard Wagner), then a flat faced Gong, like a Chinese Chau, is used. Flat Faced Chinese Chau Gong/Tam Tam When a score calls for a 'Gong' (like Puccini’s 'Madame Butterfly', or 'Turandot'), then a bossed Gon...
Read more

The Continuing Myths about Cymbal Alloys & Hammering - Part 1

Ahhhh, yes, one of my favorite topics. If there’s any topic out there that gets beaten to death as much as that of Tony Williams’ ride cymbal, it is that of cymbals themselves. The whole aura of cymbals is filled with myths, truths, half-truths, lies, and propaganda. And that’s just the good part! *Note of disclosure: Hey, I just happen to be a Paiste endorser, so you might be thinking, “That guy is really biased!” Well, I’ve owned and played cymbals by most of the major (and some minor) cymbal makers out there and liked them all. I’m not afraid to call them as I see them, for whatever company.  So let’s deconstruct some of these ideas: Alloys - The opinions are so varied I could write a book on just this alone—but I’ll try to keep it brief. It’s important to note that all cymbal companies put their own spin on the subject and their truth usually sits squarely with what type of cymbals are their main product. I can’t fault them for promoting what they do and want to ...
Read more