Gong chime

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Indonesian traditional musical instruments with gong chime. Traditional indonesian instruments02.jpg
Indonesian traditional musical instruments with gong chime.

A gong chime is a generic term for a set of small, high-pitched bossed pot gongs. The gongs are ordinarily placed in order of pitch, with the boss upward on cords held in a low wooden frame. The frames can be rectangular or circular (the latter are sometimes called "gong circles"), and may have one or two rows of gongs. They are played by one to four musicians, each using two padded sticks to strike them. They are an important instrument in many Southeast Asian musical ensembles, such as Indonesian gamelan, kulintang, or Thai pi phat. For this reason, such ensembles are sometimes called "gong chime ensembles" or "gong chime orchestras," and the broad variety of music "gong chime music."

Contents

Gong chimes typically are played either in a soloistic style, providing a virtuosic embellishing role, or providing a rhythmic role, for example, in a colotomic structure. [1]

The term may also be used to refer to hand-held tuned gongs played in high rhythmic density, such as the older Indonesian-Balinese reyong, and gangsa, and also some ensembles of minorities within the mountainous interior of Vietnam. [1]

List of gong chimes

Source: Sibyl Marcuse. Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1964: 213.
Gong chimes.jpg
Indonesian gong chimes
Gamelan degung, Musical Instruments Museum, Phoenix, Arizona.jpg
Gamelan degung, Musical Instruments Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Khong wong lek.jpg
Thai gong chimes khong wong lek
Khong wong yai.jpg
Thai gong chimes, khong wong yai
Kong mon gngmn or Khong mon kh`ngm`y.jpg
Cambodia (kong mon គងមន) and Thailand (khong mon ฆ้องมอญ), Museum of Musical Instruments in Phoenix, Arizona.
Kong Von Thom.jpg
Cambodian gong chimes kong von thom
Gong Chimes from Voyage de l'Egypte a l'Indochine by Emile Gsell (cropped).jpg
Cambodian gong chimes kong toch
Gong Chimes and percussion, Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Arizona.jpg
Gong Chimes and percussion, Indonesia section at Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Javanese or Indonesian gong chimes, Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Arizona.jpg
Javanese or Indonesian bonang gong chimes (foreground)
Philippines gong chimes, Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Arizona.jpg
Philippines kulintang gong chimes
Stone-chimes and chime-bells
Korean Gong chimes, Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Arizona.jpg
Korean pyeongyeong stone-chimes, a type of lithophone, Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Korean Bells, Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Arizona.jpg
Korean pyeonjong chime-bells, Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Chinese gong chimes, Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Arizona.jpg
Chinese bianqing stone chimes, a type of lithophone, Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Oriental Bells, Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Arizona.jpg
Chinese bianzhong chime-bells, Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Using stone or bells, these are set up in the same manner as gong chimes.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Heins, Ernst (2001). "Gong-chime". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN   978-1-56159-239-5.
  2. Clark, Mitchell (2005). "Sounds of the Silk Road: Musical Instruments of Asia." Boston: Museum of Fine Arts Publications.