The Way of the Gong™

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few. - Shunru Suzuki This is a favorite quote of mine from the book,  Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind , by the revered Zen Master, Shunru Suzuki (1905-1971). I first came across this book over 30 years ago, and the simple, but profound teachings have had a great impact on me. Nothing is more true than the quote above.  Think of the first time you ever did any activity and how everything was new. The world was nothing but possibilities. You experimented, tried different methods, different ways, and most of all, had fun. This is the way of a child, who approaches new things with a sense of wonder. Now fast forward, you have studied hard, maybe even gone to school, in order to hone your skills. When you approach what you do you now see it through trained eyes, and as such, you see perhaps only one path to take. This is most likely the path you have been trained on. To your highly trained ...

It was only recently that I experienced my first Gong Meditation as a participant. For all these years, I've purposely avoided attending other people's sessions, because I didn't want to be consciously, or unconsciously, influenced by how someone else plays their Gongs, as I've always been more into following my own path.  The session I attended was by my good friend Kenny Kolter. He was back visiting the Chicago area and playing a series of sessions. I hadn't seen him in too long, so we met up for dinner and had a fantastic conversation. Then I attended his Gong Meditation. But I do have history with Kenny. We both played a number of dates a few years back as part of the  Vibrational Sound Trio  (VST) with a wonderful crystal bowl player and singer, Marian McNair. So I know how Kenny plays, what he sounds like. Still it was interesting to be on the other side of things experiencing the vibrations from a passive, instead of active, role.  Kenny & I in th...

Here is a quick look at what I do. This segment aired in Milwaukee yesterday (6/3/14) on FOX 6's afternoon show, STUDIO A. This 3 minutes was distilled from about an hour of talking and filming. They did a nice job of editing it together. It's nice to see Gongs and Meditation get some notice on television. We all need more of this. ~ MB Chop Wood | Carry Water | Play Gongs

Gongs are amazing metal energy portals, they work much like antennae, both receiving and transmitting energy. Because of this, the Gongs work well with various healing modalities and energy systems. Reiki, Quantum-Touch, Pranic Healing®, Integrated Energy Therapy®, and other healing energy systems can all be run into your Gongs/Bowls/Bells.  I'd like to relay a story told to me by my good friend, and fellow Gongolier, Kenny Kolter: He was presenting a Gong Session at an event where there were also 6 Reiki Masters. Before he played, they had him lie down with his Gong on top of him. All 6 Masters then directed Reiki energy into both him and his Gong. He said the affect was incredible. Besides charging your Gongs/Bowls/Bells with energy, these instruments are a perfect compliment for working with people while using energy systems. Besides creating relaxing sounds that help people be more receptive, the vibrations work well to help channel the healing energy. All things...

My last blog post ( Following Your Own Tuning ) addressed my own feelings and theories on Planetary Tunings and using Western tunings on the Ancient Chakra system. I expressed that I don't really follow those ideas and work more from an intuitive system. But beyond that, there are some ideas I feel more aligned with. Elemental Energy Besides using my intuition, I base much of what I do off of the Ancient ideas of Elemental Energy. Variations on the belief & use of 4 or 5 Elemental Energies can be found in many cultures. In his  Tetrasomia , or  Doctrine of the Four Elements , fifth century B.C. Greek philosopher, scientist and healer, Empedocles, described how all matter is comprised of four "roots" or elements:  Earth, Air, Fire, and Water , with these 'roots' interacting with each other. The philosopher Aristotle, later added a fifth element,  aithêr  (ether), which was what the Heavens were made of. Thus while the Four Element...

I've had tinnitus for as long as I can remember, most likely from playing in very loud rock bands before ear protection was even thought of. So a lot of the time, like right now, I hear a fairly loud ringing in my ears. But is this really tinnitus, or is it just the sound of myself? The internal sounds we hear may be that of our own energy resonating.  Everyone has a resonant frequency. Everyone also has resonant harmonics that they are attracted to.  These are important in working with the Gongs. In fact, to me, these are more important than trying make the Western note scale fit the Chakras and other sound therapy modalities.  For example: imagine you buy a Bowl or Gong tuned to the note G , which has been assigned to the Throat Chakra. Now what if when you play that Bowl/Gong for yourself, or someone else, and the vibrations fail to affect your Throat Chakra? What if it affects your Heart Chakra instead? Does that mean the Bowl/Gong is wrong ? Or that you...

S o, after the sort of speed bump distraction of the past week, let's get back to the Heart of things… If you work with Singing Bowls and/or Gongs, I highly suggest that you buy and read Frank Perry's wonderful book, Himalayan Sound Revelations . While it's about mainly Singing Bowls, there is much that can also be applied to Gongs. I'm only half way through it, and it's already made a big impact on my approach to Sound and my instruments. Inspired by Frank's research into the tunings and harmonics of his Singing Bowls, I downloaded a couple of  different chromatic tuner apps on my iPhone. I have now been going through my collection of Gongs, Bells, Bowls, and Sound Plates finding out their various pitches and harmonics. This has become a rather involved process, where I am taking readings on each instrument with multiple mallets, with each one bringing out different tones.   There are some subtle differences in harmonics when using different mallets...