Editing Gong (section)

==Types==
[[File:Relief at Sukuh Temple, 2016-10-13 02.jpg|thumb|262px|A Gong depicted on the 15th-century temple reliefs at the [[Candi Sukuh]] in [[Central Java]], [[Indonesia]]]]

'''Suspended gongs''' are played with hammers and are of two main types: flat faced discs, either with or without a turned edge and gongs with a raised centre boss. In general, the larger the gong, the larger and softer the hammer. In Western symphonic music, the flat faced gongs are generally referred to as tam-tams to distinguish them from their bossed counterparts. Here, the term "gong" is reserved for the bossed type only. The gong has been a Chinese instrument for millennia. Its first use may have been to signal peasant workers in from the fields, because some gongs are loud enough to be heard from up to {{convert|5|mi|km|0|abbr=off|order=flip|spell=on}} away.

Large flat gongs may be 'primed' by lightly hitting them before the main stroke, greatly enhancing the sound and causing the instrument to "speak" sooner, with a shorter delay for the sound to "bloom". Keeping this priming stroke inaudible calls for a great deal of skill. The smallest suspended gongs are played with bamboo sticks or even western-style drumsticks. Contemporary and avant-garde music, where different sounds are sought, will often use friction mallets (producing squeals and harmonics), bass bows (producing long tones and high overtones), and various striking implements (wood/plastic/metal) to produce the desired tones.

[[Rock gong]]s are large stones struck with smaller stones to create a metallic resonating sound.