Gong Creations: The Creative Potential of the Gong

Join Mike Tamburo, Stephanie Wood, Thomas Orr Anderson and Mike Deaton for an innovative and experiential five-day workshop that explores the creative potential of gongs and other metal instruments within intentional composition and improvisational music as an ensemble. Together, we will tap into the therapeutic potential of working with gongs as an individual and as a musical collective.

Our four facilitators will lead us through creative exercises, perceptual games, rhythmic exercises, group improvisations and meditative listening experiences. We will refine and experiment with playing techniques, learn loose composition (structure, phrasing, etc.) and deepen our personal sonic vocabulary. As an ensemble, we will explore blending our playing with other musicians and other instruments in the soundscape.

This is a great course for anyone interested in sound healing, getting out of one’s comfort zone, composition, improvisation and group playing, musicians seeking to add meditative and transformational elements to their practice and play. and “non-musicians” to discover their innate connection to the true power and collective power of music.

Days One and Two: Technique and listening.

As a foundation, we will consider and practice the basic elements and skills important in solo and group playing, as well developing a meditative and open mind and energetic sensitivity. Learners will leave with a new awareness to their touch and their tone (mallet to the gong), an increased skill set to physically play the gong, and knowledge on the musical potential of gongs in terms of dynamics, rhythm, structure, tone, harmony and improvisation.

Days Three, Four and Five: Deeply Exploring Soundscapes As An Ensemble.

Learners will explore many types of gong playing sessions and structure through practice, group improvisation, loose composition/creating structure with sound, and blending other instruments in the soundscape.

We will delve into the dynamics of an ensemble (or band) to further develop dynamic listening, group communication, self and group expression, improvisation and expanding our creative palette. A lot of our learning will come from the experience of playing in and being directed as both large and small groups. Learners will develop a sensitivity to listening to and working with others while still owning their individual sound within the collective soundscape. We will write and create music together. Learners will gain skills and techniques to create new ideas for their own sessions, and confidence to respond creatively in the moment.

This course uses a large variety of gongs (Paiste, Meinl, Sean Aceto, Chau, Feng Wind, Thai, Nipple and Bao), along with other instruments such as metallophones (tuned triangles, gong oblongs, bell plates, Burma bells, singing bowls, bells, etc.) and percussion instruments (drums, wood blocks, shakers, etc.).

Your own gong and metal instruments will be highly regarded and welcomed!

This is an opportunity to learn, explore and play with a small yet diverse group of sound lovers in an intimate setting. Our hopes are that you will walk away more thoughtful musicians and artists, more dynamic listeners, creative thinkers and communicators. Mike Tamburo has spent a lifetime exploring this as practice and is grateful to act as a guiding force in your journey into sound.

A world of changing tones emerges from the gong each time it is struck. We are looking forward to exploring the world of sound with you!

Email soundseternalmusic@gmail.com for more information

November 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 9:00 AM - 7PM Base Experimental Arts Space 6520 5th Ave. South Seattle, WA 98108 Meals are not provided. In-house kitchenette and restaurants nearby. $500 before 10/15 $600 after 10/16

Maximum 15 participants plus course facilitators.

ABOUT OUR FACILITATORS

Mike Tamburo has spent his life serving and exploring the power of music. His concerts and workshops are heart centered, uplifting, sonically multi-dimensional, life affirming experiences that focus on self transformation through conscious listening and breathing. He lives in deep gratitude and joy that his life of music has had meaning and been of use to the world around him. He seeks peace and harmony in his life and hopes to share this peace with others through his music and teachings.

Through extensive national tours with Crown of Eternity, Mike has offered countless workshops, classes, therapy sessions, concerts and retreats and has guided thousands of people to listen deeply, relax, reconnect to themselves and most importantly marvel at the power of sound.

Over the past 20+ years Mike Tamburo has become well known as a multi-instrumentalist, music educator, interdisciplinary sound artist, video artist, sound therapist, writer, meditation teacher and avid traveler; sharing over 1800 public and private performances and recording more than 65 albums of ecstatic and transcendental music as well as folk, drone, ambient and sometimes unclassifiable sounds. Early in Tamburo's career he gained notoriety for his string playing (hammered dulcimer, guitar and shahi baaja). In many of his early performances he began to enter into altered states of consciousness and have out of body experiences while performing. In order to understand these experiences he went into years of self study; exploring Kundalini Yoga, energy work, the therapeutic use of sound and how sound effects consciousness, human perception and self healing. His love for long sustained drones, overtones and psychoacoustics led him to working with multiple gongs and other tuned metal instruments (bells, sound plates, singing bowls) as well as exploring the healing power of mantra and toning.

Stephanie Wood is an experimental sound artist, sacred sound practitioner and community activist with eclectic ambient-to-noise compositions. Stephanie utilizes tuned metal and sacred sound objects (gongs, etc.), DIY instruments, amplified/FX processed found objects and field recordings.

Her approach is visceral and intuitive with an unabashed love for Cage, Partch, Gira and Eno. She often incorporates silence and collective experience in her performances.

She hosts Seattle Avant-Garde Music Society and co-hosts “NO CONCERT” experimental concert series with Shoko Zama.

Mike Deaton is a musician, artist, and facilitator with 20 years of experience creating integrative arts programs for ages 0-104 (so far). His hands-on programs foster connection, creativity, expression, and resilience. Mike has designed and taught classes on using music for wellness through James Madison University, the Virginia Dept. of Social Services, the Virginia Alzheimer’s Association, and as an adjunct instructor at St. Francis University teaching world drumming and other music classes designed for non-musicians. As a performer, he once had the honor of playing for Archbishop Desmond Tutu. This year he and his wife opened an expressive arts center where Mike has led over 25 gong sessions.

DeatonArts.com

Thomas Orr Anderson, M.A. is a Musician, Physicist, Author, Teacher, Inventor, and Sound Therapy Researcher engaged in a lifelong exploration of sound, rhythm, movement, science, and meditation.

In 2005, Thomas earned his Masters degree in Physics through his studies of Black Holes and Holograms. He has studied intensively in a variety of ancient healing arts including Qi Gong, Acupressure, and indigenous American paths. He travels the world studying, teaching, performing, and exploring at the magical precipice where Music, Physics, and Healing are one. Thomas remains deeply engaged in music performance, production, and composition under the name Sirius Colors… in the midst of his studies of the effects of sound, vibration, and color upon our mind and body.

Thomas has been an invited speaker/moderator at the Gong Summit, World Qi Gong Congress, International Congress on Consciousness, and is the author of a number of books including:

• Master Handbook of Sound Healing
• The Book That Swallows Itself
• P.S.V.: Physics of Sound & Vibration for Experiential Practice (release late Summer 2019)

In any case, you are likely to find him smiling and sharing his great and ever-growing LOVE and enthusiasm for the deepest shared roots of music, science, and healing.

Thomas also teaches remote online one-on-one sound therapy courses and administers the active Facebook group, The Art & Science of Sound Healing, as well as a podcast by the same name.

Find out more at his websites: ThomasOrrAnderson.com and SiriusColors.com