On Friday the 9th of September, we were offered an amazing opportunity to play our 36 inch (91.4 cm) Earth Gong inside Stonehenge. Our friend Jo had booked a private visit for a wonderful group, and she invited us along.
The challenges of playing a gong inside Stonehenge
In the background before we started playing there was the drone of constant traffic driving past on the A303 which is nearby. We knew Stonehenge had acoustic properties but had no idea what to expect from playing our gong inside the circle. We have never played our gong outside a building before either! Playing outside is also challenging when playing softly high gusts of wind swayed the gong quite dramatically!
The acoustics of Stonehenge
Despite all of the above, the sound was incredible, once we raised the volume of the gong to 50% or above noise of the traffic was blocked out. We realised we needed to play the gong hard and fast to counter the wind, and also to interact with Stonehenege! At certain points in the recording, there does seem to be a secondary sound potentially created by resonance with the megaliths. Another striking effect which I have also noted in Egypt, when resonance of a structure is reached you can feel the sound vibration come through your feet. I walked around as Olga played to gauge any resonance effect, at various points, she hit the resonance, and sound waves came straight through my boots, it was a strong effect!
I should also note, the gong sounded very different to be playing inside a normal building, the sound had a very unusual quality which reminded me and a few others of water, it was quite incredible! And impossible to describe. It was very penetrating and emotionally moving. The group on Friday left thrilled and exhilarated, we look forward to the next Gong in Stonehenge event! We will upload a recording to Youtube soon.
Hire us for Stonehenge events
Due to the success of the Earth gong at Stonehenge, we are now offering our services to tour groups and private groups. Please contact us if you are interested in hiring us to play our gong inside Stonehenge. We also offer other sound experience days for individuals and small groups at various ancient sites, details for these are on our website.
All the very best,
Gary and Olga
