Metal 6-tone Tongue Drum

the Tong Gong, a metal 6-tone Tongue Drum

The Tong Gong on its (removable) handle

The Tong Gong is a new musical instrument, a metal tongue drum that is related to the family of kalimba’s and great new instruments like the HAPI drum, the Milltone. But the TongGong has some unique advantages.

The 6 metal tongues are attached to a wooden base. The tongues can be changed and placed in any configuration, and each tongue can be tuned over a range of several tones. Furthermore, the tongues can be fine-tuned very precisely. This makes a great variety of tunings and configurations possible.

Each of the 6 metal tongues has a different length and can be tuned over the following ranges (note: these are the nominal ranges, with some effort, you can get a half-tone lower or higher than these tones)

• f – a (F3 – A3)
• g – c’ (G3 – C4)
• c’ – f’ (C4 – F4)
• d’ – g’ (D4 – G4)
• f’ – c’’ (F4 – C5)
• a’ – g’’ (A4 – G5)

Double Tong Gong

An extra dimension of sound opens  when you play 2 or more TongGongs together. You get a very spatial and animated sound as the tones of the gongs interact. Each can have its own tuning.

Triple Tong Gong

The Triple TongGong Set being played

Taking this idea one step further, the Triple Tong Gong Set was created. The 3 TongGongs can be mounted on a stand and played by a single person.

Triple TongGong Set stacked for storage

Or you can divide up the tonggongs between 2 or 3 people and play them together.