Gongchime
Member Profile - 08/26/2005

About Gongchime

I was born in 1964 in Las Vegas. I was a featured soloist for the Nevada Classical Guitar Society. I played in many restuarants and weddings.

I majored in music at Northern Arizona University. I studied music composition with Bruce Reiprich and Kenneth Rummery. I directed NAU preparatory school's jazz combos I and II and played bass in their big band.

I also played in NAU's steel drum ensemble under Steve Hemphill, president of the Arizona Chapter of the percussive arts society.
I have traveled to Miami and heard the Miami Cuban sound. I have heard; the blues played proper in New Orleans, Mariachi music in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, the traditional music in Korea and went to a traditional Piphat Mon performance at a temple in Hua Hin, Thailand.

I have read many books on aesthetics, music composition, and ethnomusicology especially gamelan transcriptions and East Indian musical practices. I'm interested in world music theory, scales, chords, harmony, music composition, rhythms, drums and drumming.

I have jammed with Korean jazz marimba player and music professor Baek Jin Woo and Blues artist Son Yong Woo of the band Shincheon Blues.

I have a sitar, a Korean Kayageum (Koto), Korean Guengari (small gong), Korean Jing (medium gong), Korean Chango (double headed drum played with a stick and a hard ball mallet), American Chapman Stick, Steel drums from Trinidad, a didgeridoo from Australia and an equal tempered Indonesian Gamelan!

I have built xylophones, thumb pianos, stamping tubes, Brazilian Berimbau, Spike fiddles and the hammered dulcimers of Arabia, China and South East Asia. I have made large metal bells from scuba tanks and I have also built lutes.

I have written more music than I can count, as well as published articles on music composition, aesthetics and ethnomusicology (http://www.paradisemoon.com/thai_main/Huahin/thai_instruments_intro.htm). My music combines melodic motives from jazz, rhythmic motives from the Middle East, India, Africa, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bali, Cuba and the Carribean. It also uses drones, modal chord progressions and instruments from around the world such as Koto, Gongs and Gamelan. My music sometimes utilizes interlocking patterns in the vein of gamelan and African Amadinda.

My music could be described as Bankok Blue meets Deep Forest.

I'm a member of "TAXI" the world's largest independant A&R company. I'll be marketing my Resplendant Garden of Contemplation/Gongchime Rainforest project to the Cultural Creatives market as well as to T.V. and film through sound libraries. Some titles from my portfolio include; Across Time, Deep Blue, River of Stars, Fountain Mist, Pagoda Lantern, Daughters of Maya, Mystic Shepherd, Ally of Creation, Cradle of Time, and Deer Park among others.

I'm currently working with a vocalist from India who was world music artist of the year in South Korea 2 years ago and with a world music producer who has played with Aerosmith, Yes, Pauline Oliveros etc... and has been a consultant for the Cirque Du Soleil and the Malaysian tourism board.

I'm also a member of the Textbook and Academic Authors association.

Go home: www.contemplationgarden.bravehost.com

My Studio

Boss BR180. Indonesian Gamelan, different instruments from all over the world etc...

Contact Info

Email: [email protected]