Become a Gong Practitioner and Wield Powerful Energy Through Sacred Sound
Enrollment Open Now: Join The July 14, 2025 Gong School Cohort
Led by Master Percussionist and Sound Practitioner, Ben Irons.
Maximum 35 Spots Available.
Enrollment is now Open for Gong School by The Ohm Store; the invitation is to join us on a 7 week transformational evolution in the practice of The Gong.
Your mentor and guide through the process will be guided by Gong-Master, professional Philharmonic percussionist and sound healer Ben Irons.
This is an immersive, virtual curriculum carefully created to teach you the intellectual, practical and technical elements of this powerful musical instrument. Moving through this course will cause you to grow, to challenge yourself, all while being taken care of in a loving and private container.
We’ll teach you how to create sound that transforms lives — beginning with your own.
You will learn from the perspective of a classically trained symphonic percussionist, with the heart of a healer who has dedicated his life to the vibrational arts.
With Ben, and a curated group of fellow musicians, meditation instructors, and sound therapists, you’ll move through a rich curriculum, from Gong 101 to your final capstone project, the actualization of your time and a mind expanding exercise in creating your own Gong Meditation.
By the end of Gong School, you will not just know how to play; you will understand how to listen.
You’ll have the ability to generate rich, textured, intentional sound. Not in a one-directional monologue, but to collaborate and be in a conversation with your instrument. The Gong is subtle, responsive, delicate and contains immense power all at the same time.
Many gong players you see are “intuitives” yet we will teach you in a practiced and intentional method, so you are capable of subtlety and nuance as well as raw power.
Become able to conduct and transform the energy in a room, for a private practice, a public performance, or an offering of deep service to others.
You will be trained in proven technique. Taught how to build touch, tone, timing, and intuition — so that your playing becomes an extension of who you are.
And something remarkable happens when you play from that place.
You begin to enter the field of morphic resonance, the unseen current of energy that has carried these sounds through generation of venerated masters.
Gong School helps you step into that field with integrity, confidence, and clarity. And in doing so, you not only draw strength from the past but also begin to play for the future.
If you’re being called to the gong, it’s mystery, the craft, the service, and the sound, we welcome you to join us.
Ben Irons and Frank Mocerino
Flexible payment plans are available
Introduction To Our Course
Gong School by The Ohm Store
A 7-Week Experiential Mentorship On The Gong
Gong School is a focused training for people ready to progress beyond intuitive experimentation and to begin approaching the Gong through skill, structure, and intentionally facilitated depth.
Whether you’ve never yet played a gong, or already lead sound experiences, this is your opportunity to study the instrument with real clarity. Allow us to become your trusted mentor through a process of learning how to “have a conversion” with your Gong.
You’ll be guided by Ben Irons, a professional symphonic percussionist who has played with the LA Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Arizona Opera, and more, and who has spent the past decade immersed in meditation, vibrational therapy, and sound healing traditions.
This is an immersive path. Intellectual, practical and technical evolution will take place.
You’ll be taught how to strike, how to listen, how to structure a session, and how to bring your full creative presence to this sacred instrument.
Now let’s take a closer look at what you’ll learn.
Watch: A Welcome From Ben Irons, Lead Instructor of Gong School
What You’ll Learn Inside Gong School
Over 7 weeks, we are going to watch you through an intentional and structured process combining intellectual concepts, technical practice and emotional widening to integrate a new skill, The Gong.
You’ll learn how to deeply listen, through which your ability springs forth. Some things we will focus on…
-
How to strike with control, subtlety, and confidence, so you can produce clear, intentional sound. We aren’t aiming to be the loudest gong player. We will study nuance, and deploy a practiced hand.
-
How to work with one and two mallets, drones, rolls, and friction techniques to allow the gong to express it’s wide ranging voice and timbre.
-
How to structure and lead sound meditations, gong baths, and complete energetic or relaxation focused journeys
-
How to develop your inner ear and refine your “mental-aural concept,” the ability to hear before you play. Playing the gong is a meditation unto itself.
-
How to build a relationship with your instrument. You will learn to be in collaboration and conversion with your instrument. Not punching at it, but responding to it, dampening and muffling can be as important as droning or proactive playing.
-
How to access and contribute to the field of morphic resonance, the current of sound that lives through generations. A feeling of continuity grants us clarity, we can continue in the spirit of those who have played before us, and feel reverence and gratitude for their contributions, and ours.
-
How to create something from nothing. Invention, creativity - true growth. You will, with our help and support, create an original, recorded 20-minute gong meditation, reviewed personally by Ben Irons, as part of your capstone project.
-
You’ll move from foundational technique in the early weeks, to depth, presence, and original creation by Week 7.
“With a singing bowl, we ask: where is the sound coming from?
With a gong, we ask: where does the sound end?” — Ben Irons
Let’s learn together, how to Speak Through Sound.
Watch: Ben Play The Gong (converse with it):
Flexible payment plans are available
Course Syllabus and Schedule
This course is designed to deliver our intentional and progressive curriculum in an easy to anticipate and follow way, while integrating the richness of live interactions and lecture-style teaching with the convenience and flexibility of an online format.
Each week, you will receive access to the week’s new learning module from Ben Irons, as well as a specifically paired listening exercise and practical exercise to actualize the new skills focused on for that particular week.
Additionally, there will be open “Office Hours” each week on Tuesdays at 10:00am central time with Ben. This is where conversations, dialogues, questions, and demonstrations can and will happen in real time. We will feed off your direction, energy and questions to inform exactly how these live sessions go.
In special weeks, we will welcome guest presenters who will be with us Thursdays, times are subjective to us being responsive to our guests, all sessions will be recorded.
Lastly, you will have your Capstone Project, the creation of recorded Sound Meditation using your voice and the Gong.
The culmination of your experience – serving, performing, creating into the world something special.
Don’t worry if you miss a live call – all sessions will be recorded and available the next day.
A Week-by-Week Breakdown of Your Gong School Journey
Week 1: Gong 101, Part 1
You'll begin with the fundamentals: gong history, types of gongs, and how to select your instrument (we also have videos on this below so you can buy before you start the course.
You'll learn basic playing position, grip, and stroke mechanics, begin your first listening card assignment, and establish foundational practice with a core exercise we’ll teach you. Listening card exercises introduced.
Week 2: Gong 101, Part 2
This week focuses on mallet types and the six primary playing zones, with emphasis on dynamic control, volume sensitivity, and hearing protection. You'll continue building rhythmic consistency with “3’s alternating” and complete your second listening card.
Week 3: Gong 202, Part 1
Two-mallet playing, learning to create drones and rolls. You'll build adaptability, experiment with layered textures, and explore the range of your instrument through demonstrations like “Pet the Kitty.”
Week 4: Gong 202, Part 2
Expand your “vocabulary” with muffling and dampening techniques, learn the basics of harmonic intervals and tuning systems, and get hands-on experience using friction mallets (“flumies”).
Week 5: Gong 301, Part 1
We begin to take a turn inward. You'll begin to develop your touch and “mental-aural concept,” your ability to hear sound before it's created. Exercises this week include descriptive sound exploration and writing your own “Gong Poetry, ” which is an exercise in creative reflection on what you're learning.
Week 6: Gong 301, Part 2
You’ll be guided through creating your own gong bath offering. Explore energetic themes like focus versus relaxation, and begin integrating voice into your practice, and learn proper instrument care. We will begin to shape ideas on your capstone.
Week 7: Capstone & Certification
Your final week is dedicated to recording your 20-minute capstone gong meditation. You will include a clear intention, several timbres, use of voice, rolls, and at least three playing zones. Your creativity will be expressed. Growth will happen, within the container of supportive and caring teachers and fellow students. Your recording will be reviewed by Ben Irons with personalized feedback.
Hear from Ben: Introduction To Idea of Listening Cards:
Watch: Why I Love Gongs, A Special Note From Ben Irons:
Flexible payment plans are available
What Type Of Gong And Mallets Do I Need To Participate?
Our course begins on July 14th; we recommend that by July 21st you have the Gong you’ll use and your set of recommended playing mallets.
Ben’s recommendations:
-
One gong (24–34" preferred). The recommendation is to buy a Chau Gong, Wind Gong or Silver-Nickel (often referred to as Symphonic) Gong for the course.
-
A stand to mount it
-
4 Mallet Set, curated by Ben and Dragonfly Percussion for Gong School Students, available here.
-
One friction mallet (“flumie”)
-
A recording device (phone or camera)
-
Soft foam ear plugs
Need help selecting a gong?
We’ll help you get what’s right for your path, whether you’re buying, borrowing, or fostering one from your community (a fantastic option).
The Ohm Store has a limited selection of specialty gongs available which you can listen to here; it’s not mandatory or required in any way to have a gong from us to participate!
We also have a limited number of Krishna Gongs hand-forged in Spain, available now through The Ohm Store as well as Wind Gongs 24-27 inches in diameter which have been made for us in India.
Flexible payment plans are available
Watch: Ben On Testing A Gong
Watch: Frank's Video on Ben
Meet Your Instructor: Ben Irons
Symphonic Percussionist. Gong Master. Sound Healer. Author. Teacher.
Ben Irons has spent decades at the intersection of technical musical mastery and deep personal practice, in service of sound healing and integration.
Ben has performed with some of the most celebrated ensembles in the world, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Hawai’i Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera, New Mexico Philharmonic, Tucson Symphony, and Arizona MusicFest.
Over the course of his career, he has shared the stage with musical legends including Andrea Bocelli, Chris Thile, Lang Lang, The Who, Béla Fleck, and Renée Fleming, among many others.
While his musical foundation was earned in the classical world, Ben’s journey has expanded well beyond the concert hall. Facing his own struggles with performance anxiety, he turned inward and began studying meditation, energy work, and the healing power of sound.
He is a Certified Hypnotherapist (CHt), Certified Meditation Instructor (CMI), Vipassana meditation practitioner, and a graduate of the Atma Buti® Sound & Vibrational School. He is also a certified Master Gong Practitioner through Yogi Mehtab and the International Gong Yoga Association.
Ben is the founder of Zen With Ben, a Boulder-based wellness practice that merges sound healing, meditation, and ancestral wisdom. He is also an Artist Collaborator with Dragonfly Percussion, where he designed the Benjamin Irons Signature Series — a collection of 15 custom mallets and inviters that helped redefine what’s possible with singing bowls and metal instruments.
As the lead instructor of Gong School by The Ohm Store, Ben brings the full spectrum of his expertise, blending the discipline of a conservatory-trained musician with the presence and intuition of a seasoned healer. His teaching is precise, encouraging, and rooted in the belief that anyone, with the right training and support, can learn to wield powerful energy through sacred sound.
Whether you’ve never used a gong or have some moderate experience, Ben will meet you where you are, and help you go further than you imagined possible.
Flexible payment plans are available
Watch: Ben Play
Watch: Ben On Morphic Resoance
Investment & Enrollment Options
Embark on this transformative journey, with a tuition of $1,800, with flexible payment plans available. You can apply for financing through ShopPay, with installment plans available for up to 12 months.
The investment of your time will be 2-4 hours per week, which includes participating in one live call each week (recorded for your convenience) and engaging with pre-recorded modules that will be released weekly. This structure allows you to immerse yourself in the material while accommodating your busy schedule.
For limited partial scholarship requests, please send an email to “gongschool@theohmstore.co” with the subject line Scholarship Request and tell us about yourself and why you’re drawn to gong school. We don’t have a formal scholarship review process, we want to initiate a real conversion with those in need.
Watch: Video from Frank:
Frequently Asked Questions
Enrollment Closes July 13. Class Begins July 14. We can accept 35 students.
It would be our pleasure to host you for 7 weeks (and beyond) through this evolution in the practice of playing the gong.
$1,800 | Scholarships & Payment Plans Available | 35 Spots Only
Flexible payment plans are available