The goal of life is rapture. Art is the way we experience it.
Joseph Campbell
Michael Bettine
Michael considers himself a sound collector and uses a large selection of resonating metals from around the world that he has collected over the past 50+ years: gongs, singing bowls, rin bowls, bells, cymbals, chimes, kalimba and other instruments.
Since 2002, Michael has worked under the name, GONGTOPIA, presenting Sound Sessions and workshops, using gongs, singing bowls, bells and other percussion. He has written ten books on percussion, including his new books, ‘The Way of the Gong – Explorations and Observations in Sound’, and ‘Art As A Spiritual Practice’. He has also released over 40 recordings under his name.
Michael is also devoted to music education. Besides teaching privately, he has presented workshops on gongs at the prestigious Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in 2005 & 2012; at the 1st Gong Summit in 2019 and the online Gong Summits in 2020 & 21, at Gong Camp in 2021–23, at ‘Focus on sound therapy’ in Italy in 2021–23, and at Gong Camp Europe 2024. He also maintains a long running YouTube™ educational channel.
I really appreciate how you teach. If you had been one of my professors at music school, I would have stayed there. Master Class Participant.
Thank you so much for facilitating that amazing workshop on Friday evening for our Sound School students. Everyone thought you were wonderful and that they gained a lot of insight from the information you shared.
Angel Light LLC
You make such an impact on our community and clients.
Yoga Studio
Exploration & Improvisation
Bettine’s work is the sonic equivalent of action painting. Using mallets as brushes and the Gongs as a canvas, he creates vast washes of vibration and punctuates them with stabs and slashes of crescendo. He’s a combination of abstraction and visceral physicality.
MONA FOMA Music Festival