The instrument is gently struck on its protruding boss with the cloth-covered end of the wood-en mallet. lf the gong is struck too hard, an undesirrable percussive sound results as the sound scatters and fails to emphaszie the harmonically-related partials. After striking the instrument, the sound is often allowed to ring although sometime it is damped by touching the cloth- covered end of the wooden mallet against the boss.