Tam-Tam Under Water
A struck gong lowered into a tank while still ringing, and the way the water takes the top off the sound without touching what is underneath.
Struck in air, the tam-tam is mostly its own high shimmer. Lowered into water mid-decay, that shimmer goes first and all at once, leaving a fundamental that carries on much longer than it seems it should. The instrument does not stop; it loses the part of itself that was announcing it.