Tubular bells

For the Mike Oldfield album, seeTubular Bells.

"Chimes" redirects here. For other uses and particularly for similarly named instruments, seeChime (disambiguation).

Tubular bells(also known aschimes) aremusical instrumentsin thepercussionfamily.Their sound resembles that ofchurch bells,carillons,or abell tower;the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within an ensemble.Eachbellis a metal tube,30–38 mm (1+1⁄4–1+1⁄2in) in diameter, tuned by altering its length. Its standard range is C₄–F₅,though many professional instruments reach G₅.Tubular bells are often replaced by studio chimes, which are smaller and usually less expensive instruments. Studio chimes are similar in appearance to tubular bells, but each bell has a smaller diameter than the corresponding bell on tubular bells.

Tubular bells

A set of chimes made byYamaha
Percussion instrument
Other names	Chimes orchestral chimes orchestral bells tubular chimes
Classification	Keyboard percussion
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	111.232 (Sets of percussion tubes)
Playing range
C4–F5standard; extended range can include B♭3–G5,bass F3–B3,but can vary
Builders
J.C. Deagan Adams Yamaha Jenco Premier Percussion

Tubular bells being played as part of a larger musical arrangement.

Adams Bass Chimes, range F₃–B₃

Tubular bells are sometimes struck on the top edge of the tube with arawhide- or plastic-headed hammer. Often, asustain pedalwill be attached to allow extended ringing of the bells. They can also be bowed at the bottom of the tube to produce a very loud, very high-pitched overtone.

The tubes provide a purer tone than solid cylindrical chimes, such as those on amark tree.

Chimes are often found in orchestral and concert band repertoire. It rarely plays melody, instead being used most often as a color to add to the ensemble sound. It does have solos occasionally, often depicting church bells.

In tubular bells, modes 4, 5, and 6 appear to determine the strike tone and have frequencies in the ratios 9²:11²:13²,or 81:121:169, "which are close enough to the ratios 2:3:4 for the ear to consider them nearly harmonic and to use them as a basis for establishing a virtual pitch".The perceived "strike pitch" is thus an octave below the fourth mode (i.e., the missing "1" in the above series).

Classical music

Tubular bells first appeared between 1860 and 1870 in Paris. The Englishman John Harrington patented tubular bells made of bronze. Arthur Sullivan may have been the first composer to score for tubular bells in the orchestra, in 1886. In the early 20th century tubular bells were also incorporated into theater organs to produce effects.

Tubular bells as a substitute for church bells were first used by Giuseppe Verdi in his operas Il trovatore (1853) and Un ballo in maschera (1859) and by Giacomo Puccini in Tosca (1900).

Passages in classical music:

Chimes/tubular bells

• Giuseppe Verdi–Rigoletto(1851)
• Giuseppe Verdi –Il trovatore(1853)
• Giuseppe Verdi –Un ballo in maschera(1859)
• Modest Mussorgsky–Boris Godunov(1869, 1872, 1874)
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky–1812 Overture(1880)
• Pietro Mascagni–Cavalleria rusticana(1890)
• Ruggero Leoncavallo–Pagliacci(1892)
• Gustav Mahler–Symphony No. 2(1895)
• Giacomo Puccini–Tosca(1900)
• Alexander Scriabin–Le Poème de l'extase(1908)
• Anton Webern– Six Pieces for large orchestra (1909–10, revised 1928)
• Claude Debussy–Ibéria(1910)
• Gustav Holst–The Planets(1914–16)
• Giacomo Puccini –Turandot(1926)
• Edgard Varèse–Ionisation(1931)
• Richard Strauss–Die schweigsame Frau(1935)
• Paul Hindemith–Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber(1944)
• Benjamin Britten–Albert Herring(1945)
• Aaron Copland–Symphony No. 3(1946)
• Olivier Messiaen–Turangalîla-symphonie(1946–48)
• Carl Orff–Antigonae(1949)
• Dmitri Shostakovich–Symphony No. 11(1957)
• Olivier Messiaen–Chronochromie(1959–60)
• Arvo Pärt–Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten(1977)
• David Stanhope – Folksongs for Band, Suite no. 3 (1991, revised 2016)
• Daron Hagen–Shining Brow(1993)

In popular music

Multi-instrumentalistMike Oldfieldnamed his first albumTubular Bells,best known for providing the musical theme toThe Exorcistfilm (1973). At the beginning of his solo symphony recording project in 1972, Oldfield discovered a set of tubular bells atThe Manor StudioinOxfordshire,England, and asked new ownerRichard Bransonfor permission to use them. The chimes were played by Oldfield on parts of the album, and they supplied the album name. Branson's companyVirgin Recordsbenefitted tremendously as Oldfield's album sold millions of copies; this also contributed to Branson's personal wealth and industry leverage.

Other uses

Tubular bells can be used as church bells, such as atSt. Alban's Anglican ChurchinCopenhagen,Denmark.These were donated byCharles, Prince of Wales.

Tubular bells are also used inlongcase clocks,particularly because they produce a louder sound thangongsand regular chime-rods and therefore could be heard more easily.

See also

• Bell plate
• Tubaphone
• Wind chime

External links

• Information about tubular bells– Vienna Symphonic Library