tubular bell

Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillons, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate such sounds within an ensemble. Tubular bells are usually struck on the top edges of the tubes with a rawhide- or plastic-headed hammer. A sustain pedal is usually attached to the instrument to allow the damping and un-damping of all the bells at once. Very loud, high-pitched overtones can be produced by vibrating the bottoms of the tubes with a violin bow. The written range of chimes is usually seen as C to F, though some professional models reach G. There is disagreement on the exact transposition of octave, with some manufacturers listing the lowest note as a C. Additionally, some listeners place the pitch as a C, one octave below where written. This is due to the complex overtones associated with the instrument. In tubular bells, modes 4, 5, and 6 appear to determine the strike tone and have frequencies in the ratios 9 2:11 2:13 2 (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).

• Name — Tubular bells • Names — * Chimes • orchestral chimes • orchestral bells • tubular chimes • Background — percussion • Classification — Keyboard percussion • Hornbostel Sachs — 111.232 • Hornbostel Sachs Desc — Sets of percussion tubes • Range — Standard tubular bells have a range of either 1.5 or 1.6 octaves. Specialty sets of chimes, such as bass chimes, may extend higher or lower. • Builders — * J.C. Deagan • Adams • Bergerault • Yamaha • Jenco • Premier Percussion • Ludwig-Musser

Pipe organs are often installed with tubular bells, called "Chimes," playable from the keyboards and sometimes pedals when the "Chimes" stop is drawn. These bells are struck by hammers triggered by either electric or pneumatic mechanisms when they receive an electrical signal from the console keyboards (although some mechanical mechanisms do exist).

Tubular bells can be used as church bells, such as at St. Alban's Anglican Church in Copenhagen, Denmark. These were donated by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales). Tubular bells are also used in longcase clocks, particularly because they produce a louder sound than gongs and regular chime-rods and therefore could be heard more easily.