chime (bell instrument)

The word chime dates back to the 14th-century Middle English word {{lang|enm|chymbe}}, meaning 'cymbal'. It probably originates from the Old French {{lang|fro|chimbe}} or directly from the Latin {{lang|la|cymbalum}}. The Latin word was shortened in Old French and misinterpreted as {{lang|enm|chymbe bellen}} in Middle English, where the meaning shifted by the mid-16th century to "set of bells in a church or clock tower, apparatus or arrangement for striking bells".{{cite web |title=Chime |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/chime |access-date=2021-02-06 |url-status=live |archive-date=2019-05-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501165454/https://www.etymonline.com/word/chime}}

There are several mechanisms of action for chimes. From the 13th century, chimes were connected to a system of ropes, which is rarely seen today. In the 19th century, many newly-constructed chimes were connected to a large wooden keyboard called a "chimestand."{{cite book |last=Gouwens |first=John |year=2013 |chapter=The Nineteenth Century: The Chime in America |title=Campanology: A Study of Bells, with an Emphasis on the Carillon |publisher=North American Carillon School |pages=29–32 |isbn=978-1-4840-3766-9}}{{cite encyclopedia |title=Bell chime |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/bell-chime |access-date=2021-05-24 |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525012536/https://www.britannica.com/art/bell-chime }} These resemble the console of a carillon, but with much larger keys, essentially handles, which are depressed a greater distance. In the 20th century, it is more common for chimes to be connected to an ivory piano keyboard with electronic action, often paired with automatic playing. Chimes may alternatively be connected to and played with an Ellacombe apparatus.{{cite web |last=Sturdy |first=John C. G. |title=Glossary of Ringing Terms |website=www.cb1.com |date=2007-06-10 |url=http://www.cb1.com/~john/ringing/glossary.html#EllacombeApparatus |access-date=2021-05-26}}

Chimes may also feature an automatic mechanism by which simple tunes or the Westminster Quarters are played. The mechanism on European chimes is often a playing drum, which is a large metal cylinder connected to a clock mechanism. Metal pegs are screwed onto the outside of the drum. When the clock mechanism sets the drum in motion, the pegs catch onto levers, which are connected to hammers that rest just a short distance from the outside of the bell. The hammers are briefly raised, and then fall onto the bell as the peg continues to rotate away from the lever. The pegs are arranged such that simple tunes can be programmed to play at specific quarter hours. In North America, automatic playing drum systems are not common; instead, chimes may have pneumatic systems which ring the instrument.{{cite book |last=Lehr |first=André |title=Campanology Textbook: The Musical and Technical Aspect of Swinging Bells and Carillons |translator-last=Schafer |translator-first=Kimberly |year=2005 |publisher=The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America |oclc=154672090}}

{{Further|Bellfounding|Campanology}}

Chime bells are made of bell bronze, a specialized copper-tin alloy used for its above-average rigidity and resonance. A bell's weight and profile, or shape, determine its note and the quality of its tone. It produces a sound with overtones or partial tones which are not necessarily harmonically related.{{cite book |last=Price |first=Percival |title=Bells and Man |year=1983 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=210 |isbn=978-0-19-318103-8}} To produce a pleasing, harmonically related series of tones, the bell's profile must be carefully adjusted. However, little to no effort was made to tune bells for chimes. Few have been tuned to the same precision as bells for carillons.{{cite web |title=Tower Bells Introduction: Chimes |website=TowerBells.org |url=http://www.towerbells.org/TowerBells.html#Section2 |access-date=2021-05-26}}

The range of a chime is directly proportional to the number of bells it has. The instrument's total number of bells usually depends on funds available for the creation of the instrument: more money allows more bells to be cast, especially the larger, more costly ones. It is generally accepted that a chime has at most 22 bells; larger instruments are called carillons.{{cite magazine |last=Brink |first=Joey |title=Composing for Carillon |magazine=NewMusicBox |date=2017-12-19 |url=https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/composing-for-carillon/ |access-date=2021-05-26 |oclc=1120054332 |url-status=live |archive-date=2021-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210402155038/https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/composing-for-carillon/}} In some cases, the World Carillon Federation may designate chimes constructed before 1940 as historical carillons.{{cite web |title=Organization |website=World Carillon Federation |url=http://www.carillon.org/eng/fs_orga.htm |access-date=2021-02-16 |url-status=live |archive-date=2020-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207174249/http://www.carillon.org/eng/fs_orga.htm}} The average chime has 8 to 15 bells arranged in a diatonic scale. Occasionally, chimes may include an extra B♭ or F♯ bell so that a wider range of melodies can be played.

File:Chronik um 1370 Cgm 5 Folio 18r tones adjusted.jpg), circa 1370 A.D. Europeans developed chimes from wracks of small hammer-struck bells into large tower-mounted bells played with mechanized assistance.{{cite book |first=Sibyl |last=Marcuse |title=A Survey of Musical Instruments |publisher=Harper & Row |place=New York |date=1975 |entry= Bell chime|page=50}}]]

{{Main|Carillon#History|l1=History of the carillon|2=List of medieval musical instruments#Percussion|l2=List of medieval musical instruments}}

The chime and the carillon's histories are mostly identical up until their debut in North America. In the late 18th century, chimes of 10 to 20 bells played with a large keyboard became fashionable in France and Great Britain and by the mid-19th century, they had become equally desirable in the United States. Between 1850 and 1930, hundreds of chimes were installed in churches, town halls, and other towers. The chime was the forerunner to the carillon in North America; the earliest carillons were installed during World War I.

The early chime market in North America consisted of the Meneely bell foundries, both located on the Hudson River in upstate New York; McShane in Baltimore, Maryland; Van Duzen in Cincinnati, Ohio; Jones in Troy, New York; and Stuckstede in St. Louis, Missouri.{{cite journal |last=Tam |first=Tin-Shi |title=Bells and Carillons in North America, 1914–1918: The Evolution and Beyond |journal=The Bulletin |volume=66 |issue=1 |date=2017 |pages=23–33 |publisher=The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America |url=https://www.gcna.org/bulletin |format=PDF |access-date=2021-05-24 |url-access=subscription |oclc=998832003}} The Meneely foundries dominated the market; before both ceasing operations in the 1950s, they cast a combined total of more than 65,000 bells.

Chimes across the world are counted and registered by Tower Bells,{{Cite web |url=https://www.towerbells.org |title=Tower Bells |website=TowerBells.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009211133/https://www.towerbells.org/ |archive-date=9 October 2018}} among other bell instruments, which also publishes maps, technical specifications and statistics.{{cite web |title=More About Carillons and Other Tower Bell Instruments |website=TowerBells.org |url=http://www.towerbells.org/data/Data_Top.html |access-date=2021-05-04 |url-status=live |archive-date=2020-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126034723/http://towerbells.org/data/Data_Top.html}} According to TowerBells, there are over 1,300 existing chimes. They can be found on every continent except Antarctica; however, of the countries in which chimes can be found, only 16 have more than 10. The Netherlands and the United States account for over half of the world total. About 90 percent are located in either Western Europe or North America.

• The Altgeld Chimes in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Altgeld Hall.
• The Cornell Chimes in Cornell University's McGraw Tower.

{{Further|Index of campanology articles}}

• Change ringing
• Full circle ringing
• Russian Orthodox bell ringing

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{{Reflist}}

{{EB1911 poster|Chime}}

{{Bells}}

{{Musical keyboards}}

{{Percussion}}

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Category:Bells (percussion)

Category:Campanology

Category:Carillons

Category:Pitched percussion instruments