mark tree

{{Short description|Musical instrument}}

{{Redirect|Bar chimes|the glockenspiel-like instrument|Chime bar|other similarly named instruments|Chime (disambiguation){{!}}Chime}}

File:Meinl_CH-12_Chimes.jpg|241x241px]]

A mark tree (also known as a nail tree, chime tree, or bar chimes) is a percussion instrument used primarily for musical color.{{Cite book |last=Libin |first=Laurence |title=The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-19-974339-1 |edition=Second |chapter=Mark tree |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199743391.001.0001}} It consists of many small chimes—typically cylinders of solid aluminum or brass tubing about 3/8" in diameter—of varying lengths, hung from a bar. They are played by sweeping a finger or stick through the length of the hanging chimes. They are typically mounted in pitch order to produce rising or falling glissandos. More expensive models may also have a damper bar. Unlike tubular bells, another form of chime, the chimes on a mark tree do not produce definite pitches.{{Cite book |last=Holland |first=James |author-link=James Holland (percussionist) |title=Practical Percussion: A Guide to the Instruments and Their Sources |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-4616-7063-6 |edition=Rev. |pages=35 |chapter=Mark tree |oclc=681550519}}{{Cite book |last=Beck |first=John H. |author-link=John H. Beck |title=Encyclopedia of Percussion |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-415971-23-2 |edition=2nd |pages=55 |chapter=Mark tree |oclc=939052116}}

The mark tree is named after its inventor, studio percussionist Mark Stevens, who devised it in 1967. When he could not come up with a name, percussionist Emil Richards named it after Stevens.{{Cite book |last=Strain |first=James Allen |url= |title=A Dictionary for the Modern Percussionist and Drummer |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-8108-8693-3 |page=118 |chapter=Mark Tree |oclc=974035735 |quote=}} Mark trees are colloquially called wind chimes in some modern repertoire. However, the mark tree and wind chimes are two separate instruments, differing in construction and manner of sounding.{{Cite book |last=Solomon |first=Samuel Z. |title=How to Write for Percussion: A Comprehensive Guide to Percussion Composition |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-19-992035-8 |edition=2nd |pages=166–170 |chapter=Metal Wind Chimes, Mark Tree, Bell Tree |oclc=936117814}}