Editing Tubular bells

{{Short description|Mallet percussion instrument}}
{{use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{About||the Mike Oldfield album|Tubular Bells{{!}}''Tubular Bells''}}
{{For|other uses and particularly for similarly named instruments|Chime (disambiguation)}}
{{more citations needed|date=November 2012}}
{{Infobox instrument
| name           = Tubular bells
| names          = {{hlist|Chimes|orchestral chimes|orchestral bells|tubular chimes}}
| image          = Yamaha Deagan chimes (from LA Percussion Rentals).jpg
| image_capt     = A set of chimes made by [[Yamaha Corporation|Yamaha]]
| background     = percussion
| classification = [[Keyboard percussion]]
| hornbostel_sachs = 111.232
| hornbostel_sachs_desc = Sets of percussion tubes
| range          = C<sub>4</sub>–F<sub>5</sub> standard; extended range can include B{{flat}}<sub>3</sub>–G<sub>5</sub>, bass F<sub>3</sub>–B<sub>3</sub>, but can vary
| related        = 
| musicians      = 
| builders       = {{hlist|[[J.C. Deagan]]|[[Adams Musical Instruments|Adams]]|[[Yamaha Corporation|Yamaha]]|Jenco|[[Premier Percussion]]}}
| articles       = 
}}

[[File:Tubular bells - dusseldorf germany - 2014 12 27.webm|thumb|Tubular bells being played as part of a larger musical arrangement.]]
[[File:Adams Bass Chimes.jpg|thumb|right|Adams Bass Chimes, range F<sub>3</sub>–B<sub>3</sub>]]
'''Tubular bells''' (also known as '''chimes''') are [[musical instruments]] in the [[Percussion instrument|percussion]] family.<ref>The Study of Orchestration, 3rd, Ed., Samuel Adler, W. W. Norton & Co, Inc, (2002).</ref> Their sound resembles that of [[church bell]]s, [[carillon]]s, or a [[bell tower]]; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within an ensemble.<ref name=O>{{Cite Grove |last1 = Blades |first1 = James |last2 = Holland |first2 = James |author-link1 = James Blades |author-link2 = James Holland (percussionist)|date=2001-01-20 |title = Tubular bells [chimes, orchestral chimes] (Fr. ''cloches''; Ger. ''Glocken'', ''Röhrenglocken''; It. ''campane'', ''campanelle)'' |url = https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.28540}}</ref> Each [[bell (instrument)|bell]] is a metal tube, {{cvt|30|-|38|mm|in|frac=4}} in diameter, tuned by altering its length. Its standard range is C<sub>4</sub>–F<sub>5</sub>, though many professional instruments reach G<sub>5</sub>. 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 are sometimes struck on the top edge of the tube with a [[rawhide (textile)|rawhide]]- or plastic-headed hammer. Often, a [[sustain pedal]] will 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 a [[mark 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.<ref name=O/>

In tubular bells, modes 4, 5, and 6 appear to determine the strike tone and have frequencies in the ratios 9<sup>2</sup>:11<sup>2</sup>:13<sup>2</sup>, 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".<ref>{{cite book |author=Rossing |first=Thomas D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xqbNlVUsTU4C&dq=tubaphone&pg=PA74 |title=Science of Percussion Instruments |publisher=World Scientific |year=2000 |isbn=9789810241582 |location=Singapore |pages=68 |oclc=45679450}}</ref> 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:

[[File:Tubular-bells.JPG|thumb|right|Chimes/tubular bells]]
*[[Giuseppe Verdi]] – ''[[Rigoletto]]'' (1851)
*[[Giuseppe Verdi]] – ''[[Il trovatore]]'' (1853)
*[[Giuseppe Verdi]] – ''[[Un ballo in maschera]]'' (1859)
*[[Modest Mussorgsky]] – ''[[Boris Godunov (opera)|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 (Mahler)|Symphony No. 2]] (1895)
*[[Giacomo Puccini]] – ''[[Tosca]]'' (1900)
*[[Alexander Scriabin]] – ''[[The Poem of Ecstasy|Le Poème de l'extase]]'' (1908)
*[[Anton Webern]] – Six Pieces for large orchestra (1909–10, revised 1928)
*[[Claude Debussy]] – ''[[Ibéria (Debussy)|Ibéria]]'' (1910)
*[[Gustav Holst]] – ''[[The Planets]]'' (1914–16)
*[[Giacomo Puccini]] – ''[[Turandot]]'' (1926)
*[[Edgard Varèse]] – ''[[Ionisation (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 (Copland)|Symphony No. 3]] (1946)
*[[Olivier Messiaen]] – ''[[Turangalîla-Symphonie|Turangalîla-symphonie]]'' (1946–48)
*[[Carl Orff]] – ''[[Antigonae]]'' (1949)
*[[Dmitri Shostakovich]] – [[Symphony No. 11 (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-instrumentalist [[Mike Oldfield]] named his first album ''[[Tubular Bells]]'', best known for providing the musical theme to ''[[The Exorcist]]'' film (1973). At the beginning of his solo symphony recording project in 1972, Oldfield discovered a set of tubular bells at [[The Manor Studio]] in [[Oxfordshire]], England, and asked new owner [[Richard Branson]] for permission to use them. The chimes were played by Oldfield on parts of the album, and they supplied the album name. Branson's company [[Virgin Records]] benefitted tremendously as Oldfield's album sold millions of copies; this also contributed to Branson's personal wealth and industry leverage.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loudersound.com/news/mike-oldfield-on-tubular-bells-theres-been-nothing-like-it-before-or-since |title=Mike Oldfield on Tubular Bells: 'There's been nothing like it, before or since.' |last=Moon |first=Grant |date=25 May 2020 |website=Prog |access-date=21 April 2022}}</ref>

==Other uses==
Tubular bells can be used as church bells, such as at [[St. Alban's Church, Copenhagen|St. Alban's Anglican Church]] in [[Copenhagen]], Denmark.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.st-albans.dk/about-us/about-the-church-building/|title=About the Church Building|publisher=St. Alban's Church|access-date=21 September 2013}}</ref> These were donated by [[Charles, Prince of Wales]].

Tubular bells are also used in [[longcase clock]]s, particularly because they produce a louder sound than [[gong]]s and regular chime-rods and therefore could be heard more easily.

==See also==
* [[Bell plate]]
* [[Tubaphone]]
* [[Wind chime]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
*[https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Tubular_bells/Bells-Tubular_bells Information about tubular bells] – Vienna Symphonic Library

{{Bells}}
{{Percussion}}
{{Tube percussion idiophones}}
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[[Category:Bells (percussion)]]
[[Category:Keyboard percussion instruments]]
[[Category:Metal percussion instruments]]
[[Category:Orchestral percussion instruments]]
[[Category:Pitched percussion instruments]]
[[Category:Tube percussion idiophones]]
[[Category:Concert band instruments]]