A bell is a
directly struck idiophone percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong
strike tone The strike tone, strike note, or tap note, of a percussion instrument (e.g. bell, chime or gong) when struck, is the dominant note perceived immediately by the human ear. It is also known as the prime or fundamental note. However, an analysis of t ...
, with its sides forming an efficient
resonator
A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a resonator ...
. The strike may be made by an internal "clapper" or "uvula", an external hammer, or—in small bells—by a small loose sphere enclosed within the body of the bell (
jingle bell
A jingle bell or sleigh bell is a type of bell which produces a distinctive 'jingle' sound, especially in large numbers. They find use in many areas as a percussion instrument, including the classic sleigh bell sound and morris dancing. The ...
).
Bells are usually cast from
bell metal
Bell metal or bell bronze is an alloy used for making bells and related instruments, such as cymbals. It is a form of bronze with a higher tin content, usually in approximately a 4:1 ratio of copper to tin (typically, 78% copper, 22% tin by mas ...
(a type of
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
) for its resonant properties, but can also be made from other hard materials. This depends on the function. Some small bells such as ornamental bells or cowbells can be made from cast or pressed metal, glass or ceramic, but large bells such as a church, clock and tower bells are normally cast from bell metal.
Bells intended to be heard over a wide area can range from a single bell hung in a turret or
bell-gable
The bell gable ( es, espadaña, french: clocher-mur, it, campanile a vela) is an architectural element crowning the upper end of the wall of church buildings, usually in lieu of a church tower. It consists of a gable end in stone, with small ho ...
, to a musical ensemble such as an English
ring of bells
A "ring of bells" is the name bell ringers give to a set of bell (instrument), bells hung for English full circle ringing. The term "peal of bells" is often used, though peal also refers to a change ringing performance of more than about 5,000 ...
, a
carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...
or a Russian
zvon which are tuned to a common scale and installed in a
bell tower
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
. Many public or institutional buildings house bells, most commonly as
clock bells to sound the hours and quarters.
Historically, bells have been associated with religious rites, and are still used to call communities together for religious services. Later, bells were made to commemorate important events or people and have been associated with the concepts of peace and freedom. The study of bells is called
campanology
Campanology () is the scientific and musical study of bells. It encompasses the technology of bells – how they are founded, tuned and rung – as well as the history, methods, and traditions of bellringing as an art.
It is common to collect ...
.
Etymology
![13th-12th Cent](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/13th-12th_Cent._BC_Shang_Bronze_Bell.jpg)
''Bell'' is a word common to the
Low German
:
:
:
:
:
(70,000)
(30,000)
(8,000)
, familycolor = Indo-European
, fam2 = Germanic
, fam3 = West Germanic
, fam4 = North Sea Germanic
, ancestor = Old Saxon
, ancestor2 = Middle L ...
dialects, cognate with
Middle Low German
Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...
and
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
but not appearing among the other
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...
except the
Icelandic which was a loanword from
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
.
It is popularly but not certainly
related to the former sense of ''to bell'' ( ang, bellan, 'to roar, to make a loud noise') which gave rise to ''
bellow''.
History
![Bianzhong](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Bianzhong.jpg)
The earliest archaeological evidence of bells dates from the 3rd millennium BC, and is traced to the
Yangshao culture
The Yangshao culture (仰韶文化, pinyin: Yǎngsháo wénhuà) was a Neolithic culture that existed extensively along the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China from around 5000 BC to 3000 BC. The culture is named after the Yangsh ...
of
Neolithic China
This is a list of Neolithic cultures of China that have been unearthed by archaeologists. They are sorted in chronological order from earliest to latest and are followed by a schematic visualization of these cultures.
It would seem that the defin ...
. Clapper-bells made of pottery have been found in several archaeological sites. The pottery bells later developed into metal bells. In West Asia, the first bells appear in 1000 BC. The earliest metal bells, with one found in the
Taosi
Taosi () is an archaeological site in Xiangfen County, Shanxi, China. Taosi is considered to be part of the late phase of the Longshan culture in southern Shanxi, also known as the Taosi phase (2300 BC to 1900 BC).
Archaeology
Taosi was surrounde ...
site and four in the
Erlitou
The Erlitou culture was an early Bronze Age urban society and archaeological culture that existed in the Yellow River valley from approximately 1900 to 1500 BC. A 2007 study of radiocarbon dating proposed a narrower date range of 1750 to 1530 B ...
site, are dated to about 2000 BC. With the emergence of other kinds of bells during the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1050 BC), they were relegated to subservient functions; at Shang and
Zhou sites, they are also found as part of the horse-and-chariot gear and as collar-bells of dogs. By the 13th century BC, bells weighing over 150 kg were being cast in China. After 1000 AD, iron became the most commonly used metal for bells instead of bronze. The earliest dated iron bell was manufactured in 1079, found in
Hubei Province
Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...
.
Bells west of China did not reach the same size until the 2nd millennium AD. Assyrian bells dated to the 7th century BC were around 4 inches high. Roman bells dated to the 1st and 2nd century AD were around 8 inches high. The
book of Exodus
The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through t ...
in the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
notes that small gold bells were worn as ornaments on the hem of the robe of the
high priest
The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste.
Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rever ...
in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
.
Among the
ancient Greeks
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cultu ...
, handbells were used in camps and garrisons and by patrols that went around to visit sentinels. Among the Romans, the hour of bathing was announced by a bell. They also used them in the home, as an ornament and emblem, and bells were placed around the necks of cattle and sheep so they could be found if they strayed. As late as the 10th century AD, European bells were no higher than 2 feet in height.
See also
Klang Bell (Malaysia, 2 c. BC) of the British Museum collection.
Styles of ringing
![St Bees bells in up position](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/St_Bees_bells_in_up_position.jpg)
In the
western world
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. , the common form of bell is a
church bell
A church bell in Christian architecture is a bell which is rung in a church for a variety of religious purposes, and can be heard outside the building. Traditionally they are used to call worshippers to the church for a communal service, and t ...
or town bell, which is hung within a tower or bell cote. Such bells are either fixed in a static position ("hung dead") or mounted on a beam (the "headstock") so they can swing to and fro. Bells that are hung dead are normally sounded by hitting the sound bow with a hammer or occasionally by pulling an internal clapper against the bell.
Where a bell is swung, it can either be swung over a small arc by a rope and lever or by using a rope on a wheel to swing the bell higher. As the bell swings higher the sound is projected outwards rather than downwards. Larger bells may be swung using electric motors. In some places, such as the
Salzburg Cathedral
, native_name_lang =
, image = Salzburg Cathedral 1.jpg
, imagesize =
, imagelink =
, imagealt =
, landscape =
, caption =
, pushpin map ...
, the clapper is held against the sound bow with an electric clasp as the bell swings up. The clasp would release the clapper to provide a cleaner start to ringing. To silence the bell, the clasp catches and locks the clapper back in place.
Bells hung for
full circle ringing
Full circle ringing is a technique of ringing a tower bell such that it swings in a complete circle from mouth upwards to mouth upwards and then back again repetitively.
Technique
Full-circle tower bell ringing in England developed in the ea ...
are swung through just over a complete circle from mouth uppermost. A stay (the wooden pole seen sticking up when the bells are down) engages a mechanism to allow the bell to rest just past its balance point. The rope is attached to one side of a wheel so that a different amount of rope is wound on and off as it swings to and fro. The bells are controlled by ringers (one to a bell) in a chamber below, who rotate the bell to through a full circle and back, and control the speed of oscillation when the bell is mouth upwards at the balance-point when little effort is required.
Swinging bells are sounded by an internal clapper. The clapper may have a longer period of swing than the bell. In this case, the bell will catch up with the clapper and if rung to or near full circle will carry the clapper up on the bell's trailing side. Alternatively, the clapper may have a shorter period and catch up with the bell's leading side, travel up with the bell coming to rest on the downhill side. This latter method is used in English style full circle ringing.
Occasionally the clappers have leather pads (called ''muffles'') strapped around them to quieten the bells when practice ringing to avoid annoying the neighbourhood. Also at funerals, ''half-muffles'' are often used to give a full open sound on one round, and a muffled sound on the alternate round for a distinctive, mournful effect. This was done at the
Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales
The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, started on Saturday 6 September 1997 at 9:08am in London, when the tenor bell of Westminster Abbey started tolling to signal the departure of the cortège from Kensington Palace. The coffin was carried ...
in 1997.
A
carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...
, which is a musical instrument consisting of at least 23 cast bronze cup-shaped bells, is tuned so that the bells can be played serially to produce a melody, or sounded together to play a chord. A traditional carillon is played by striking a baton keyboard with the fists, and by pressing the keys of a pedal keyboard with the feet. The keys mechanically activate levers and wires that connect to metal clappers that strike the inside of the bells, allowing the performer to vary the intensity of the note according to the force applied to the key.
Church and temple bells
In the
Eastern world
The Eastern world, also known as the East or historically the Orient, is an umbrella term for various cultures or social structures, nations and philosophical systems, which vary depending on the context. It most often includes at least pa ...
, the traditional forms of bells are temple and palace bells, small ones being rung by a sharp rap with a stick, and very large ones rung by a blow from the outside by a large swinging beam. (See images of the great bell of
Mii-dera
, formally called , is a Buddhist temple in Japan located at the foot of Mount Hiei, in the city of Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture. It is a short distance from both Kyoto, and Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. The head temple of the Jimon sect ...
below.)
The striking technique is employed worldwide for some of the largest tower-borne bells because swinging the bells themselves could damage their towers.
In the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and among some High
Lutherans
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
and
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
s, small hand-held bells, called
Sanctus
The Sanctus ( la, Sanctus, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the ''epinikios hymnos'' ( el, ἐπινίκιος ὕμνος, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition.
In Western Christianity, the ...
or
sacring bells, are often rung by a server at Mass when the priest holds high up first the host and then the chalice immediately after he has said the words of consecration over them (the moment known as the
Elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
). This serves to indicate to the congregation that the bread and wine have just been transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ (see
transubstantiation
Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of th ...
), or, in the alternative
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
teaching, that Christ is now bodily present in the elements, and that what the priest is holding up for them to look at is Christ himself (see
consubstantiation
Consubstantiation is a Christian theological doctrine that (like transubstantiation) describes the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It holds that during the sacrament, the substance of the body and blood of Christ are present alongside ...
).
In
Russian Orthodox bell ringing
Russian Orthodox bell ringing has a history starting from the baptism of Rus in 988 and plays an important role in the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Theology
The ringing of bells is one of the most essential elements of an Orthodox ...
, the entire bell never moves, only the clapper. A complex system of ropes is developed and used uniquely for every bell tower. Some ropes (the smaller ones) are played by hand, the bigger ropes are played by foot.
Bells in Japanese religion
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese
Shinto
Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...
ist and
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
bells are used in religious ceremonies. ''
Suzui'', a homophone meaning both "cool" and "refreshing", are spherical bells which contain metal pellets that produce sound from the inside. The hemispherical bell is the ''
Kane'' bell, which is struck on the outside. Large suspended temple bells are known as ''
bonshō
, also known as or are large bells found in Buddhist temples throughout Japan, used to summon the monks to prayer and to demarcate periods of time. Rather than containing a clapper, are struck from the outside, using either a handheld mall ...
''. (See also
:ja:鈴,
:ja:梵鐘).
Bells in Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism
Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
,
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
and
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
bells, called ''"
Ghanta
Ghanta (Sanskrit: घण्टा, IAST: ghaṇṭā; Tibetan: drilbu) is the Sanskrit term for a ritual bell used in Hinduistic religious practices. The ringing of the bell produces what is regarded as an auspicious sound. Hindu temples genera ...
"'' (IAST: Ghaṇṭā) in Sanskrit, are used in religious ceremonies. See also
singing bowls
A standing bell or resting bell is an inverted bell, supported from below with the rim uppermost. Such bells are normally bowl-shaped, and exist in a wide range of sizes, from a few centimetres to a metre in diameter. They are often played by st ...
. A bell hangs at the gate of many
Hindu temple
A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian languages, is a house, seat and body of divinity for Hindus. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion.; Quote: "The Hind ...
s and is rung at the moment one enters the temple.
File:RyoanJi-Kane.jpg, Japanese temple bell of the Ryōanji Temple, Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
File:Bell Simoda 1856.jpg, "Bell house at Shimoda" in Japan
File:Big bell. Rewalsar.jpg, Buddhist bell, Rewalsar, India
File:Bell Patan Durbar Square Mangal Bazaar Patan Lalitpur Nepal Rajesh Dhungana (3).jpg, Bell of Taleju Bhawani temple (Patan Durbar Square
Patan Durbar Square is situated at the centre of the city of Lalitpur in Nepal. It is one of the three Durbar Squares in the Kathmandu Valley, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. One of its attractions is the ancient royal palace wher ...
, Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
Bellfounding
The process of casting bells is called
bellfounding
Bellfounding is the casting and tuning of large bronze bells in a foundry for use such as in churches, clock towers and public buildings, either to signify the time or an event, or as a musical carillon or chime. Large bells are made by casting ...
, and in Europe dates to the 4th or 5th century. The traditional metal for these bells is a
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
of about 23%
tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
. Known as ''
bell metal
Bell metal or bell bronze is an alloy used for making bells and related instruments, such as cymbals. It is a form of bronze with a higher tin content, usually in approximately a 4:1 ratio of copper to tin (typically, 78% copper, 22% tin by mas ...
'', this alloy is also the
traditional alloy for the finest Turkish and Chinese
cymbal
A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...
s. Other materials sometimes used for large bells include
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...
and
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
. Steel was tried during the busy church-building period of mid-19th-century England, because it was more economical than bronze, but was found not to be durable and manufacture ceased in the 1870s.
Casting
Small bells were originally made with the
lost wax process
Lost-wax casting (also called "investment casting", "precision casting", or ''cire perdue'' which has been adopted into English from the French, ) is the process by which a duplicate metal sculpture (often silver, gold, brass, or bronze) i ...
but large bells are cast mouth downwards by filling the air space in a two-part mould with molten metal. Such a mould has an outer section clamped to a base-plate on which an inner core has been constructed.
The core is built on the base-plate using porous materials such as
coke or brick and then covered in
loam
Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...
well mixed with straw and horse manure. This is given a profile corresponding to the inside shape of the finished bell and dried with gentle heat.
Graphite
Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on large ...
and
whiting are applied to form the final, smooth surface.
The outside of the mould is made within a perforated cast-iron case, larger than the finished bell, containing the loam mixture which is shaped, dried and smoothed in the same way as the core. The case is inverted (mouth down), lowered over the core and clamped to the base plate. The clamped mould is supported, usually by being buried in a ''casting pit'' to bear the weight of metal and to allow even cooling.
Historically, before rail or road transport of large bells was possible, a "bell pit" was often dug in the grounds of the building where the bell was to be installed. Molten bell metal is poured into the mould through a box lined with
foundry sand Molding sand, also known as foundry sand, is a sand that when moistened and compressed or oiled or heated tends to pack well and hold its shape. It is used in the process of sand casting for preparing the mold cavity.
Green sand
Green sand is an a ...
. The founder would bring his casting tools to the site, and a furnace would be built next to the pit.
Bell tuning
![Erfurt Bell](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Erfurt_Bell.png)
Large bells are generally around 80% copper and 20% tin (
bell metal
Bell metal or bell bronze is an alloy used for making bells and related instruments, such as cymbals. It is a form of bronze with a higher tin content, usually in approximately a 4:1 ratio of copper to tin (typically, 78% copper, 22% tin by mas ...
), which has been found empirically to give the most pleasant tone. However, the tone of a bell is mostly due to its shape. A bell is regarded as having a good tone when it's "in tune with itself". In western bell founding, this is known as "harmonic tuning" of a bell, which results in the bell's strongest harmonics being in harmony with each other and the strike note. This produces the brightest and purest sound, which is the attractive sound of a good bell. A huge amount of effort has been expended over the centuries in finding the shape which will produce the harmonically tuned bell.
The accompanying musical staves show the series of harmonics which are generated when a bell is struck. The
Erfurt bell
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits in ...
is notable that it although it is an old bell, it is harmonically tuned, but was not typical of its time.
Pieter and François Hemony
Pieter Hemony (born Pierre Hemony; 161920 February 1680) and his brother François Hemony (24 May 1667) were the greatest bellfounders in the history of the Low Countries. They developed the carillon, in collaboration with Jacob van Eyck, ...
in the 17th century reliably cast many bells for carillons of unequalled quality of tuning for the time, but after their death, their guarded trade secrets were lost, and not until the 19th century were bells of comparable tuning quality cast. It was only in modern times that repeatable harmonic tuning using a known scientific basis was achieved. The main partials (or harmonics) of a well-tuned bell are:
* hum note (an octave below the named note)
* strike tone (also called tap note or named note)
* tierce (a minor third above named note)
* quint (a fifth above named note)
* nominal (an octave above named note)
Further, less-audible, harmonics include the major third and a perfect fifth in the second octave above the named note.
This quest by various founders over centuries of bell founding has resulted in the development of an optimum profile for casting each size of a bell to give true harmonic tuning. Although bells are cast to accurate patterns, variations in casting mean that a final tuning is necessary as the shape of the bell is critical in producing the desired strike note and associated harmonics. Tuning is undertaken by clamping the bell on a large rotating table and using a cutting tool to remove metal. This is an iterative process in which metal is removed from certain parts of the bell to change certain harmonics. This process was made possible historically by the use of tuning forks to find sympathetic resonance on specific parts of a bell for the harmonic being tuned, but today electronic
strobe tuners are normally used. To tune the strike note, the nominal or the strike note are tuned; the effect is usually the same because the nominal is one of the main partials that determines the tone of the strike note. The thickness of a church bell at its thickest part, called the "sound bow", is usually one thirteenth its diameter. If the bell is mounted as cast, it is called a "maiden bell".
Major third bell
The traditional harmonically tuned bell has a minor third as a main harmonic. On the theory that western music in major keys may sound better on bells with a major third as a harmonic, production of bells with major thirds was attempted in the 1980s. Scientists at the Technical University in Eindhoven, using computer modelling, produced bell profiles which were cast by the Eijsbouts Bellfoundry in the Netherlands. They were described as resembling old Coke bottles in that they had a bulge around the middle;
In 1999 a design without the bulge was announced. However, the major bell concept has found little favour, and minor third bells are almost universally cast today.
Use in clock chimes
![Big Ben 2001-06-27](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Big_Ben_2001-06-27.jpg)
Bells are also associated with
clock
A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...
s, indicating the hour by the striking of bells. Indeed, the word ''clock'' comes from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word ''Cloca'', meaning ''bell''. Bells in clock towers or
bell tower
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
s can be heard over long distances, which was especially important in the time when clocks were too expensive for widespread use.
In the case of clock towers and grandfather clocks, a particular sequence of tones may be played to distinguish between the hour, half-hour, quarter-hour, or other intervals. One common pattern is called "
Westminster Quarters
The Westminster Quarters, from its use at the Palace of Westminster, is a melody used by a set of four quarter bells to mark each quarter-hour. It is also known as the Westminster Chimes, Cambridge Quarters or Cambridge Chimes from its place of ...
," a sixteen-note pattern named after the
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...
which popularized it as the measure used by
Big Ben
Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The officia ...
.
Notable bells
![Tsar Kolokol with humans for perspective](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Tsar_Kolokol_with_humans_for_perspective.JPG)
![CologneCathedralBell02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/CologneCathedralBell02.jpg)
*The
Great Bell of Dhammazedi
The Great Bell of Dhammazedi ( my, ဓမ္မစေတီခေါင်းလောင်းကြီး ) was a bronze bell, believed to be the largest bell ever cast. It was cast on 5 February 1484 by order of King Dhammazedi of Hanthawad ...
(1484) may have been the largest bell ever made. It was lost in a river in
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
after being removed from a temple by the
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
in 1608. It is reported to have weighed about .
*The
Tsar Bell
The Tsar Bell (russian: Царь–колокол; ), also known as the Tsarsky Kolokol, Tsar Kolokol III, or Royal Bell, is a , bell on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin. The bell was commissioned by Empress Anna Ivanovna, niece of ...
by the
Motorin Bellfounders is the largest bell still in existence. It weighs , but it was never rung and broke in 1737. It is on display in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, Russia, inside the
Kremlin
The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...
.
*The Great
Mingun Bell
The Mingun Bell ( my-Mymr, မင်းကွန်းခေါင်းလောင်းတော်ကြီး ) is a bell located in Mingun, Sagaing Region, Myanmar. It is located approximately north of Mandalay on the western bank of the ...
is the largest functioning bell. It is located in
Mingun
Mingun ( ) is a town in Sagaing Township of Sagaing Region, north-west Myanmar (Burma), located 11 km up the Ayeyarwady River on the west bank from Mandalay. Its main attraction is the ruined Mingun Pahtodawgyi.
Mingun Pahtodawgyi
The Ming ...
,
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, and weighs .
* The Gotenba Bell is the largest functioning swinging bell, weighing . It is located in a tourist resort in
Gotenba
is a city on the southeastern flank of Mount Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 88,370 in 36,096 households, and a population density of 450 persons per km². The total area of the city is .
Geogra ...
, Japan. Hung in a freestanding frame, it is rung by hand. It was cast by
Eijsbouts
Royal Eijsbouts ( nl, Koninklijke Eijsbouts) is a bell foundry located in Asten, Netherlands.
The workshop was founded in 1872 by Bonaventura Eijsbouts as a "factory for tower clocks." In 1893 Eijsbouts was joined by his 15-year-old son, Johan ...
in 2006.
*The
World Peace Bell
The World Peace Bell Association (WPBA) is a Japanese organisation which attempts to raise awareness of the World peace movement by casting and installing Japanese temple bells in locations around the world.
The association was effectively beg ...
was the largest functioning swinging bell until 2006. It is located in
Newport, Kentucky,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, and was cast by the
Paccard Foundry of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. The bell itself weighs ; with clapper and supports, the total weight which swings when the bell is rung is .
*The largest Bell of the
People's Salvation Cathedral
The People's Salvation Cathedral ( ro, Catedrala Mântuirii Neamului), also known as the National Cathedral ( ro, Catedrala Națională, link=no), is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral under construction in Bucharest to serve as the patriarchal cathe ...
is the largest free-swinging church bell in the world, surpassing the
Petersglocke
(; en, Saint Peter's bell, link=no), referred to in the Colognian dialect as or () and in common parlance as Dicker Pitter (; i.e. "Fat or Big Peter"), is the largest bell in Cologne Cathedral. It was cast in 1923 by Heinrich Ulrich in Ap ...
of
Cologne Cathedral
Cologne Cathedral (german: Kölner Dom, officially ', English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of ...
. Weighing more than 25 tons, it was cast by the
Grassmayr Bell Foundry
The Grassmayr Bell Foundry is a maker of church bells founded more than 400 years ago in Innsbruck, Austria. The business was founded by Bartlmä Grassmayr in Habichen, a hamlet in the municipality of Oetz. At present, the company is Austria's ...
on the 11th of November 2016 and has a height of 3,130 mm, thickness of 273 mm.
* The
Bell of King Seongdeok
The Bell of King Seongdeok is a large bronze bell, the largest extant bell in Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democrati ...
is the largest extant bell in
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
. The full Korean name means "Sacred Bell of King Seongdeok the Great." It was also known as the Bell of Bongdeoksa Temple, where it was first housed. The bell weighs about 25 tons and was originally cast in 771 CE. It is now stored in the National Museum of Gyeongju.
*
Pummerin
Pummerin is the name of the bell in the Stephansdom, St. Stephen's Cathedral, in Vienna.
Old Pummerin ''(Josephinische Glocke)''
The Old Pummerin was originally cast in 1705 from 208 of the 300 cannons captured from the Muslim invaders in ...
in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
's
Stephansdom
St. Stephen's Cathedral (german: Stephansdom) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, OP. The current Romanesque and Gothic form of the cathedral, ...
is the most famous bell in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and the fifth largest in the world.
*The St. Petersglocke, in the Colognian language, local dialect of Cologne also called ' ("fat Peter", ), is a bell in Germany's
Cologne Cathedral
Cologne Cathedral (german: Kölner Dom, officially ', English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of ...
. It weighs 24 tons and was cast in 1922. It is the largest functioning free-swinging bell in the world that swings from its top. (The Gotenba Bell and the World Peace Bell swing around their center of gravity, which is more like turning than swinging. So, depending on the point of view, the St. Petersglocke may be considered the largest free-swinging bell in the world.)
*Maria Dolens, the bell for the Fallen in Rovereto (Italy) weighs 22.6 tons.
*The South West tower of St Paul's Cathedral in London, England, houses Great Paul, the second largest bell at 16.5 tons in the British Isles. One can hear Great Paul booming out over Ludgate Hill at 1300 every day.
* The Olympic Bell, commissioned and cast for the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 London Olympic Games, is the largest harmonically-tuned bell in the world.
*Big Ben is the fourth-largest bell in the British Isles, after The Olympic Bell (used at the opening of the 2012 Olympic Games), Great Paul (St Paul's Cathedral, City of London) and Great George (Liverpool Cathedral). Big Ben is the hour bell of the Great Clock in the Elizabeth Tower (formerly called the Clock Tower) at the
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...
, the Houses of Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament.
*The Dom Tower in the city of Utrecht, the Netherlands, houses the Salvator, weighing 8.2 tons and cast in 1505 by Geert van Wou.
*Great Tom (bell), Great Tom is the bell that hangs in Tom Tower (designed by Christopher Wren) of Christ Church, Oxford, Christ Church, Oxford. It was cast in 1680 and weighs over 6 tons. Great Tom is still rung 101 times at 21:05 every night to signify the 101 original scholars of the college.
*The Liberty Bell is a
United States, American bell of great historic significance, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It previously hung in Independence Hall (United States), Independence Hall.
*Sigismund (bell), Sigismund is a 12 tonne bell in the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland, cast in 1520. It is rung only on very significant national occasions.
*The Maria Gloriosa in Erfurt Cathedral, Germany was cast by Geert van Wou in 1497, weighs more than 12,500 kg (13 tons) and is the world's largest medieval free-swinging bell.
*The Lutine Bell, is the ship's bell of the wrecked French frigate Lutine (1779), HMS ''Lutine'', weighs and bears the inscription "ST. JEAN – 1779". It rests in Lloyd's of London Underwriting Room where it used to be struck when news of an overdue ship arrived—once for the loss of a ship (i.e., bad news, last in 1979), and twice for her return (i.e., good news, last in 1989).
*The tenor (heaviest bell) of the Liverpool Cathedral#Bells, change-ringing peal at Liverpool Cathedral is the heaviest bell hung for Change ringing, full-circle ringing.
Usage as musical instruments
![Bienenkorbglocke](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Bienenkorbglocke.jpg)
Some bells are used as musical instruments, such as
carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...
s, (clock) chime (bell instrument), chimes, agogô, or ensembles of bell-players, called bell choirs, using hand-held bells of varying tones. A "ring of bells" is a set of four to twelve or more bells used in change ringing, a particular method of ringing bells in patterns. A peal in changing ringing may have bells playing for several hours, playing 5,000 or more patterns without a break or repetition. They have also been used in many kinds of popular music, such as in AC/DC's "Hells Bells (song), Hells Bells" and Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls (Metallica song), For Whom the Bell Tolls".
Ancient Chinese bells
![VM 4721 Hubei Provincial Museum - bronze zheng bell](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/VM_4721_Hubei_Provincial_Museum_-_bronze_zheng_bell.jpg)
The ancient Chinese bronze chime bells called bianzhong o
zhong / zeng(鐘) were used as polyphonic musical instruments and some have been dated at between 2000 and 3600 years old. Tuned bells have been created and used for musical performance in many cultures but ''Zhong'' are unique among all other types of cast bells in several respects and they rank among the highest achievements of Chinese bronze casting technology. However, the remarkable secret of their design and the method of casting—known only to the Chinese in antiquity—was lost in later generations and was not fully rediscovered and understood until the 20th century.
In 1978 a complete ceremonial set of 65 ''Zhong'' bells was found in a near-perfect state of preservation during the excavation of th
of Marquis Yi, ruler of State of Zeng, Zeng, one of the Warring States. Their special shape gives them the ability to produc
two different musical tones depending on where they are struck. The interval between these notes on each bell is either a major third, major or minor third, equivalent to a distance of four or five notes on a piano.
The bells of Marquis Yi—which were still fully playable after almost 2500 years—cover a range of slightly less than five octaves but thanks to their dual-tone capability, the set can sound a complete 12-tone scale—predating the development of the European 12-tone system by some 2000 years—and can play melodies in diatonic and pentatonic scales.
Another related ancient Chinese musical instrument is called Bianqing, qing
磬pinyin qìng) but it was made of stone instead of metal.
In more recent times, the top of bells in China was usually decorated with a small dragon, known as ''pulao (dragon), pulao''; the figure of the dragon served as a hook for hanging the bell.
Konguro'o
Konguro'o is a small bell which, like the Djalaajyn, was first used for utilitarian purposes and only later for artistic ones. Konguro'o rang when moving to new places. They were fastened to the horse harnesses and created a very specific "smart" sound background. Konguro'o also hung on the neck of the leader goat, which the sheep herd followed. This led to the association in folk memory between the distinctive sound of konguro'o and the nomadic way of life.
To make this instrument, Kyrgyz people, Kyrgyz foremen used copper, bronze, iron and brass. They also decorated it with artistic carving and covered it with silver. Sizes of the instruments might vary within certain limits, what depended on its function. Every bell had its own timbre.
Chimes
A variant on the bell is the tubular bell. Several of these metal tubes which are struck manually with hammers, form an instrument named ''tubular bells'' or ''chimes''. In the case of wind or aeolian chimes, the tubes are blown against one another by the wind.
Lithuanian Skrabalai
The skrabalai is a traditional folk instrument in Lithuania which consists of wooden bells of various sizes hanging in several vertical rows with one or two wooden or metal small clappers hanging inside them. It is played with two wooden sticks. When the skrabalai is moved a clapper knocks at the wall of the trough. The pitch of the sound depends on the size of the wooden trough. The instrument developed from wooden cowbells that shepherds would tie to cows' necks.
Farm bells
Whereas the church and temple bells called to mass (liturgy), mass or religious service, bells were used on farms for more secular signalling. The greater farms in Scandinavia usually had a small bell-tower resting on the top of the barn. The bell was used to call the workers from the field at the end of the day's work.
![Glasgow deid bell](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Glasgow_deid_bell.jpg)
In folk tradition, it is recorded that each church and possibly several farms had their specific rhymes connected to the sound of the specific bells. An example is the Pete Seeger and Idris Davies song "The Bells of Rhymney".
Dead bell
In Scotland, up until the nineteenth century, it was the tradition to ring a dead bell, a form of handbell, at the death of an individual and at the funeral.
Bell study and ringing organisations
The following organizations promote the ringing, study, music, collection, preservation and restoration of bells. Nation(s) covered are given in parenthesis.
*American Bell Association International, The American Bell Association International (United States with foreign chapters)
*The Australian and New Zealand Association of Bellringers (Australia, New Zealand)
*Beratungsausschuss für das Deutsche Glockenwesen (Germany)
*Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (worldwide) - promotes English style full circle change ringing
*Handbell Musicians of America (United States) - formerly known as The American Guild of English Handbell Ringers (AGEHR)
*Handbell Ringers of Great Britain (United Kingdom)
*Société Française de Campanologie (France)
*Associazione Italiana di Campanologia (Italy) - http://campanologia.org/
*Verband Deutscher Glockengießereien e.V. (Germany)
*Lietuvos kampanologų draugija "Societas campanarum Lituaniae" (Lithuania)
*World Carillon Federation (multinational) - an international association of independent national or regional societies, https://www.carillon.org
**Association Campanaire Wallonne asbl (Belgium/Wallonia) - http://www.campano.be/
**British Carillon Society (Great Britain, Ireland, Northern Ireland) - https://www.britishcarillons.org
**Carillon Society of Australia (Australia) - http://www.carillon.org.au/
**Confraria de Campaners i Carillonistes de Catalunya (Catalonia) - http://campanes.cat/
**Deutsche Glockenspiel Vereinigung (Germany) - https://glockenspieler.de/
**The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (Canada, Mexico, United States) - https://www.gcna.org
**Guilde des Carillonneurs de France (France) - http://www.carillonneurs.fr/
**Guilde des Carillonneurs et Campanologues Suisses (Switzerland) - http://www.campanae.ch/
**Associazione Suonatori di Campane a Sistema Veronese (Italy) - https://www.campanesistemaveronese.it/
**Koninklijke Nederlandse Klokkenspel-Vereniging (The Netherlands) - https://www.klokkenspel.org/
**Lithuanian Carillonist Guild (Lithuania) - https://web.archive.org/web/20180911185748/http://www.carillon.lt/ last archived on 11 Sep 2018
**Nordisk Selskap for Campanologi og Klokkespil (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland) - https://www.nsck.org/
**Polskie Stowarzyszenie Carillonowe (Poland) - https://web.archive.org/web/20171101132723/http://www.carillon.pl/ last archived on 1 Nov 2017
**Russian Carillon Foundation (Russia)
**Vlaamse Beiaard Vereniging (Belgium/Flanders) - https://www.beiaard.org/
Gallery
File:Temple bell and clapper. Banna-ji. Ashikaga, Togichi.jpg, Temple bell and clapper. Banna-ji. Japan.
Image:Bell, Mingun, Myanmar.jpg, Mingun Bell
The Mingun Bell ( my-Mymr, မင်းကွန်းခေါင်းလောင်းတော်ကြီး ) is a bell located in Mingun, Sagaing Region, Myanmar. It is located approximately north of Mandalay on the western bank of the ...
weighs 55,555 viss, or 90 tonnes.
Image:Libertybell alone small.jpg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia's Liberty Bell.
Image:ZygmuntDzwon.JPG, The Sigismund (bell), Zygmunt (Sigismund) Bell (from 1520) in Kraków, Poland.
Image:WorldPeaceBell-Kentucky.jpg, The World Peace Bell in Kentucky.
Image:Jingyun Bell.JPG, Bronze jingyun bell cast in the year 711 AD, Xi'an.
Image:Wuhanbells.jpg, Chinese bells from the ancient Warring States, Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuhan, China.
Image:StUlrichGlocken13.JPG, St. Ulrich, Memmingen
File:Yongle Bell 01.jpg, Yongle Bell
File:Changchun-Temple-TaiQingDian-Bell-0306.jpg, A bell in Chang Chun Temple, Wuhan, hanging on its ''pulao (dragon), pulao''
File:St Cuileain Bell.JPG, Bell Shrine of St. Cuileáin, St Cuileain's Bell from Ireland, 7th-8th Century AD (British Museum)
File:PK - Bell with Saints Peter, Paul, John, and Thomas - Walters 5479 - View B.jpg, Bronze bell from the second half of the fourteenth century, depicting Saints Peter, Paul, John the Evangelist, and Thomas.
File:Glendale-Fire Bell-1912.jpg, Fire Bell, Glendale, Arizona, Glendale, Arizona.
File:Chikanobu The Giant Bell.jpg, The bell as depicted in fine art: This triptych depicts Benkei carrying the giant bell of Mii-dera
, formally called , is a Buddhist temple in Japan located at the foot of Mount Hiei, in the city of Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture. It is a short distance from both Kyoto, and Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. The head temple of the Jimon sect ...
Buddhist temple up Hei-zan Mountain. – Chikanobu Toyohara, c. 1890.
File:Miidera-no-bansho-M2075.jpg, This bell is called ''Mii-dera no Bansho'' (三井寺の晩鐘), the evening bell at Mii-dera
, formally called , is a Buddhist temple in Japan located at the foot of Mount Hiei, in the city of Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture. It is a short distance from both Kyoto, and Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. The head temple of the Jimon sect ...
, a Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
temple in Ōtsu, Shiga, Otsu, which is near Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. This image shows the hanging wooden beam positioned to strike the outer side of the resonating surface.
See also
* American Bell Association International
* Bell hanger
* Bellhop
* Bicycle bell
* Bermuda carriage bell
* Cat bell
* Cowbell
* Doorbell
* Division bell
* Electric bell
* Electronic tuners, used to tune bells
* Glockenspiel
* Handbell
* John Taylor & Co, John Taylor Bellfounders
* School bell
* Ship's bell
* Suzu (bell), Suzu
* Train bell
* Veronese bellringing art
* Whitechapel Bell Foundry
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Fadul, Jose A. ''Fadul's Encyclopedia of Bells''. 2015. Lulu Press.
* James Murdoch (Scottish journalist), Murdoch, James. (1903)
''A History of Japan.''London: Paul, Trech, Trubner. [re-issued by Routledge, London, 1996.
* Richard Ponsonby-Fane, Ponsonby-Fane, Richard A. B. (1956). ''Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794–1869.'' Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society.
*Spencer, Ann ''"And round me rings": bell tales and folklore''. Toronto: Tundra, 2003
*
* Willis, Stephen Charles. ''Bells through the Ages: from the Percival Price Collection'' = ''Les Cloches à travers les siècles: provenant du fonds Percival Price''. Ottawa: National Library of Canada, 1986. 34 p., ill. with b&w photos. ''N.B''.: Prepared on the occasion of an exhibition of the same title, based on the collection of bell and carillon related material and documentation, of former Dominion Carillonneur (of Canadian Parliament, Ottawa), Percival Price, held at the National Library of Canada (as then named), 12 May to 14 Sept. 1986; some copies come with the guide to the taped dubbings of the recordings played as background music to the displays, as technically prepared by Gilles Saint-Laurent and listed by Stephen Charles Willis, both of the library's Music Division; English and French texts respectively divided into upper and lower portions of each page.
External links
*
Tower BellsBell recordings of the Basque Country* [https://washingtonringingsociety.org/galleries/animations Animation of English Full-circle ringing]
Videos of the London Olympic bell being cast, tuned and installed.
Articles containing video clips
Asian percussion instruments
Bells (percussion),
Campanology
Chinese inventions
European percussion instruments
Hand percussion
Idiophones struck directly
Kyrgyz musical instruments
Percussion instruments used as both pitched and unpitched
{{Portal bar, Music