![Bar chimes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Bar_chimes.JPG)
A chime bar or resonator bell
is a
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. Ex ...
consisting of a tuned metal bar similar to a
glockenspiel bar, with each bar mounted on its own wooden resonator.
Chime bars are played with
mallets again similar to a glockenspiel.
The sound is similar to a glockenspiel, but with much more sustain, similar in this respect to a
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...
but without the vibrato.
Chime bars can be arranged on a table to be played by a single player, or played by a group in a similar fashion to
handbell
A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle – traditionally made of leather, but often now made of plastic – and moves the arm to make the hinged cla ...
s, with each member holding a chime in one hand and a mallet in the other. They are used from professional music to classrooms.
See also
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Tubular bell
Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...
, also known as ''bar chime''
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Mark tree
A mark tree (also known as a nail tree, chime tree, or set of bar chimes) is a percussion instrument used primarily for musical colour. It consists of many small chimes—typically cylinders of solid aluminium or hollow brass tubing 3/8" in di ...
, also known as ''bar chimes''
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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. Ex ...
References
Idiophones
Pitched percussion instruments
{{Mallet-stub