View source for 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 usually struck on the top edges of the tubes with a [[rawhide (textile)|rawhide]]- or plastic-headed hammer. A [[sustain pedal]] may be attached to the instrument to allow damping and un-damping of all the bells at once. Very loud high-pitched overtones can be produced by vibrating the bottoms of the tubes with a violin bow.

The tubes provide a purer tone than solid cylindrical chimes, such as those on a [[mark tree]].

Chimes are often called for in orchestral and concert band repertoire. They rarely play melody, instead being used most often as a color to add to the ensemble sound; but chimes do occasionally have solos, particularly in imitation of 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 were first used orchestrally by Giuseppe Verdi in his operas ''Rigoletto'' (1851), ''Il trovatore'' (1853) and ''Un ballo in maschera'' (1859). 

Notable uses 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]]'s first album ''[[Tubular Bells]]'', which provided the musical theme for the 1973 film ''[[The Exorcist]]'', came about when, 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, used by the previous musician recording there, [[John Cale]].<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}}
{{Authority control}}

[[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]]