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A 'bell' is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually an open-ended hollow drum which resonates upon being struck. The striking implement can be a tongue suspended within the bell, known as a ''clapper'', a small, free sphere enclosed within the body of the bell, or a separate mallet.
Bells are usually made of cast metal, but small bells can also be made from ceramic or glass. Bells can be of all sizes: from tiny dress accessories to church bells weighing tons.

Contents

Church and temple bells

Japanese religious bells

Buddhist bells

Bells as musical instruments

Ancient Chinese bells

Bellmaking

Bell towers

Famous bells

Chimes

See also

External links

Church and temple bells

In the Western world, its most classical form is a church bell or town bell, which is hung within a tower and sounded by having the entire bell swung by ropes, whereupon an internal hinged clapper strikes the body of the bell (called a free-swinging bell). A set of bells, hung in a circle for change ringing, is known as a ring of bells.
In the Eastern world, 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. This last technique is employed world-wide for some of the largest tower-borne bells, because swinging the bell itself could damage the tower.
In the Roman Catholic Church and among some High Lutherans and Anglicans, small hand-held bells, called Sanctus 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). 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), or, in the alternative Reformation 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.

Japanese religious bells

Japanese Shintoist and Buddhist bells are used in religious ceremonies. ''Suzu'', 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.
See also Kane (musical instrument), , .

Buddhist bells

Buddhist bells are used in religious ceremonies.
See also Tibetan tingsha bells.

Bells as musical instruments

Some bells are used as musical instruments, such as carillons, (clock) chimes, or ensembles of bell-players, called bell choirs, using hand-held bells of varying tones. A "ring of bells" is a set of 4 to twelve bells or more 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.

Ancient Chinese bells

The ancient Chinese had bronze bells called bianzhong or zhong (鐘) which were used as musical instruments. Some of these bells were dated from 2000 to 3600 years old. These bells can each produce two tones. These bells usually have inscriptions on them from which scholars used as references for studying ancient Chinese writings (also known as Bronzeware script). Another related ancient Chinese musical instrument is called qing (磬 pinyin qing4) but it was made of stone instead of metal.

Bellmaking

The ringing of bells is known as bellringing, and such a bell produces a very loud, clear tone. If the bell is mounted as cast, it is called a "maiden bell" while "tuned bells" are worked after casting to produce a precise note. The traditional metal for these bells is a bronze of about 20% tin. Known as ''bell metal'', this alloy is also the traditional alloy for the finest Turkish and Chinese cymbals. Other materials sometimes used for large bells include brass and iron. The process of casting bells is called bellmaking or bellfounding.

Bell towers

Bells are also associated with clocks, indicating the hour by ringing. Indeed, the word ''clock'' comes from the Latin word ''cloca'', meaning bell. Clock towers or bell towers 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 represent the hour. One common pattern is called the "Westminster Quarters," a sixteen-note pattern named after the Palace of Westminster which popularized it as the measure used by ''Big Ben''.

Famous bells

★ The Great Bell of Dhammazedi may have been the largest bell ever made. It was lost in a river in Myanmar after being removed from a temple by the Portuguese in 1608. It is reported to have been about 300 tonnes in weight.

★ The Tsar Kolokol bell by the Motorin Bellfounders is the largest bell still in existence. It weighs 160 tonnes, but it was never rung and broke in 1737. It is on display in Moscow, Russia inside the Kremlin.

★ The Great Mingun Bell is the largest functioning bell. It is located in Mingun, Myanmar and weighs 90 tonnes (200,000 lb).

★ The Gotenba Bell is the largest functioning swinging bell, weighing 79,900 lb. It is located in a tourist resort in Gotenba, Japan. Hung in a freestanding frame, and rung by hand. Cast by Eijsbouts in 2006.

★ The World Peace Bell was the largest functioning swinging bell until 2006. It is located in Newport, Kentucky, United States, cast by Paccard of France. The bell itself weighs 66,000 lb while with clapper and supports the total weight which swings when the bell is tolled is 89,390 lb.

★ The Bell of King Seongdeok is the largest extant bell in Korea. 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 in Vienna's Stephansdom is the most famous bell in Austria and the fifth largest in the world.

★ The St. Petersglocke, in the local dialect of Cologne also called "Decke Pitter" (fat Peter), is a bell in Germany's Cologne Cathedral. It weighs 24 tons and was cast in 1922. It is the largest functioning free-swinging bell in the world that swings around the top. (The Gotenba Bell and the World Peace Bell swing around the center of gravity, which is more like turning than swinging. So, depending on the point of view, the St. Petersglocke may be up to now the largest free-swinging bell in the world.)

★ Maria Dolens, the bell for the Fallen in Rovereto (TN - Italy) weighs 22.6 tons.

★ Big Ben is the hour bell of the Great Clock in St. Stephen's Tower at the Palace of Westminster, the home of the Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom.

★ The South West tower of St Paul's Cathedral in London, England, houses Great Paul, the largest bell in the British Isles. It weighs 16½ tons and is larger than Big Ben. One can hear Great Paul booming out over Ludgate Hill at 1300 every day.

★ Great Tom is the bell that hangs in Tom Tower (designed by Christopher Wren) of Christ Church, Oxford. It was cast in 1680, and weighs over six 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 an American bell of great historic significance, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It previously hung in Independence Hall and was rung on July 4, 1776 to mark American independence.

★ Little John, named after the character from the legends of Robin Hood is the bell within the Clock Tower of Nottingham Council House. It is the deepest bell in the United Kingdom and its chimes are said to be heard over the greatest distance of any in the UK.

★ Sigismund is a 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, cast by Gerhard van Wou, is considered to be one of Germany's, and also Europe's, most beautiful medieval bells, serving as a model for many other bells.

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.

See also

★ Campanology

★ Cowbell

★ Ship's bells

★ Royal Eijsbouts bell foundry (the largest bell foundry in the world)

★ John Taylor Bellfounders

★ Whitechapel Bell Foundry

★ Franciscus Illenfeld

★ Bellhop

★ Singing bowl

External links

★ Liverpool Bells

★ Bells and their Music (online book)

★ European research project: Maintenance and protection of bells

★ Contemporary Dutch Bell-Founding Art history, frequency measurement, tuning,...

★ http://www.glocke.com, information about the Perner bellfoundry in Passau, casting of broncebells, and ringing equipment, recent projects, sounds of the cathedral in Passau

★ Kruszewski Brothers Bell Foundry, Wegrow, Poland Website

★ Ancient Chinese bells Pictures, sound samples, acoustics, and musical tuning of the famous bell ensemble of Zeng from 433 B.C.

★ Chimes & knells ringed in traditional music from county of Nice, France

★ Liverpool Bells

★ Bell Museum - The Verdin Company, North America's oldest bell and clock company