Wind chime

A metal wind chime

Wind chimes are chimes constructed from suspended tubes, rods, bells or other objects and are often made of metal or wood. They are usually hung outside of a building or residence as a visual and aural garden ornament, and are played by the wind.

History

Ancient Rome

Bronze tintinnabulum, Roman, 1st century AD, British Museum.

Roman wind chimes, usually made of bronze, were called tintinnabulum and were hung in gardens, courtyards, and porticoes where wind movement caused them to tinkle. Bells were believed to ward off malevolent spirits and were often combined with a phallus, which was also a symbol of good fortune and a charm against the evil eye.^[1] The image shows one example with a phallus portrayed with wings and the feet and tail of an animal, perhaps a lion. These additions increased its protective powers.^[2]

Eastern and Southern Asia

In India during the second century CE, and later in China, extremely large pagodas became popular with small wind bells hung at each corner; the slightest breeze caused the clapper to swing, producing a melodious tinkling. It is said that these bells were originally intended to frighten away not only birds but also any lurking evil spirits. Wind bells are also hung under the corners of temple, palace and home roofs; they are not limited to pagodas.^[3] Japanese glass wind bells known as Fūrin (風鈴) have been produced since the Edo period,^[4] and those at Mizusawa Station are one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan. Wind chimes are thought to be good luck in parts of Asia and are used in Feng Shui.

Wind chime started to become modernized around 1100 B.C. after the Chinese began to cast bells. A bell without a clapper, called a yong-zhong, was crafted by skilled metal artisans and primarily used in religious ceremonies. Afterwards, the Chinese created the feng-ling, which is similar to today's modern wind bell. Feng-lings were hung from shrines and pagodas to ward off evil spirits and attract benevolent ones. Today, wind chimes are common in the East and used to maximize the flow of chi, or life's energy.

Sounds and music

Wind chime with the audible tones a1-d2-f2-g2-a2-d3-f3-a3. The bamboo cylinder is not only the case of the instrument, but at the same time it is the resonator. The eight tones are produced by eight metal rods within the cylinder which are centrally struck by a disk attached to the cord with the wind sail.

	Wind chimes A recording of wind chimes.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Chimes produce inharmonic (as opposed to harmonic) spectra, although if they are hung at about 2/9 of their length^[5] (22.4%^[6]), some of the higher partials are damped and the fundamental rings the loudest. This is common practice in high-quality wind chimes, which are also usually hung so the centre ball strikes the centre of the wind chime's length, also resulting in the loudest sounding fundamental. Frequency is determined by the length, width, thickness, and material. There are formulas ^[7] that help predict the proper length to achieve a particular note, though a bit of fine tuning is often needed.

In instruments such as organ pipes, the pitch is determined primarily by the length of the air column, because it is the resonance of the air column that generates the sound. The pipe material helps determine the "timbre" or "voice" of the pipe, but the air column determines the pitch. In a wind chime, the vibrations of the pipe itself radiates the sound after being struck, so the air column has little to do with the pitch being produced.

Sound can be produced when the tubes or rods come in contact with a suspended central clapper in the form of a ball or horizontal disk, or with each other.

Wind chimes may be used to observe changes in wind direction, depending on where they are hung when they commence to sound.

Materials

A close-up of metal rods on a wind chime.

Wind chimes can be made of materials other than metal or wood and in shapes other than tubes or rods. Other wind chimes materials include glass, bamboo, shell, stone, earthenware, stoneware and porcelain.^[8] More exotic items, such as silverware or cookie cutters, can also be recycled to create wind chimes.^[9] The selected material can have a large impact on the sound a wind chime produces. The sounds produced by recycling objects such as these are not tunable to specific notes and range from pleasant tinkling to dull thuds. The sounds produced by properly sized wind chime tubes are tunable to notes.^[7] As aluminum is the common metal with the lowest internal damping, wind chimes are often made from aluminum to achieve the longest and loudest sounding chime.

The tone depends on factors such as the material, the exact alloy, heat treatment, and whether a solid cylinder or a tube is used. If a tube is used, the wall thickness also has an impact on the tone. Tone may also depend on the hanging method. The tone quality also depends on the material of the object that is used to hit the chimes.

With clay wind chimes, the higher the final firing temperature, the higher and more ringing the resulting tone. Earthenware clay fired at lower temperatures produces a duller sound than stoneware clay fired at higher temperatures. Stoneware wind chimes are also more durable and able to resist stronger winds without suffering chipping or damage.

Use in music

David Sitek with a wind chime suspended from his guitar.

Different types of wind chimes have also been used in modern music and are listed as a percussion instrument. The following is a brief list of artists and composers who have used them:

• Olivier Messiaen: Saint-François d'Assise (one set of glass, shell and wood chimes)
• Toshiro Mayuzumi: Bugaku (one set of wood and glass chimes)
• Giles Swayne Symphony No. 1 (one set of glass chimes)
• David Sitek, of American rock band TV on the Radio, sometimes hangs a wind chime from the end of his guitar to add texture to his music.^[10]
• Koji Kondo, head composer for the Mario series of video games. A prime example is the theme music for the world "Vanilla Dome" in Super Mario World.
• Ivy Queen, on the acoustic track "Ángel Caído" from the 2004 album Real.

Influences

The Japanese game Pokémon was influenced by a wind chime to create the Pokémon Chimecho.

Mark trees are often mistakenly called wind chimes, but they are different instruments.

Wind chime images

• 

  A Japanese Fūrin wind chime

• 

  A set of small wind chimes

• 

  Wind chimes in Nagano, Japan

• 

  Old hard disk platters used as a wind chime

• 

  Quality chimes are hung at ≈2/9 and struck at 1/2 length.

See also

• Mobile (sculpture)
• Suncatcher
• World's largest windchime
• World's Largest Tuned Musical Windchime

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wind chimes.

• How To Design Your Own Wind Chimes
• Wind Chimes Sound Generator (Online)

References