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. Excl ...

consisting of a tuned metal bar similar to a

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The ...

bar, with each bar mounted on its own wooden resonator. Chime bars are played with

mallet A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and propor ...

s 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 cl ...

s, with each member holding a chime in one hand and a mallet in the other. They are used from professional music to classrooms.

References

Idiophones Pitched percussion instruments {{Mallet-stub

See also

References