A bell tree, also known as tree bells
[Beck, John. ''Encyclopedia of Percussion.'' Taylor and Francis, 1995.] or Chinese bell tree
(often confused with the
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 ...
), 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 vertically nested inverted
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
bowls. The bowls, placed on a vertical rod, are arranged roughly in order of
pitch. The number of bowls can vary between approximately 14 and 28. An effective
glissando is produced by sliding a
triangle
A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC.
In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colline ...
beater, a
glockenspiel mallet, or a
xylophone
The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in ...
mallet down the length of the tree. The bells are usually pitched to microtonal intervals and do not represent any formal scale.
When a glissando is played, the inexactness of the order of the bowls' pitch is unnoticeable, merely creating a fuller sound.
The bell tree is often used to accentuate the start or end of passages of music with a "bright", "shimmer" effect, adding complexity.
and his group
Return To Forever
Return to Forever was an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1972. The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report, The Headhu ...
occasionally used the bell tree (i.e. album ''
Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy)'', as has the group
Santana.
Isaac Howie has sometimes used the bell tree in his
composition
Composition or Compositions may refer to:
Arts and literature
*Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography
*Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...
s. The rock band
America utilized one in "Bell Tree," a song named for the instrument, found on their 1975 album ''
Hearts''.
Neil Peart
Neil Ellwood Peart OC (; September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian-American musician, best known as the drummer and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush. Peart earned numerous awards for his musical performances, including an ...
from
Rush used this instrument for the song "
The Trees" from the album ''
Hemispheres'' (1978), as can be seen on the official music video of the song, and the live album ''
Exit... Stage Left.''
References
Orchestral percussion instruments
Percussion vessels
Pitched percussion instruments
Unpitched percussion instruments
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