Bells: tool description, composition, types, history, use

Bells are a musical instrument belonging to the category of percussion. May also be called a glockenspiel.

It gives a light, ringing sound in the piano, and a bright, rich timbre in the forte. Notes for him are written in the treble clef, a couple of octaves below the real sound. It occupies a place in the score under the bells and above the xylophone.

Bells are referred to as idiophones: their sound comes from the materials from which they are made. Sometimes sounding is impossible without additional components, for example, strings or a membrane, but the instrument has nothing to do with strings and membranophones.

There are two types of instrument – simple and keyboard:

• Simple bells are metal plates arranged in a pair of rows on a wooden base in the shape of a trapezoid. They are placed like piano keys. They are presented in a different range: the number of octaves is determined by the design and the number of plates. The Play is played with a pair of small hammers or sticks, usually made of metal or wood.
• In keyboard bells, the plates are housed in a piano-like body. It is based on a simple mechanism that transfers the beats from the key to the record. This option is technically simple, but if we talk about the purity of the timbre, then it loses the simple version of the instrument.

History refers bells to the number of the first musical instruments. There is no exact version of the origin, but many believe that China has become their homeland. They appeared in Europe in the 17th century.

Initially, they were a set of small bells with different pitches. The instrument acquired a full-fledged musical role in the 19th century, when the former appearance was replaced with steel plates. It began to be used by the musicians of the symphony orchestra. It has reached our days with the same name and has not lost its popularity: its sound can be heard in famous orchestral works.