Musical Wind Chimes

The Use of Wind Chimes As a Musical Instrument

Wind chimes have long been used for a variety of reasons over the years. This ranges from warding off evil spirits to creating positive energy in a particular area.  They are also known for the pleasing sounds that they create and were one of the world’s first musical instruments. Numerous musicians have utilised them to influence their compositions.

Wind chimes are similar to various other percussion instruments such as tam-tams and cymbals, in terms of creating inharmonic spectra. This means that the frequencies of the overtones depart from whole multiples of the fundamental frequency, leading to inharmonic sounds. Each chime will play at a different pitch, whilst none will play a specific note. Despite this, they can be altered to bring out the fundamental frequency and thus produce harmonic notes. This is done through tuning to dampen the inharmonic overtones, making each chime possible to play specific notes. A method of achieving this is to hang the chimes at about a fifth of their length to dampen the higher partials. Chimes have been known to produce a rich sounding scale with academics going as far as studying them for research projects.

With wind chimes coming in different sizes, shapes and materials, the sounds created can vary significantly. The frequency produced will rely heavily on these particular factors and musicians have often taken this into consideration when composing. Oliver Messiaen is one particular musician who has used chimes made from materials such as wood, glass and shell, helping him to produce rhythms with significant clarity, as described by some fans. David Sitek, who is a guitarist for the band TV on the Radio, is known to add texture to his music occasionally by hanging a wind chime from his guitar. This is relatively unheard of in the music world and it shows how musicians are willing to experiment with different instruments.

Wind chimes have also been used to create music for video games, most notably in the Vanilla Dome level for Super Mario World. Koji Kondo, one of the lead composers for Nintendo can be the person who takes credit for this unusual use of an ancient instrument in a modern setting.  Despite wind chimes being one of the world’s first instruments, this example shows that they still have a future in the musical world and we may still see more uses in various ways, as the instrument seems far from consigned to history.

About the Author

Harry is a freelance architect and has been part of the field for the past ten years. Harry is very passionate about his job and has been involved with several different projects including landscape gardening with the use of strange ornaments such as wind chimes. For further information on any of the topics raised in the article please visit The Wind Chime Shop.

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