The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-06-16

washington, June 1o.-I ne must
of the bells is gaining favor in this
country. Another church in this
city has just installed a chime o;
bells. and Washington for blocks
around leans out of its windows or
stands on the street every evening
listening TO the concerts.
Under favorable conditions. that
is on a clear day with traffic at a
minimum, the bells can be heard
for three miles, so that people who
are not radio fans get music regu-
larly from the air anyway.
The distinctive feature of this
new chime ia that it can play THE
Star Spangled Banner" a feat
which only three other sets OF
chimes in the country can equal.
Patriotic Americans who have reck-
lessly tried to reproduce this piece
with their vocal chords will re-
member that the patriotic air runs
the gamut of the best part of two
octaves. Most sets of chimes have
about eleven bells. This set was to
have IA, including several half
tones, but a fifteenth bell was add
ed expressly so that the unofficial
national anthem might be played.
The new chimes belong to the
Church of the Epiphany, and are a
memorial to the late rector, DR..
Randolph McKim As the church
is the center of Washington S
downtown shopping district the
music of the chimes reaches large
audiences, especially whes pro-
grams are given at noon.
Such music is rather a novelty
for most American cities. A good
many churches that have a peal of
bells rarely play them, and still
more rarely give programs of any
length.
Few people who hear the tunes
played by the Epiphany chimes
have any idea of how the bells are
rung. Some wonder whether the
ringer pulls on a series of ropes, or
whether he goes from one bell to
another striking each with a ham
mer, somewhat as xylophone
player strikes his notes. Consid-
ering that the largest of these bells
weighs more than two tons and is
five feet in diameter, and some of
the others are very little smaller,
these methods would be obviously
impracticable. No player. however
agile, could play a tune by leaping
from bell to bell, sounding each
with the proper stroke.
How Chimes Are Played.
Instead, the bells are played
from an instrument very much like
an organ console. This instru-
ment is near the top of the bell
tower. To reach it the player
climbs the tower by ladders fast
ened to the walls
The console is the only article of
furniture in the little tower room,
for the bell ringer wants nothing
to distract him He must concen-
trate entirely on the business of
getting clear tones from the bells.
The chime player of Epiphany says
that when he is playing he cannot
have anyone else in the tower with
him. No matter how quiet a COM
panion might be, the player would
be conscious of another presence
and at a moment when his atten-
ton was divided he might strike
the wrong bell.
And if you do that" the player
added, st is certainly sounding
your mistake from the housetops."
There is nothing, he explained, to
cover up the false notes; no har-
mony of sound as on the piano.
The melody is carried by the bells,
one note at time as on a violin or
horn, except that the significance
Of each note is even more striking
in bell music. In a chime rendi-
ton the reverberating, clear cut
tones of the bells make every note
of the piece stand out in pitiless
relief-pitiless that is, if you make
a mistake.
The bells are struck by an elab-
crate arrangement. The wooden
console has d row of levers, one for
each bell. These levers are at
tached to a row of Ieather-covered
wooden rods which rise above the
console and are in turn connected
with the bell clappers in the story
above by a system of chains run
ming over pulleys.
To strike a bell the player
presses the proper lever down
firmly about eight or 10 inches.
Producing this sort of music is
good exercise as it requires steady