Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-17
The HQSkin Letter
CHIMES R o IN v

Washington, D. c., June 1.-THE
music Of the bells is gaining favor in
this country. Another church in this
city has just installed a chime of 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 min
imum, the bells can be heard for three
miles, so that people who are. not radio
fans get music regularly from the air
anyway. :
The distinctive feature of this new
chime is that it can play Star
Spangled Banner" a feat which only
three other sets of chimes in the coun-
try can equal. Patriotic Americans
who have recklessly tried to repro
duce this piece with their vocal chords
will remember that the patriotic air
runs the gamut of the best part of two
octayes. Most sets Of chimes have
about II bells. This set was to have
IA, including several half tones, but
a fifteenth bell was added expressly
so that the unofficial national anthem
might be played.
The new chimes belong to the
Church of Epiphany. and are a me-
mortal to the late rector, DR.. Ran
dolph Mckim. AS the church is the
center of W~ashington's downtown
shopping district the music of the
chimes reaches large audiences, es-
pecially when programs 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
Some wonder whether the ringer pulls
on a series of ropes. or whether no
goes from one bell to another striking
each with a hammer, somewhat as a
xylOphone player strikes his notes.
Considering that the largest Of these
bells weighs NOR than two tons and
is five feet in diameter, and some of
the others are very little smaller,
these methods would be obviously i'm
practicable. 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. The instrument is near the
top of the bell tower. To reach it the
player climbs the tower by ladders
fastened to the walls.
The console is the only article of
furniture in the little tower room, for
the bell ringer wants nothing to dis
tract him. He must concentrate en-
tirely on the business of getting clear
tones from the bells. The chime play
er of Epiphany says that when he is
playing he cannot have anyone else in
the tower with him. No matter how
quiet a companion might be. the player
would be conscious of another pres
ence and at a moment when his atten-
ton was divided he might strike the
wrong bell.
And if you do that" the player
added. at is certainly sounding your
mistake from the house tops" There
is nothing. he explained, to cover up
the false note; no harmony Of sound
as on the piano. The melody is car
ried by the bells, one note at a time
as on a violin or horn. expect that the
significance of each note is even more
striking in bell music. In a chime
rendition 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 mis-
take.
The bells are struck by an elaborate
arrangement. The wooden console has
a row of levers. one for each bell.
These levers are attached TO a row of
leather-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
running over pulleys.
To strike a bell the PLAYER presses
the proper lever down firmly about
eight or ten inches. Producing this
sort of music is good exercise as it
requires steady use of the arm mus
cles, and incidentally of a good many
considering that six of the fifteen
bells weigh more than 1900 pounds,
the exertion required to ring them by
the levers is slight.
I, The bells in the story above the
console are arranged in a square of
two tiers. With the network of chains
they fill the entire loft. They are so
heavy that the church tower had to be
considerably strengthened to hold them
safely. The whole set weighs l 1880
pounds.
The largest of these bells weighs
1900 pounds and from this, the lowest
note III tne scale, the pelis grade OH
lighter until the bell with the highest
note weighs only - pounds. This is
not a record breaking light weight for
a musical bell. In a four octave car
lion. such as may be heard in Bel
GUM. the highest toned bell sometimes
weighs as little as eighteen pounds.
Long Popular in Europe
Though bells ars coming into pop
ularity in this country. for war me-
MORALS and in church steeples. chimes
and chime players have not yet been
both are making advances for