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Campanology (late Latin campana, "bell" + Greek λόγος, "knowledge") is the study of bells. It encompasses the physical realities of bells — how they are cast, tuned and sounded — as well as the various methods devised to perform bell-ringing. Image File history File links ChurchBell. ... Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... A bell is a simple sound-making device. ... This article is about the manufacturing process. ... In music, there are two common meanings for tuning: Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice. ...

In particular, it is common to collect together a set of tuned bells and treat the whole as one musical instrument. Such collections — such as a Flemish carillon, a Russian zvon, or a British "ring of bells" used for change ringing — have their own practices and challenges; and campanology is likewise the study of perfecting such instruments, composing music for them, and performing it. A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making music. ... Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called changes, without attempting to ring a conventional tune. ...

In this sense, however, the word "campanology" is most often used in reference to relatively large bells, often hung in a tower. It is not usually applied to assemblages of smaller bells, such as a glockenspiel, a collection of tubular bells, or an Indonesian gamelan. Most orchestral glockenspiels are mounted in a case. ... Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. ... Javanese gamelan ensamble with two female sinden (choral singer) during traditional Javanese wedding at Sasono Utomo, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Jakarta, Indonesia A gamelan is a kind of musical ensemble of Indonesia typically featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked...

Carillons

Main article: Carillon

The carillon is a complex instrument that has been studied and minutely improved for highest musical quality. It draws both tourists and locals to the concerts and recitals. Professional campanologists like Jef Denyn had, and still have world fame. For the University of Regina student newspaper, see The Carillon. ... Jef Denyn founded the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen, Belgium. ...

The instrument is played sitting on a bench by hitting the top keyboard that allows expression through variation of touch, with the underside of the half-clenched fists, and the bottom keyboard with the feet, since the lower notes in particular require more physical strength than an organ, the latter not attaining the tonal range of the better carillons: for some of these, their bell producing the lowest tone, the 'bourdon', may weigh well over 8 tonnes; other fine ones settle for 5 to 6 tonnes. A carillon renders at least two octaves for which it needs 23 bells, though the finest have 47 to 56 bells or extravagantly even more, arranged in chromatic sequence, so tuned as to produce concordant harmony when many bells are sounded together. This article is about the metric tonne. ... In music, chromatic indicates the inclusion of notes not in the prevailing scale and is also used for those notes themselves (Shir-Cliff et al 1965, p. ...

The oldest are found in church towers in continental northern Europe, especially in cathedral towers in northern France and Belgium, where some (like the St. Rumbolds Tower in Mechelen, the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp) became UNESCO World Heritage Sites – classified, rather misleadingly, with the Belfry of Bruges and its municipal Carillon under 'Belfries of Belgium and France'.
The carillon of Kirk in the Hills, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, United States, has the highest number of bells in the world: 77.
Modern large carillon edifices have been erected as stand-alone instruments across the world, for instance the Netherlands Carillon at Arlington National Cemetery. St. ... Mechelen: Grote Markt square, with St. ... Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal, the Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp, was started in 1351 and completed in 1521. ... For other uses, see Antwerp (disambiguation). ... Org type Specialized Agency Acronyms UNESCO Head Director General of UNESCO Koïchiro Matsuura Japan Status Active Established 1945 Website www. ... Elabana Falls is in Lamington National Park, part of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves World Heritage site in Queensland, Australia. ... Bruges Antwerp Ypres Ghent Mons Tournai Boulogne-sur-Mer Abbeville Fifty-six Belfries of Belgium and France are collectively designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, in recognition of an architectural phenomenon that arose during the emergence of the historic Flanders and neighboring regions from feudalism. ... Kirk in the Hills is a Presbyterian church located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan that includes the Tower of the Apostles. ... Bloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan, 25. ... The Netherlands Carillon at Arlington National Cemetery was a gift from the people of the Netherlands to the people of the United States of America in 1954. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Chimes

Main article: Chime (bell instrument)

A carillon-like instrument with fewer than 23 bells is called a chime. American chimes usually have one to one and a half diatonic octaves. Many chimes play an automated piece of music. Chime bells generally used to lack dynamic variation and inner tuning, or the mathematical balance of a bell's complex sound, to permit use of harmony. Since the 20th century, in Belgium and The Netherlands, clock chime bells have inner tuning and produce complex fully harmonized music._^[1] A carillon-like instrument with less than 23 bells is called a chime. ... In Music theory, the diatonic major scale (also known as the Guido scale), from the Greek diatonikos or to stretch out, is a fundamental building block of the European-influenced musical tradition. ...

The here described chimes, often singular chime, should neither be confounded with another musical instrument called chimes or tubular bells, nor with a wind chime. Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. ... For the Beach Boys song, see Wind Chimes. ...

Russian Orthodox bells

Main article: Russian Orthodox bell ringing

The bells in Russian tradition are sounded by their clappers, attached to ropes; a special system of ropes is developed individually for every belltower. All the ropes are gathered in one place, where the bell-ringer stands. The ropes (usually - all ropes) are not pulled, but rather pressed with hands or legs. Since one end of every rope is fixed, and the ropes are kept in tension, a press or even a punch on a rope makes a clapper move. A bell-ringer on a bell tower. ...

The Russian Tsar Bell is the largest extant bell in the world. Tsar Kolokol (Tsar Bell) (Царь-колокол in Russian) - a huge bell still on display in the Kremlin. ...

Change ringing

Main article: change ringing

In England the bells in church towers are generally hung for full circle ringing: every bell swings through a complete circle (actually a little more than 360 degrees) each time it sounds. Between strokes, it sits poised 'upside-down', with the mouth pointed upwards; pulling on a rope connected to the bell swings it down and its own momentum swings it back up again on the other side. Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called changes, without attempting to ring a conventional tune. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...

These rings of bells have relatively few bells, compared with a carillon; six or eight-bell towers are common, with the largest rings in numbering up to sixteen bells. The bells are usually tuned to fall in a diatonic scale without chromatic notes; they are traditionally numbered from the top downwards so that the highest bell (called the treble) is numbered 1 and the lowest bell (the tenor) has the highest number; it is usually the tonic note of the bells' scale. A ring of bells (or peal of bells) is a complete set of bells, hung in a circle – usually in a tower – for change ringing. ... In music theory, a diatonic scale (from the Greek diatonikos, to stretch out; also known as the heptatonia prima; set form 7-35) is a seven-note musical scale comprising five whole-tone and two half-tone steps, in which the half tones are maximally separated. ... The chromatic scale is a scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone or half step apart. ... The tonic is the first note of a musical scale, and in the tonal method of music composition it is extremely important. ...

To swing the heavy bells requires a ringer for each bell. Furthermore, the great inertias involved mean that the ringers have only a limited ability to retard or accelerate their bells' cycle. Along with the relatively limited palette of notes available, the upshot is that such rings of bells do not easily lend themselves to ringing melodies. This article is about inertia as it applies to local motion. ... Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Method ringers can trace their bells' courses visually in a diagram called a blueline.)

Instead, a system of change ringing evolved which centres on mathematical permutations. The ringers begin with rounds, which is simply ringing down the scale in order. (On six bells this would be 123456.) The ringing then proceeds in a series of rows or changes, each of which is some permutation of rounds (for example 214356). Image File history File links Plain-bob-minor_2. ... Image File history File links Plain-bob-minor_2. ... For other meanings of mathematics or uses of math and maths, see Mathematics (disambiguation) and Math (disambiguation). ... This article is about permutation, a mathematical concept. ...

In call change ringing, one of the ringers (known as the conductor) calls out to tell the other ringers how to vary their order from row to row. Some ringers practice call changes exclusively; but for others, the essence of change ringing is method ringing.

Method ringing

Main article: method ringing

In method or scientific ringing each ringer has memorized a pattern describing his or her bell's course from row to row; taken together, these patterns (along with only occasional calls made by a conductor) form an algorithm which cycles through the various available permutations. The Blue Line of Plain Bob Minor. ... Flowcharts are often used to graphically represent algorithms. ...

Serious ringing always starts and ends with rounds; and it must always be true — each row must be unique, never repeated. A performance of a few hundred rows or so is called a touch; approximately five thousand rows make a peal (which takes about three hours to ring). A performance of all the possible permutations possible on a set of bells is called an extent; with n bells there are n! possible permutations. Since 7!=5040, an extent on seven bells is a peal; 8!=40,320 and an extent on eight bells has only been accomplished once, taking nearly nineteen hours. For factorial rings in mathematics, see unique factorisation domain. ...

Ringing in English belltowers become a popular hobby in the late 17th century, in the Restoration era; the scientific approach which led to modern method ringing can be traced to two books of that era, Tintinnalogia or the Art of Ringing (published in 1668 by Richard Duckworth and Fabian Stedman) and Campanalogia (also by Stedman; first released 1677; see Bibliography). Today change ringing remains most popular in England but is practiced worldwide; over four thousand peals are rung each year. For other uses, see Restoration. ... Campanology (late Latin campana, bell + Greek λόγος, knowledge) is the study of bells. ...

Gamelan

Main article: Gamelan

Perhaps the best-known example from outside Europe of an organized system of bells is the gamelan, an Indonesian orchestra-like ensemble in which a prominent part is played by a variety of tuned bells, gongs, and metallophones. Javanese gamelan ensamble with two female sinden (choral singer) during traditional Javanese wedding at Sasono Utomo, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Jakarta, Indonesia A gamelan is a kind of musical ensemble of Indonesia typically featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked... Javanese gamelan ensamble with two female sinden (choral singer) during traditional Javanese wedding at Sasono Utomo, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Jakarta, Indonesia A gamelan is a kind of musical ensemble of Indonesia typically featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked...

Other types of ringing

• Handbell ringing - You can play methods or songs on handbells - commonly used to sing Christmas carols to.
• Sales - Some sales companies ring a bell to celebrate reaching a sales quota.
• Carillon

A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. ... For the short novel by Charles Dickens, see A Christmas Carol. ... For the University of Regina student newspaper, see The Carillon. ...

References

Bibliography

• Duckworth, R. and Stedman, F. (1970) [1668] Tintinnalogia; or, The art of ringing, 1st ed. reprinted, Bath : Kingsmead Reprints, ISBN 0-901571-41-5
• Stedman, F. (1990) [1677] Campanalogia : or The art of ringing improved ..., facsimile of 1st ed., Kettering : C. Groome, ISBN 1-85580-001-2

External links

• General

• Bell Facts: Tools of Communication – Instruments of Music – Objects of Art

• Carillons

• World Carillon Federation
• The Carillon as a Musical Instrument, on the Web site of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA)

• Chimes

• Chimes and knells rung in traditional music from County of Nice, France
• List of chimes in North America

• Russian Orthodox bells

• (Russian) A collection of mp3 recordings of Russian Orthodox bells

• British bells

• St Mark's Cheltenham bells link from church site
• Landmarks in the history of the society of College Youths, overview of historical data on bell-ringing
• The Craft of Bellringing DVD documentary about change ringing
• Tintinnalogia, or, the Art of Ringing by Richard Duckworth, Fabian Stedman (1671), from Project Gutenberg
• Standard Methods in the Art of Change Ringing, by Jasper Snowdon, an essay by Dr. J. C. Eisel, member and steward of the library of The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, UK
• Change Ringing Resources by Roger Bailey
• Central Council of Church Bell Ringers
• The Ringing World magazine