Journal of the Acoustical Society of Japan (E)
Online ISSN : 2185-3509
Print ISSN : 0388-2861
ISSN-L : 0388-2861
Acoustics of Eastern and Western bells, old and new
Thomas D. Rossing
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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

1989 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 241-252

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Abstract
Bells have many modes of vibration whose modal shapes are characterized by the numbers of nodal meridians and nodal circles. In Western church bells and carillon bells, the bell is shaped so that the lowest mode frequencies are harmonically related. The subjective strike note is determined by three strong partial tones with frequencies nearly in the ratios 2: 3: 4. The pitch of a handbell, on the other hand, is determined by the frequency of the fundamental tone. In ancient Chinese bells, the vibrational modes occur in pairs, and two different tones result from striking at the sui and gu strike points. A new type of carillon bell has been developed in which the traditional minor third partial is replaced by a major third partial, thus changing the timbre of the bell.
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