Bells
A Bell is a metallic cup-shaped percussion instrument. It
sounds when struck with a hammer. Bells are known from as early as 2000 years BC in
China, India, Greece, and Rome. When casting was discovered, bells were made of
bronze, Large bells have been used in church towers since about 600 AD, to call
the people to worship. Bells usually generate so many pitches simultaneously that no single pitch can be ascribed to them However church bells have a recognizable pitch, though this is still fairly blurred.
In the orchestra today, some scores may require
hand-bells, but usually a set of tubular bells is used instead. These bells obviously have distinct pitches, but the range is in no way standardized.