Susanna Chimes
On this page...
Sounding Out
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Naturally, we do what we can to make Mountain Song Wind Chimes visually appealing but - if we're honest - we know you don't buy them primarily to look at! How will they soundscape your landscape! ... that's what you want to know.
For all kinds of reasons, chimes (and many bell types for that matter) are particularly difficult to record well. Older clips are often re-recorded for ongoing improvement, and below we present "today's work-in-progress." We recommend you wear headphones when listening, as this will bring you closest to real-life chime sounds. Concentrate not only on each chime as it strikes, but on the 'hum' that continues between the notes... for chimes with great sustain, that's where the magic is.
For convenience the chimes for demonstration were mainly recorded in the Rebekah range, and any may be rendered in virtually all of the other ranges, as explained below. Chime sounds recorded from other ranges have often been 'grabbed for audio' just before wrapping and shipping. There's a brief word against each link that tries to describe something about the sound; an impossible task probably, and likely as helpful as "big shaggy nose" is to telling you how your wine tastes. Nevertheless we've given it a shot.
Selecting how your chimes will sound is without doubt the trickiest part of the process; we appreciate that and will try to give whatever assistance we can in helping you to make the right choice. Oh... and if you do feel you got it wrong after the event, please let us know - we can take steps to fix it.
We don't really have 'standard' tuning options - you can ask for any notes you like!* But simply as a place to start from, we offer the following audio clips, recorded using our Rebekah range of chimes. They may be reproduced in any of our ranges** - richness, resonance, and sustain are enhanced with increasing chime size.
*Notes derived from western musical systems, other systems, or defined by frequency (Hertz). **Deborah options are limited; for Anna range chimes the notes will be rendered in a higher register.
Pentatonic Scales
Thinking of the black notes on a piano keyboard, pentatonic scales are a variation of any five note progression....
it all just depends where you begin!
| Pentatonic Major Rebekah |
| Pentatonic Minor Rebekah |
| Blues Major Rebekah |
| Blues Minor Rebekah |
| Suspended Rebekah |
Chords with an additional ninth note (octave plus one) are used everywhere, and especially in jazz and blues, to give a real lift to the underlying major or minor triad. The four 'ninth chords' here offer the triad with the ninth, plus a sixth or seventh.
| Six-Ninth Rebekah |
| Seven-Ninth Rebekah |
| Major-Ninth Rebekah |
| Minor-Ninth Rebekah |
Tuning possibilities that have suggested themselves from the world around us... musical themes, 'real bell' imitations, sounds from nature, and spiritual chants.
| Indian 'Raga Bairagi' Rebekah |
| Japanese 'Hirajoshi' Rebekah |
| Clair de Lune Rebekah |
| Church Bells Rebekah |
| Westminster Chimes Reb'kah |
| 'Aum' Chant Rebekah |
Our smaller chime sets, recorded in the upper registers; the chimes' notes are typically higher in pitch. Deborah range is available in pentatonic-scale major and minor tunings only; Anna may draw from any option, transposed so that no note is lower than G4/392Hz (we'll liaise with you to make sure your choice is workable).
| Pentatonic Major Anna |
| Pentatonic Minor Anna |
| Pentatonic Major {High} Anna |
| Pentatonic Blues Major Anna |
| Pentatonic Suspended Anna |
| Japanese 'Hirajoshi' Anna |
| Bellbird Anna |
Hannah and Susanna chimes sit either side of the Rebekah range, with slightly less and a little more resonance to the chimes' tones, respectively. Hannah extends the range below Anna, where notes lower than G4 are required.
| Pentatonic Major Hannah |
| Pent'nic Blues Major Hannah |
| Clair de Lune Hannah |
| Indian 'Raga Bairagi' Hannah |
| Pentatonic Major Susanna |
| 'Aum' Chant Susannah |
Among the deepest notes and the richest chime sounds commercially available. When you learn that a Sheba chime set might weigh-in at around 20kg, you'll understand why our sustain can be measured in minutes!
| Pentatonic Major Sarah |
| Pentatonic Minor Sarah |
| Westminster Chimes Sarah |
| Japanese 'Hirajoshi' Sarah |
| Indonesian Gamelan Sarah |
| Solfeggio Series Sarah |
| Solfeggio Series Sheba |
| 'Aum' Chant Sheba |