Scan 75
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
10 lines. Read by computer on 8 September 2026. Printed page 51. See the scan on archive.org.
1localities. Before the fact was known that the motion of a bell through air charged with electricity tended to attract the electricity, the superstition existed that the ringing of a church bell would avert disaster during a thunder-storm.
3Bells of the early part of the Christian era were made of riveted plates; there are a number of these still in existence, but their value was small, as can easily be appreciated. With the loosening of the rivets caused by ringing, the clear tone of the bell was lost. The plates forming the bell were beaten into proper thickness and shape, and the process could not bring about as perfect results as does casting, and riveted bells fell into disuse. As time progressed, the knowledge of bell founding has increased, and peals and chimes, in which appear bells that have been cast of such size and thickness that they may produce the tones of the musical scale, have existed for many centuries. A peculiarity of bells is that they emit two distinct sounds simultaneously. The tones differ in pitch, which accounts for the rising and falling of sound when a bell is vibrating. Small bells have this quality to a greater extent than large ones, and even those used in carillons are dissonant.
5Cymbals also have a long history. It is believed that they originated among the Turks and Arabs. Those of Turkish make produce the finest tones, and the composition of the metal is retained as a secret. A slight resemblance may be discerned between the clappers figuring in the bas-reliefs of the Assyrians and the Egyptians, and these clashing time-beaters.
7Another member of the orchestra is the triangle, which is a bar of steel bent into triangular form, and beaten with a rod of the same metal. The triangle, like the majority of sonorous instruments, lends its clear, sharp speech to mark time.
9Among the instruments of this division must be mentioned the sistrum, which is first found in the ancient worship of Isis in Egypt. Here it was called seshesh. The sistrum consists of a metal hoop with a handle; through the hoop
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