Music Glossary

Provided here are explanations of musical terms used in the context of bell ringing using Chime Master products.

Arrangement

An arrangement is a hymn melody that has been specially reconceptualized for a pleasing performance on a chime or carillon of a particular voicing and scope. This may include some stylistic variations between verses for variety. Choices of harmony notes, when used, are made with respect to the timbre and harmonic decay times of the bells.

SATB voicings found in hymnals never sound good on bells and modern church musicians rarely play them as such on other instruments, but rather improvise an accompaniment using the harmonic structure of the hymn.

Since many chimes are capable of playing in only a few keys, the original tune must be transposed to fit the chime. Also a chime may be missing semitones needed to accurately play the original melody. A decision has to be made to attempt it with changes to the melody, or that it will not be available on less than a given scope of instrument.

Chime Master libraries are always assembled with appropriate arrangement for the scope of the bells we are automating as well as with respect to the tradition of the venue.

Chromatic

Chromatic refers to structures derived from the chromatic scale, which consists of all semitones. Every available note is a half-tone apart.

Diatonic

The simplest definition (not totally accurate) generally given is that the white keys on a keyboard are the diatonics.

Diatonics are the predominate note scales used in modern Western music. Modern performers (especially in most forms of popular music today) have a tendency to conform their music into these scales. The eight diatonic notes of an octave in the key of C major indeed correspond to the white notes of a piano or organ keyboard from one C to the next C.

The relationship between adjacent notes in diatonic scales can be either a whole tone or a semitone. The determination of which notes in the scale sequence have these relationships give rise to modes.

These modes within diatonic music are named after the classical Greek modes, though they no longer represent the same scales - Ionian (Mode 1, white keys from C to C), Dorian (Mode 2, from D), Phrygian (Mode 3 from E), Lydian (from F), Mixolydian (from G), Aeolian (from A), Locrian (from B). Each mode has a different, distinctive sound, that may evoke different moods.

Hymn

In sacred music,