Tubular bell

Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Each bell is a metal, typically brass, tube, 1¼–1½ inches in diameter, tuned by altering its length. Tubular bells are typically found in chromatic sets of 1½ octaves with a range from C5 to F6. Two-octave sets that extend to F4 do exist, but they are extremely heavy and not commonly used.

Tubular bells are typically struck with a rawhide[?]- or plastic-headed hammer. They are commonly used to mimic the sound of heavy and impractical church bells[?] in programmatic[?] classical music pieces such as Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture[?].