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[?].