today at jw pepper we're taking a look at choir chimes from malmark bell craftsmen
we're going to show a little bit about what goes into making them what's in the
case for a starter kit as well as an additional octave give some sound examples and talk about
why you might want to consider using choir chimes in your classroom let's get started
hand chimes are amazing versatile instruments that can be used in addition to or in place of
traditional hand bells there's a lot of confusion surrounding them since people sometimes think
that they're a starter instrument or to be used as a substitute for handbells this is not the case at
all hand chimes are their own unique instrument with their own unique sound and uses and today
we're talking specifically about the choir chime introduced by the malmark bell craftsmen in 1982
these are quality instruments that have proven themselves over time hand chimes are basically
a tube of metal with a clapper on the outside a name plate with the name of the note and tines
at the top the tuning u or tines and length determine the pitch of the instrument malmark's
choir chimes have a unique square shape of the tube that provides a strong pure fundamental tone
without unneeded vibrating surfaces and extraneous overtones the matte finish aluminum tubes are
lightweight and tuned in relation to a440 hertz they're also keyboard coated so grey for the white
keys of the piano and black for the accidentals and they're scaled to size the clapper assembly
acts as an extension of the wrist and arm with its adjustable stainless steel axle bearings
the fixed position clapper heads allow for a completely balanced set at all times and the
single piece bumper guard provides added strength within the clapper mechanism the precision tuning
of the tines along with optimum resonance from the air column help make choir chimes a preferred
choice of hand chimes all over the globe jw pepper was able to make a trip out to the malmark factory
located in pennsylvania and see firsthand all the work and craftsmanship that goes into making choir
chimes one of their owners joanne was able to speak in depth to some of the processes and give
us a tour of the facility so all these little fixtures that we have are made by our machinist
people that keeps them very busy the the note or pitch will be stamped on to each tube
also you won't see that because the clapper assembly covers it
but we need to see that when we assemble so mary and chris are uh assembling parts for the chimes
mary's assembling a new clapper assembly
and its axle mechanism is the same actually as the hand bells we also voice these and when we voice
these we're listening for the sound on impact of that clapper hopefully it's full and not a weak
sound and if it is then it's possible that the plug as you see here in our stock there's a plug
in each tube and that plug is not randomly placed there's actually mathematical formula to devise
how far from the tuning slot that plug should be placed and that will determine uh volume if
way off it will determine pitch and this would be our c 2 and c sharp 2 our two lowest chimes
obviously you're not going to pick that chime up and ring it with a clapper attached to it so
we make racks and of course we make that here also this has such a low pitch people
try to get a lot of volume out of these but we wouldn't strike it harder than that
and we would also strike it along with its 12th it really enhances the sound
the basic set includes two octaves or 25 chimes in form fitting lockable hard cases the cases provide
extra protection and a great place to store the chimes when they're not in use the starter octave
ranges from g4 which is the g right below middle c to g6 which is an octave and a half above middle c
add-on sets are available which will increase the range of music that you can play and the add-on
sets expand in both directions for example the first add-on set will increase down to c4 and up
to c7 and you can have up to six octaves of choir chimes to make for a very large range of options
here are some examples of the choir chimes being played so you can hear their amazing tone quality
malmark's choir chimes are a great addition to the classroom for many reasons you may be looking
for alternatives to singing or ways to increase student involvement with making music choir chimes
are highly portable and adaptable to many physical environments specifically the malmark 16 note
classroom set which is designed for portability with its lightweight yet rugged heavy-duty roll-up
carrying case this set is perfect for teachers on the go or teachers teaching from a cart the
set mirror is the range of the typical xylophone and is a great educator's resource and a good
starter set if you're new to chimes unroll the bag on any surface and you're ready to make music
right away they're flexible in class instruments allowing for spreading out your students and are
easily cleanable between students placement can be very accommodating around the classroom and
you don't need any additional equipment besides a soft spot to place them down on teachers could use
them to teach by rote or from a white board and they're an amazing tool for aiding with
understanding music theory to help with note duration rhythm harmony or melody best of all
malmark's choir chimes have a beautiful tone and they're easy to start making music right away
children or any players don't have to master an instrument to make great sound immediately
within minutes any group can successfully play melodies or chords to accompany melodies
choir chimes can be a great lead-in to traditional handbells or they can be used in addition to
handbells making an even larger ensemble with different timbres and tones so that's
our overview of the malmar choir chimes we would really like to thank malmark for showing us their
process in making these instruments we were also able to get a lot of information from them about
their hand bells as well so be sure to subscribe to our channel so you don't miss that video which
will be coming out soon we hope you found this video helpful if you're looking for a good set
of choir times to get started with or to add to your collection if you did find this video helpful
please give us a thumbs up comment below if you would like to see more videos like this one and
again don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any of the content we have coming out at jw petty
you