scales for windchimes i made

Posted on Apr 29, 2005 03:08 pm
fortymile
Member Since: Jan 18, 2003

what a fun project. i bought some 3/4 " copper pipe and a pipe cutter, used an online tuning calculator, and made a set of wind chimes. thing is, i think i might be getting too much dissonance for a set of chimes (which should sound relaxing, basically--although i am trying to add a few notes of definite mysteriousness. trying to create a more exotic scale). maybe i could get some advice?

here are the intervals i used.

1, 2, 3, #4, 5, b7, 8, #9, 10


so as you can imagine from this, my primary impulse was to create a set of *lydian chimes.* i had some pipe left over after the fifth and started playing with these other intervals. the result sucks.

the first 5 notes sound great but then i start adding things. that sharp nine is of course the same thing as a minor third, which conflicts with the lydian major third. it sounds ok if you play the scale, but i didnt take into account the fact that chimes really sustain. when all that stuff rings together, it's dissonant mush.

i'm going to remove the 2nd--it does no work and basically causes too many major seconds to ring out at once. (you get the notes on either side of it ringing with it). and with that minor third (the sharp nine) you get 2, flat3, and 3 all right in a row, in a sense. those harmonics clash. this scale is full of seconds and minor seconds!

so basically i want to keep 1, 3, #4, 5, and 8, because they sound haunting. but a good set of chimes should probably have six notes.

if anyone knows theory here, i dunno: what should i do about that seventh? keep it? or should i add a different final note!

if you were making a set of chimes, what's the best scale you can think of for that? windchimes are pretty haunting things, so for my next set, i want to use a really evocative scale.

by the way, its real easy to make them and theyre gonna look cool, if anyone's looking for a project or a gift. the copper will turn green in the rain, and i'm using black chains to hang them.

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