Mark tree

A mark tree (also known as a nail tree, chime tree, or set of bar chimes) is a percussion instrument used primarily for musical color.^[1] It consists of many small chimes—typically cylinders of solid aluminum or hollow brass tubing 3/8" in diameter—of varying lengths, hung from a bar. They are played by sweeping a finger or stick through the length of the hanging chimes. They are mounted in pitch order to produce rising or falling glissandos.^[2]^[3]

Unlike tubular bells, another form of chime, the chimes on a mark tree do not produce definite pitches, as they produce inharmonic (rather than harmonic) spectra.

The mark tree is named after its inventor, studio percussionist Mark Stevens, who devised it in 1967. When he could not come up with a name, percussionist Emil Richards dubbed the instrument the "mark tree".^[4] Mark trees are referred to colloquially as wind chimes in modern percussion repertoire, despite starting out as distinctively different instruments with different names. Initially, wind chimes had bars mounted in a circle with a hanging striker strung in the center; they may be solid or hollow and made of many types of material, whereas the mark tree is mounted in a linear fashion and normally has solid metal bars.^[5]

References

^ Libin, Laurence (2015). "Mark tree". The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (Second ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780199743391.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-974339-1.
^ Beck, John H. (2014). "Mark tree". Encyclopedia of Percussion (2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-415971-23-2. OCLC 939052116.
^ Holland, James (2005). "Mark tree". Practical Percussion: A Guide to the Instruments and Their Sources (Rev. ed.). Scarecrow Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-4616-7063-6. OCLC 681550519.
^ Strain, James Allen (2017). "Mark Tree". A Dictionary for the Modern Percussionist and Drummer. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-8108-8693-3. OCLC 974035735.
^ Solomon, Samuel Z. (2016). "Metal Wind Chimes, Mark Tree, Bell Tree". How to Write for Percussion: A Comprehensive Guide to Percussion Composition (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 166–170. ISBN 978-0-19-992035-8. OCLC 936117814.

External links

Media related to Mark tree at Wikimedia Commons

[1] Libin, Laurence (2015). "Mark tree". The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (Second ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780199743391.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-974339-1.

[2] Beck, John H. (2014). "Mark tree". Encyclopedia of Percussion (2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-415971-23-2. OCLC 939052116.

[3] Holland, James (2005). "Mark tree". Practical Percussion: A Guide to the Instruments and Their Sources (Rev. ed.). Scarecrow Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-4616-7063-6. OCLC 681550519.

[4] Strain, James Allen (2017). "Mark Tree". A Dictionary for the Modern Percussionist and Drummer. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-8108-8693-3. OCLC 974035735.

[5] Solomon, Samuel Z. (2016). "Metal Wind Chimes, Mark Tree, Bell Tree". How to Write for Percussion: A Comprehensive Guide to Percussion Composition (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 166–170. ISBN 978-0-19-992035-8. OCLC 936117814.

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