 Clock
Chimes - Listen & Compare
Below
you can listen and compare the many different types of chimes found
on Howard Miller clocks. Howard Miller has hundreds of chiming clock
models with different housings and cases, the chimes on this page
are basic representations. The tone, pitch and resonance of your
actual chime on the model you select likely vary a bit from the
sound file examples below.
To listen
to the chimes: Make sure your PC volume is on, speakers
connected, then simply click on the graphic notes. Depending on
your browser's settings, when you click on the music note graphic,
the chime will either be downloaded onto your hard-disc, or will
open and play in your PCs default media player. Downloading time
depends on the speed of your Internet access.
If you want
to download the chime to your PC - right click on music notes graphic
of the chime to be downloaded, then select "save target as",
and the chime will be downloaded to your PC.
A Bit
about Sequence Of Chimes, Chimes In General
Most mechanical clock
chimes are produced by tiny hammers striking metal rods that are
cut at various lengths which produce different notes. Generally
there will be 12 hammers and corresponding rods. However, some models
have 16 hammers and rods and an even fewer select models will use
long steel tuned tubes instead of rods, which are known as tubular
movements. You can also find chiming mechanical clocks that employ
glass and metal bells. If a chiming melody is not desired, there
are also mechanical models that simply produce a "bim-bam"
tone or an hourly strike on coils or bells.
The sequence
of the melody in a chiming mechanical clock chimes depends on the
particular melody and whether the movement has 12 or 16 hammers.
The sequence for the Westminster melody in a 12 hammer or bell movement
begins at the quarter-hour, where the first four notes of the melody
play. The next eight notes of the melody play at the half-hour.
The melody continues at the third quarter-hour with the next eight
notes of the melody, followed by a repeat of the first four notes
that played at the first quarter-hour. Finally, at the hour, sixteen
notes are played and begins with the eight notes played at the half-hour,
followed by the first eight notes of the quarter-to. After the melody
has played, the clock will strike the corresponding hours.
The chime sequence
for Whittington and St. Michael melodies in a 12 hammer movement
begins with the first eight notes of the melody at the first quarter-hour.
The next sixteen notes of this melody play at the half-hour. The
third quarter-hour plays the next sixteen notes of the melody, followed
by a repeat of the first eight notes play at the first quarter-hour.
Finally, at the hour, 32 notes are played and begins with the first
sixteen notes that played at the half-hour, followed by the first
sixteen notes that played at the third quarter-hour.
Movements with
16 hammers and tubular movements have a different chime sequence.
The clock will strike once at the first quarter-hour, twice at the
half-hour and three times at the third quarter-hour. Finally, at
the hour, the full selected melody plays followed by the striking
of the corresponding hours. Sixteen notes of the Westminster melody
are played at the hour and thirty-two notes for the Ave Maria and
Ode to Joy melodies.
Bim-Bam movements
strikes a "bim-bam" tone, usually on a coil or bells,
at the half-hour and then counts the corresponding hours with the
same "bim-bam" tone.
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Westminster
Chime
Paddy Dowding
from Hornchurch asked about the origin of clock chimes, especially
the Westminster chime. Making History consulted Viscount Alan Middleton
of the British Horological Institute, and Ranald Clouston, Bells
and Clocks Consultant to the Council for the Care of Churches.
The Westminster
chime was originally the Cambridge chime, the chime at Great St
Mary's, Cambridge, where a new clock was installed in 1793. The
Revd Dr Joseph Jowett, a law professor, was asked to compose a chime
but it is usually supposed that the composition was by his pupil,
William Crotch (1775-1847). Crotch was a child prodigy and at the
age of 11 was assistant organist at King's College, Cambridge. The
tune of the chime is said to be based on a phrase from Handel's
aria 'I know that my Redeemer Liveth'. In 1859 Lord Grimthorpe chose
Crotch's tune for the new clock and bells in the Palace of Westminster.
These lovely chimes were
named for the Winchester Cathedral in which they were first played.
The Norman conquerors of England did not like the fantastic cathedral
chimes of the Saxons, so Bishop Walkilin, a kinsman of William the
Conqueror, demolished and rebuilt the Winchester chimes in 1093.
The cathedral's central tower fell in 1107 but soon was rebuilt.
This edifice forms a substantial part of the present cathedral,
located in Hampshire, England.
These words
have also become attached to the chime:
Lord through
this hour,
Be Thou our guide
So, by Thy power
No foot shall slide
Click to Listen
(typical smaller chiming Clock)
Click to Listen
(typical Mantel, larger Wall or Floor
Clock)
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Ave
Maria Chime (usually
together with Westminster)
Ave Maria
Chimes in 1825 Franz Schubert wrote seven songs based on the poem"The
Lady of the Lake"by Sir Walter Scott. The poem is set in
the woods of Scotland in the early 1500's, where Ellen Douglas
lived in hiding. King James V had banished the entire Douglas
Clan because Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, had imprisoned
the child king during the early years of his reign. Ellen's song
has become part of the standard repetoire for the sopranos under
the title"Ave Maria." The song was Ellen's Prayer for
the safety for herself and her father as they hid in the woods.
Click
to Listen
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Whittington
Chime (usually together with Westminster & St. Michael)
The
Whittington chime, for instance, comes from the Church of St Mary
Le Bow, in Cheapside, London. Dick Whittington, running away,
heard the Bow bells and turned back - he eventually served three
terms as London's Lord Mayor. Many churches have their own individual
chimes played on three, four, six or even ten bells. Making History
played the distinctive chimes of Merton College, Oxford, and Magdalen
College, Oxford. In the late nineteenth century town and city
halls had chiming clocks installed as a symbol of civic dignity.
An
early 17th century play tells the story of a young penniless boy
who leaves his master's home with only his cat for company. Fortunately,
the cat proves an excellent mouse catcher, earning the money which
lays the foundation for Dick's fame and fortune in later years.
These owe their renown to the legend of Dick Whittington, "Thrice
Lord Mayor of London town". These chimes once rang out from
the church of St. Mary le Bow in London's Cheapside, and a Londoner
was only a true cockney if he or she was born within the sound
of Bow Bells.
Click
to Listen
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St.
Michael's Chime
(usually together with Westminster & Whittington)
St.
Michael Chimes are one of the few chimes with a history based
in this country. St. Michael's chimes have a long and exciting
history. Cast in London, they could first be heard ringing out
in 1764 from the steeple of St. Michael's church in Charleston,
South Carolina. Although the bells for the chime were cast in
London, they were installed in St. Michael's Church in Charleston,
SC. When the British occupied Charleston in the time of the American
Revolution, the bells were returned home to the old continent.
During the revolutionary war the city was captured by the British
and the bells returned to England.
After
the war, they were bought and taken back to Charleston by an American
merchant. After the discovery of serious cracks in 1823, they
were sent back across the ocean for recasting. During the American
Civil War they were moved to Columbia for safekeeping, only to
be destroyed in a fire. Fragments of the bells were found and
sent back to London, where they were recast in the original moulds.
On 21st March 1867, back in America at last, the eight bells rang
out the joyous refrain "Home again, Home again from a foreign
land.
Click
to Listen
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Ode
To Joy Chime
Actual
Chimes For Fast Online Loading To Listen To Are Being Created
- Coming Soon
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Bim
Bam Clock (Chime Mode)
Click
to Listen
Triple
Chime (Westminster,
St. Michael & Whittington together)
Click
to Listen
Double
Chime
(A combination of two other chimes together)
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