Research->Music Instrument->Interesting Instruments->Wind Bell Instrument
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Overview



 

 
Glass wind chimes are an indispensable feature of summer in Japan.
Each wind chime has a different tone.
The pitch changes depending on the shape and size of the wind chime. I gathered many  wind bells and put them in musical order.
Two wind chimes with the same sound are attached to each wind chime stand.
When you press the wind chime stand with your finger, the vibration makes a sound, and at the same time, the fan starts blowing air.
The sound can be extended by blowing air from the fan.
Now, please listen to the performance of a traditional Japanese song by wind chimes.
It is possible to add a mechanism to make the sound louder with a microphone.
However, it is better to get people to hear the live sound.
Some people say that the sound of wind chimes is effective for music therapy.
Using this nostalgic musical instrument, I do performances for the elderly at nursing care facilities.
At the same time, I am also conducting activities to introduce the process of making musical instruments to young people who are interested in "manufacturing."

Structure

Let me explain about wind chime instrument.
A wind chime instrument consists of wind chimes with different pitches arranged in the order of notes.

The fan blows the wind to make a sound.
There are three elements that make up the instrument.
The main feature of the instrument is the traditional glass wind chime.
The stands are made of acrylic.
The wind is sent by a fan with an LED that has a transparent blade.
One wind chime unit consists of a glass hemisphere, an aluminum windmill, four glass rods, four strips of PVC, a metal hook and a string.


One summer day in 2003, I came up with the idea of the musical instrument.
It took eight years to collect the musical instruments, perform trial and error on the ventilation method, and make stands to complete it.
It was completed in 2011 after several prototypes.

At first, I tried to make wind using a traditional fan.
A motor moves the fan to the left and right to create a wind.


I found it noisy to use a servo motor.
Stepper motors are quiet but cannot use existing assets.
The DC motor needs a mechanism to convert the rotary motion into left and right motion.
Due to these problems, I decided to use PC fans.
There is a time lag between the start of sending the wind and the sound.
The delays are not constant.

So, two sets of wind chimes are prepared for each note.
There is a slight deviation in the pitch of the wind chime, but this can be averaged with using two chimes.

A traditional wind chime has one glass rod and one strip hanging from it.
The wind chime instrument uses four glass rods and four strips for one wind chime.
The windmill rotates and the glass rod hits the body of the wind chime.
Windmill parts are made by cutting aluminum with CNC.
I bought the glass rods from a traditional craft shop and made the strips out of PVC instead of paper.
Initially, the stands were created by combining MDF purchased at a DIY shop.
After that, it was cut with acrylic plates by CNC and remade.
At that time, laser cutters were not yet popular.

The stands of the finished product was made of blue acrylic.
The PC fans have flashing LEDs.
Power is supplied at 12V from the unit for the personal computer.
So, no electronic circuit are used.
When the stand is tilted , the button on the bottom is pressed and ventilation starts.
The vibration of pressing the button starts to make a sound and the sound is sustained by the wind.

This instrument is still being improved.

Picture