Contextual Associations

Almglocken are struck, clapperless vessel-bell idiophones of German origin. They are used in the European concert music world as coloristic sound sources, written for in a handful of orchestral, chamber ensemble, and percussion ensemble works. Their sound can be evocative of pastoral life.

Description

The Almglocken bells are made from sheet metal folded, pounded, and welded into a vessel with a single ‘mouth’ opening the shape of which is somewhat of a cross between an oval and a rectangle (see first detail image). At the apex of the vessel, which is acoustically the least active part of the bell, there is a handle welded onto the bell to facilitate mounting on a stand. A drumstick, wood dowel, or a ball-tipped beater is used to strike these bells.

Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production

The set of Almglocken pictured here consists of twenty-five bells of graduated size (see second detail photo for a size comparison of the lowest, middle, and highest tuned bells in the set) tuned to a two-octave chromatic scale between C4 and C6 (even larger sets are made, covering a range of up to four octaves from F3 to F7). Depending on the work being performed either a few bells can be mounted on stands or, if the whole set is needed, it can be mounted keyboard-fashion on a xylophone-like stand. Composers tend to use the Almglocken as a coloristic resource rather than as a melodic instrument, occasionally as a sonic icon to reference an Alpine pasture with grazing cows.

Origins/History/Evolution

Functional cowbells with clappers are the obvious likely inspiration for the Almglocken, which started to be written for by orchestral composers only around the turn of the 20^th century.

Bibliographic Citations

Blades, James. 1970. Percussion Instruments and Their History. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Publishers.

________, and James Holland. 1984. “Cencerro,” in Grove Music Online. Accessed December 12 1914: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/05273?q=cencerro&search=quick&source=omo_gmo&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit

 ________, and James Holland. 1984. “Cowbells,” in Grove Music Online. Accessed December 12 1914: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/06741?q=cowbell&search=quick&source=omo_gmo&pos=2&_start=1#firsthit