Tone and pitch
All About their Construction, Tone and Pitch
Wood and metal are not the only materials that are used for making windchimes. They come in other shapes aside from tubes and rods. In fact, there are wind chimes made of stones, bamboo, horseshoes, PVC pipes, mechanics tools, seashells, glass and old silverware. Pretty much anything that can produce sounds when struck can be made into a wind chime. When these materials are used, they aren’t tunable, which means they don’t produce specific notes; the sounds they produce would instead range from tinkling sounds to dull thuds. Basically, anything can be considered a wind chime if they can be moved by wind and they produce sounds when struck by the wind.
The tone of the chimes depends on a number of things. It depends on what kind of material is used — aluminum, brass, exact alloy, heat treatment, steel, etc. The tone also depends on whether the chimes are solid cylinders or are tubes. If the chimes are hollow tubes, then the tone produce depends on how think the wall of the tube is. The tone also depends on how the chimes are hung as well as how the tubes are struck — whether with a hard center ball in the middle or with a soft one, for instance.
The pitch of a whistle like an organ pipe, for instance, depends mainly on the air column length as the pitch is actually vibrating air. The material of the pipe helps determine the pipe’s “voice” or “timbre” and the air column is what determines the pitch. So in a wind chime that uses pipes that are solid cylinders, it is the pipes that are struck that determine the pitch.
Some people use them to observe the changes in the direction of the wind. For example, if you place them on the north side of your house, the wind coming from the north will move it. One one the south side of the house will be moved by the south wind. This can alert you of any weather changes.