Editing Wind chime (section)

== Sounds and music ==
[[File:Windglockenspiel.Koshi.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Wind chime with the audible tones a1-d2-f2-g2-a2-d3-f3-a3. The bamboo cylinder is not only the case of the instrument, but at the same time it is the resonator. The eight tones are produced by eight metal rods within the cylinder which are centrally struck by a disk attached to the cord with the wind sail.  
[[File:Windglockenspiel.Koshi.ogg]]
]]
Chimes produce [[inharmonic]] (as opposed to [[harmonic]]) [[Harmonic spectrum|spectra]], although if they are hung at about 2/9 of their length<ref>[[William Sethares|Sethares, William A.]] (2005). ''Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale'', p.115. {{ISBN|9781846281136}}.</ref> (22.4%<ref name=mtu>{{cite web|url=http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/windchime.html|title=Physics of Music: Make your own wind chimes|date=2009-01-08|work=Michigan Tech|access-date=2009-01-08|archive-date=2017-07-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703185930/http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/windchime.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=formula>{{cite web|url=http://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2011/09/giant-ominous-wind-chimes/|title=Giant, Ominous Wind Chimes|date=2011-09-29|work=Milwaukee Makerspace}}</ref>), some of the higher partials are damped and the [[fundamental frequency|fundamental]] rings the loudest.<ref name="formula"/> This is common practice in high-quality wind chimes, which are also usually hung so the centre ball strikes the centre of the wind chime's length, also resulting in the loudest sounding fundamental.<ref name="formula"/> Frequency is determined by the length, width, thickness, and material. There are formulas<ref name="formula"/> that help predict the proper length to achieve a particular note, though a bit of fine tuning is often needed.

Most chimes employ [[pentatonic scale|pentatonic]] or [[tetratonic scale]]s as the basis for the pitches of their individual chimes as opposed to the traditional western [[heptatonic scale]]. This is largely due to the fact that these scales inherently contain fewer dissonant [[interval (music)|intervals]], and therefore sound more pleasant to the average listener when notes are struck at random.

In instruments such as [[organ pipe]]s, the pitch is determined primarily by the length of the air column, because it is the resonance of the air column that generates the sound. The pipe material helps determine the "[[timbre]]" or "voice" of the pipe, but the air column determines the pitch. In a wind chime, the vibrations of the pipe itself radiate the sound after being struck, so the air column has little to do with the pitch being produced.

Sound can be produced when the tubes or rods come in contact with a suspended central [[Bell (instrument)|clapper]] in the form of a ball or horizontal disk, or with each other.

Wind chimes may be used to observe changes in wind direction, depending on where they are hung when they commence to sound.