stone chimes

stone chimes, a set of struck sonorous stones. Such instruments have been found—and in some cases, are still used—in Southeast, East, and South Asia as well as in parts of Africa, South America, and Oceania. In the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, for example, stones have been used as single bells (dowel) as well as in sets of chimes.

One of the oldest surviving lithophones (bien chung) was discovered in Vietnam in 1949, and today large stone chimes are housed in some Vietnamese religious temples. Remains of other ancient stones come from Chinese archaeological diggings, notably from the tomb of Zenghouyi (Marquis Yi of Zeng), which contained several well-preserved examples of musical instruments, including the zhong (clapperless bronze bell), the zhu (half-tube zither), and the paixiao (raft of bamboo panpipes). Stone chimes are mentioned in sources as early as the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 bce). Chinese stones (qing) are commonly found in an obtuse L shape. They are made of many materials, including marble, nephrite, and jade. Sets of 16 stones (bianqing) were used in Confucian ritual orchestras and survive today in such groups in Korea, where they are called p’yŏn’gyŏng. A lithophone was built by an English stonemason in 1840 and enjoyed a brief concert life under the name rock harmonicon.