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A mark tree (also known as a nail tree, chime tree, or bar chimes) is a percussion instrument used primarily for musical color. It consists of many small chimes—typically cylinders of solid aluminum or brass tubing about 3/8" in diameter—of varying lengths, hung from a bar. They are played by sweeping a finger or stick through the length of the hanging chimes. They are typically mounted in pitch order to produce rising or falling glissandos. More expensive models may also have a damper bar. Unlike tubular bells, another form of chime, the chimes on a mark tree do not produce definite pitches.

The mark tree is named after its inventor, studio percussionist Mark Stevens, who devised it in 1967. When he could not come up with a name, percussionist Emil Richards named it after Stevens. Mark trees are colloquially called wind chimes in some modern repertoire. However, the mark tree and wind chimes are two separate instruments, differing in construction and manner of sounding.

See also

• Bell tree

References

1. Libin, Laurence (2015). "Mark tree". The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (Second ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780199743391.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-974339-1.
2. Holland, James (2005). "Mark tree". Practical Percussion: A Guide to the Instruments and Their Sources (Rev. ed.). Scarecrow Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-4616-7063-6. OCLC 681550519.
3. Beck, John H. (2014). "Mark tree". Encyclopedia of Percussion (2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-415971-23-2. OCLC 939052116.
4. Strain, James Allen (2017). "Mark Tree". A Dictionary for the Modern Percussionist and Drummer. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-8108-8693-3. OCLC 974035735.
5. Solomon, Samuel Z. (2016). "Metal Wind Chimes, Mark Tree, Bell Tree". How to Write for Percussion: A Comprehensive Guide to Percussion Composition (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 166–170. ISBN 978-0-19-992035-8. OCLC 936117814.

External links

• Media related to Mark trees at Wikimedia Commons

• Musical instruments played with drum sticks
• Percussion idiophones
• 20th-century percussion instruments
• Unpitched percussion instruments
• Drum kit components