[Bell Historians] Re: Bell tuning before tuning forks

[A Willis]

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Offen [mailto:richard.offen at o...]
Sent: 26 March 2004 18:03




In her Presidential Address on John Rudhall to the Bristol and
Gloucestershire Archaeological Society (Transactions, Volume 121,
2003), Mary Bliss talks about Rudhall using a pitch pipe similar to
those used in churches to pitch the note for hymn singing for taking
the notes of bells. This pipe was rather like a stopped, wooden
organ pipe, with lines marked on the side indicating the various
notes obtained when moving the stopper.


Were these pitch pipes similar to those used for church bands in the 18th
and 19th centuries? Alan Dodge of Freshford, Somerset has written
extensively on such bands, but I don't have any references.


Anne Willis