Cymbelsterns

[Carl S Zimmerman]

At 13:54 +0100 2005/08/12, LOVE, Dickon wrote:
>I think most modern cymbalsterns ring their bells with solenoids - St John's
>College Cambridge does for example. I gather you can preprogramme the order
>in which they are set to jangle as a consequence. The spinning star on the
>front of the organ case is for show only.

Curious - I've never seen a cymbelstern which operated that way. 
Perhaps another difference between Over Here and Over There?

The cymbelstern on the organ in the church I attend has about eight 
little bells loosely hung on hooks atop a circle of wooden posts 
which sprout from the top of a small box. In the box is a motor 
which rotates an arm in the center of the circle. Hanging loosely 
from the arm is a dingler which strikes each bell in term. It makes 
a very pleasant tinkly sound.

The rotating star is, I believe, an acknowledgement of the origin of 
the cymbelstern. The word comes from the German for "cymbal star", 
and the earliest ones had a small bell (with loose clapper) at each 
point of the star. I don't know the full history, but I'm sure you 
can look it up. :-)

Carl