Bells with their multiple harmonics and pure tones have the capacity to charm, to excite or to calm the spirit. Their sonorous vibrations evoke half remembered images of far away (and long ago) places.
Echoing down through the ages, bells and gongs have been used by man for myriad reasons; From the mundane to the mystic.
Photo by OMANN  |
In Moscow rests a great bell with a piece missing, the 'Tsar Kolokol'. Cast in the 18th century, it weighs 200 tons and has never been rung. A broken symbol that needs repair. The voice of this greatest of musical instruments could resonate with rich harmonics thanks to modern technology and metalurgy. It is my hope that one day this bell will ring out to the world
Montreal: Happy city of Arts and Music, was once called 'La ville des cents clochers`: ' The City of a Hundred Bell Towers'. Many splendid bells are still heard while, sadly, many others have fallen silent. One of the finest 'Carillons' in the city was originally cast for the Eiffel Tower in Paris and is now played the the 'Oratoire Saint Joseph', a landmark situated on a flank of Mount Royal in the heart of Montreal.
These sounds entrance me. I have travelled the world to hear and play exotic percussion instruments including the Great Bell at Mingun, north of Mandalay in Burma (the largest working bell in the world weighing approximately 93 tons) as well as chimes, gongs, bells, bronze bowls, tibetan bells, jade disks and bullroarers.
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Because of my facination with bells, I've studied some arts of sonic entrainment and used it in my music. It is intended to calm and soothe the mind and spirit of the listener as well as to entertain.
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VOYAGES (with water and bell music)
Photos - J.D. Sage
For quite a long time and many seasons I travelled with a tape recorder and a camera to many countries *(6 continents)
in search of beautiful sounds and images: ocean waves, waterfalls, streams, chants, birds, bells and many
streets were captured on tape and film. I have integrated many of these sounds into my new campanology
project called "VOYAGES": In this project relaxing and evocative water sound waves are blended
with the resonance of humming bronze gongs and bells and the sound of streets and streams. The esoteric mix
of bronze and water seems to act as an anti-stress and is,I believe, soothing to the mind of the listener.
This Ambient/World/New Concrete Music will soon be available.
www.jdsage.com
