Talk:Mark tree

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Name

Google "bell chimes" Google "mark tree" one important hit

I'd never heard the name mark tree before seeing it in Wikipedia, although I've heard them live quite often and seen them in music shops.

(But never tempted to buy. Frankly I don't particularly like the effect, I've always thought they detracted from the performance but then the drummers I've heard use them haven't had a lot to offer anyway. Sorry if that's harsh!)

Anyway, the name does have some currency, apparently. (And the manner in which I've seen them used is evidently the way they're meant to be played, as a sort of tuned instrument used in an untuned manner. To each their own.) Andrewa (talk) 20:17, 28 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Two standard percussion history texts: Jame Holland's Percussion (Schirmer Reference, 1981) and James Blades Percussion Instruments and Their History (Farber & Farber, 1984) -- refer to this instrument as a "Mark Tree".

I've also heard them called "nail trees", "bar chimes", "bell trees" (incorrectly), and "wind chimes" (incorrectly). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.95.43.253 (talk) 22:36, 4 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

"Bar chimes" have been around for at least a century; the "mark tree" is very similar but has solid chimes instead of hollow ones, and was invented in the 1960s. They make about the same sound. These instruments used to have two separate articles; information has been lost by combining them into one and conflating two different things. 173.174.85.204 (talk) 16:25, 1 February 2016 (UTC)Eric[reply]

Image

One is badly needed. Anyone got a set to photograph and put on commons? Andrewa (talk) 22:11, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wind chimes

Um . . .

Wind chimes are mounted in a circle with a hanging striker strung in the center; they may be solid or hollow and made of many types of material, whereas the mark tree is mounted in a linear fashion and normally has solid metal bars.

The chief distinction between the Mark tree and wind chimes has to do with how they're activated, not what shape they are. Some wind chimes are mounted in a circle, but I have wind chimes that are mounted in squares, ovals, triangles, hexagons, random bunches, and also linearly. There are also Mark trees made with various kinds of wood, metal, and even glass rods.

The primary distinction is: Mark trees are intended to be activated by hand (or a percussion mallet), whereas wind chimes are intended to be activated by the blowing of the wind.

Proposed name change

I recently happened upon a vintage example of this instrument at an estate sale, and purchased it to give to my brother, who is in his 60s, and a percussionist with a symphony orchestra (and a Berklee grad). I knew what it did and in what contexts it was used, but not the name for it. When I gave it to him I asked him what it was called. He answered "It's a bar chimes". Returning to Wikipedia, I looked up that term and found this page, through a redirect, but was perplexed by the name given here. I called him to ask if it was also called a "Mark tree" and his answer was "What's a 'Mark tree?!'" I then Googled "Mark tree" + "percussion OR instrument OR music", and this resulted in 30,000 hits. I changed the first term to "bar chimes" and this time the result was 125,000 hits; more than four times as many results. The instrument in question bears no resemblance to a tree, and Mark Stevens is so obscure that he doesn't even warrant a Wiki article. I think that it's safe to say that no one can find this page intuitively by trying to use keywords that would come to the mind of the layperson, but the resemblance to other kinds of commonly-known "chimes" (including wind chimes) is intuitive, and "bar" is descriptive, since they are made from bars of metal. I suggest that the article be changed to the more descriptive, intuitive and commonly-known term "bar chimes". Bricology (talk) 23:56, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"Mark tree" is the preferred term by most scholarly books actually written about percussion: How to Write for Percussion (p. 168); A Dictionary for the Modern Percussionist and Drummer (p. 118); All about Hand Percussion (p. 24); Percussion for Musicians (p. 41); Practical Percussion: A Guide to the Instruments and Their Sources (p. 35)... I could go on, but you get the point. Most of the entries in the books above start off with: "Mark tree" (also known as...). Some do not even have the term "bar chimes" listed, using other common terms such as "bar tree" or "chime tree". Why? I Ask (talk) 04:33, 28 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]