Product Description

The feeling created by this relaxing and tranquil chime is credited to an ancient Chinese pentatonic scale introduced in the 27th century BC by Ling Lun, a court musician under Emperor Huang-ti, the legendary Yellow Emperor. Lun first played this musical scale on pan pipes cut from different lengths of bamboo. In Chinese mythology, Lun was said to have created bamboo flutes which made the sounds of many birds, including the mythical phoenix. The perfect fifth, the basis of the pentatonic scale, is expressed by the ratio 3:2. Lun designed his flutes based on this principle, believing the relationship of 3 to 2 represented the harmony that exists between heaven and earth. In ancient China, music was seen as central to well-being and longevity.Over 30 years ago, Grammy award-winning musician and instrument designer Garry Kvistad created the first Woodstock Chime from an aluminum lawn chair he found in a landfill. Fascinated by the Scale of Olympos, a 7th century pentatonic scale that can’t be played on a modern piano, Garry cut and tuned the lawn chair tubes to the exact frequency of the ancient scale. The resulting Chimes of Olympos was the first Woodstock Chime and is still one of our best selling, musically-tuned windchimes. Garry and his wife Diane founded Woodstock Chimes in 1979 and still develop the chimes today. It remains a family-owned business in New York’s Hudson Valley.

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The sounds of nature are sweet, but the music of chirping birds, chattering squirrels, and rustling leaves is even sweeter when accompanied by Woodstock’s Chinese-influenced, computer-tuned wind chimes. The silver chimes are tuned to the pentatonic scale introduced by Ling Lun, a court musician under Chinese Emperor Huang-Ti in the 27th century B.C. Company founder Garry Kvistad has developed an advanced method of tuning used on every Woodstock chime: each tube is analyzed digitally with a microphone under the tube measuring the frequency, and cutters are instructed to remove just the right amount of material to produce the most precise tuning possible. The result is a purer, more harmonious sound. Woodstock prides itself on being a socially responsible company, explaining that “through the sale of our chimes we proudly support the arts, as well as many environmental and humanitarian causes.” Add the tones of ancient China to your yard or garden while contributing to the harmony of the earth. –Ariel Meadow Stallings