Bells are an everyday sound, though we may not even realize how common non-instrumental bells really are! Church bells, school bells and clock tower bells sound out through our communities helping us keep time and announcing when we are running late. Other types of bells, such as the ding of a bicycle bell or the tinkle of sleigh bells in the winter can be heard on the streets, an idyllic reminder of simpler times before fast cars and noisy horns.

A bell is a simple idiophone percussion instrument. Although bells come in many forms, most are made of metal cast in the shape of a hollow cup, whose sides form a resonator which vibrates in a single tone upon being struck.