What note does big ben chime?

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happyliberal

freddiem

not quite E. The bell known as big ben was originally cast (in scotland) to sound the note of E, but actually broke in two the first time it was chimed. The sound clapper weighed 13cwt and was deemed too heavy for the job. The two halves of the broken bell were then taken to Whitechapel foundry and recast again in the note of E. The weight of the sound clapper was reduced to 4cwt. Once again the bell cracked on its first chime, this was proved to be a non fatal crack possibly caused by a founding fault. The bell was turned around 180 degrees and has worked perfectly well since although it should be noted that but for the filled crack it would probably be a perfect E.

Power_Of_Zen

"Big Ben has a nominal of about 335Hz (it is doubletted) which in musical notation is E + 27 cents. Actually, the dominant note we hear with this bell is a secondary strike of about 440Hz, i.e. an A, based on a partial above the octave nominal with a frequency of 883Hz." (sorry that sounds really geeky even to me!)

firecat_mage

The note is E natural.
It was sounded for the first time with a clapper of 7 cwt.
The bell has the following inscription running round it, just above the sound bow,
â€œCast in the 20th year of the reign of her Majesty Queen Victoria, and in the year of our Lord 1856, from the design of Edmund Beckett Denison, Q. C.; Sir Benjamin Hall, Baronet, M.P., Chief Commissioner of Works.â€ On the waist or middle of the bell are the Royal arms, and the names of the founders and patentees of the mode of casting which has been adopted for it, â€œJohn Warner and Sons, Crescent Foundry, Cripplegate, London.â€

The diameter is 9 feet 5Â½ inches; the height outside 7 feet 10Â½ inches; inside 6 feet 8 inches.

The four bells for indicating the quarters of each hour it appears, to be of such notes that we may say they would be respectively the first, second, third, and sixth of a peal of ten; or in musical notation, G sharp (first bell), F sharp (second), E (third), B (sixth); the hour bell being the tenth, an octave below the third bell making the tone approximately E natural.
With a Bell of such size, it is hard to be precise about the exact tone but a talented musical ear used to bell-tones can pick it out.

:~}