STONE CHIMES

also called Lithophone, a set of struck sonorous stones (individually called phonoliths). Such instruments can be found from the South Seas and South America to Africa and the Far East. Stones are used in Ethiopian and Coptic churches, for example, as bells (dowel) as well as in sets of chimes. Large stones are used in some Vietnamese religious temples, and one of the oldest surviving lithophones was discovered there in 1949. Remains of other ancient stones come from Chinese archaeological diggings, and such instruments are mentioned in sources as early as the Chou dynasty (c. 1122256/255 BC). Chinese stones (ch'ing) are commonly found in an obtuse L shape. They are made of many materials, including marble, nephrite, and jade. Sets of 16 stones (pien ch'ing) were used in Confucian ritual orchestras and survive today in such groups in Korea, where they are called teuk kyeng. A lithophone was built by an English stonemason in 1841 and enjoyed a brief concert life under the name rock harmonicon.