The sound of a bell can have many different meanings depending on the context in which it’s heard. Church bells sound for weddings and for funerals. The bells within a clock tower signal the passing of time. During World War II, the ringing of church bells was banned in Britain so that the sound could be reserved for signaling an enemy threat. Similar to these examples, a variety of bell-like sounds are used within “Tolling” to evoke a variety of emotional responses within the listener.
The introduction begins with long tolls from the trumpet along with a steady march-like pattern played with a mallet and a brush on the bass drum. An exposition contains the primary melodic motive, an ascending arpeggiated minor chord with a 7th and a 9th. This motive, and the rhythm in which it’s first presented, are both sprinkled throughout the piece in altered forms. Other tolling sounds are used to create tension as in the first climax where the trumpet repeats high A’s in syncopation with the bass drum and metal sounds. In the following section, the rhythm from the original motive is found repeated in the metals at varied speeds to mimic the sound of multiple bells ringing at different intervals of time.
The introduction begins with long tolls from the trumpet along with a steady march-like pattern played with a mallet and a brush on the bass drum. An exposition contains the primary melodic motive, an ascending arpeggiated minor chord with a 7th and a 9th. This motive, and the rhythm in which it’s first presented, are both sprinkled throughout the piece in altered forms. Other tolling sounds are used to create tension as in the first climax where the trumpet repeats high A’s in syncopation with the bass drum and metal sounds. In the following section, the rhythm from the original motive is found repeated in the metals at varied speeds to mimic the sound of multiple bells ringing at different intervals of time.
