So, the bell man was very important to the dynasties in China."Ĭross has designed bells for every occasion, from housewarming gifts to retirement celebrations. Bells were considered as part of calling in the spirits and connecting with the gods. "In the olden days in China the bell maker was number three in the hierarchy: Emperor, priest, then bell founder. "The Chinese invented bronze bells about 2500 B.C. "There's been lots of bell companies that have come and gone, because they knew how to pour metal, but they didn't know how to make the bell."īronze bells done right will outlast 350 years. Just because something looks like a bell, there's a lot more to it than that," Cross explains. So why are bell makers such a rarefied bunch? "The skill level to make a bell really ring rather than clink is a long learning curve. "All over the place you've got potters and painters, but there's three bell makers in the whole country of the United States." Not many artisans can certify their work this way. The bronze wind bells can hang outdoors year-round, and they carry a 350-year guarantee (which might make for some interesting returns at some point). While Cross' booth hasn't been bought out yet, there's always the next fair. this became a real job with real money," he says, adding, "There were stories of people buying a whole booth."
it was so easy to make money then that all of a sudden, the whole art fair became not just a little something to do on the weekends. "As Reagan got into his career as a president, things just got spectacular in the art-fair business," Cross recalls.ĭue to lax financial oversight during Reagan's tenure and the savings and loan scandal, "these people who had wads and wads of hundreds in their pockets went to art fairs and were just spending it like it was water. Turns out the 1980s were a bell serendipity.
"So my career kind of came to an abrupt halt with President Reagan, and so I had this bell business and I focused on that." But "when President Reagan came in, he zeroed out all the conservation funds in Third World countries," Cross says. After a three-year Peace Corps stint at a national park in Colombia, he consulted on systems planning for wild lands in underdeveloped countries. Cross holds an undergraduate degree in forestry and park planning and a graduate degree from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources. After his brother's passing, Cross moved the company to Ann Arbor.īells were not his first calling. Cross' brother Jeff, aided by their father, a metallurgist who ran foundries during World War II and trained his sons in the art of bronze casting, founded the company in Arizona in 1969. One of only three bell makers in the U.S., and the only one who exhibits at art fairs nationwide, Cross runs Harmony Hollow Bell Works from a west-side studio in Ann Arbor. For the last 32 years at fair time, Harmony Hollow Bell Works owner Bradley Cross has rung his street-corner bell medley. William and Maynard Streets during the Ann Arbor Art Fair. Beginners should find the app easy to handle, thanks to the intuitive interface but the available features require at least some musical training.It must've been bells you heard at the windy junction of E. The program is even compatible with MIDI keyboards, which means that if you can play such an instrument, you can automatically enter the notes on the score sheet.Īll in all, Harmony Assistant is a great tool if your passion is making music. You may have the program play the notes for you at any time so you may hear where it requires changes, even if it’s just a half tone up or down. A MIDI-compatible music maker for both aficionados and professionals
It’s even possible to create personal colored annotations over the sheet in progress, which makes Harmony Assistant get a bit closer to a real paper stave. You may also load various other music sheets and edit them by using the multiple tools that are put at your disposal. In other words, if you know your way around a stave, you might get accustomed to Harmony Assistant easier and faster than you can. Various marking tools are also available, as well as symbols, clefs and signatures. Thus, you may choose all types of notes (whole, half, quarter, eight and so on), rests and accidentals, to name just a few. It gives you the opportunity to fill in the musical staff with a complete range of annotations. The app has a straightforward interface and a clean layout, making it easy to handle by all users. Place notes on your stave and load vairous music sheets Harmony Assistant is a simple yet handy software program that was designed specifically for composing, playing and printing music. Creating music requires a lot of talent, but talent without a lot of training leads to nowhere.
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