This is a pair of small hand bells from Thailand. They are about 2x2x2 inches, and made of bronze. They were purchased in Thailand.
The ching is the timekeeper for traditional Thai ensembles (eg. pi phat or mahori). It plays a repeating pattern of alternating closed and open tones. In contrast to tradional European music, the accents (marked with the closed tone of the ching) are on the second and fourth beats in the measure, with the strongest emphasis on the fourth beat. This pattern usually starts slowly, with one "ching" per measure, and repeatedly doubles in speed as the piece progresses. This information on the ching comes from the essay "The Music of Thailand" by David Morton.
The samples include open and closed strokes, as well as some longer open rings. There are also digitally reversed and looped tones. Note that the pitch is very close to a standard western "C". Finally, there is a loop of the traditional pattern at 120 BPM.
These files are original recordings and photos from the Sudden Sound Studio instrument collection.
All files are copyright © 2002 Greg Bossert, and released under the Open Audio License (O) Greg Bossert www.suddensound.com 2002 V.1.0. This means you can pretty much do what you want with these sounds as long as the attribution and license stay attached. See the license at the EFF for more details.
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email: bossert@suddensound.com