Bells are basically a percussion instrument and since the earliest instruments in music were those of percussion. Bells of one sort or another may be considered one of man's first musical instruments.

More than 4000 years ago the Chinese had an instrument that consisted of 16 flat stones suspended in a frame; this gave forth a scale of exotic notes when struck by a wooden mallet. In Zechariah XIV, 20 of Bible bells for horses were mentioned and King Solomon is supposed to have had large gold bells on the roof of his temple. Including hand bells the ancient Greeks and Romans had bells of all kinds. When a king died in Sparta women walked in the streets striking small bells. In excavations at Ninevah which was destroyed about 612 B.C. bronze bells have been found. Like our modern sleigh bells, small bells have been found in ancient tombs in Peru about 1500 years old. In the Orient, the bells developed into forms that are "pot" and "boul". The boul became a gong that is a distinctively oriental instrument. The other form of bell, the pot it was developed in the Chinese and Japanese "barrel-formed" bells. The large copper or bronze kettle mounted positive aspect down atop a church was developed about the year 400. The bronze bells which are used today have about 80% copper and 20% tin