Tower of Voices

Tower of Voices. Flight 93 National Memorial. , A monumental, 93-foot-tall musical instrument, the Tower of Voices marks the gateway to and from this expansive, living memorial landscape. Forty chimes represent the voices of the 40 courageous passengers and crew members who took a vote to come together and fight terrorism on the morning of September 11, 2001. The music of the chimes is a living tribute to these 40 men and women, many whose last messages to loved ones were through telephone calls and recorded voice messages., Why is the Tower of Voices Unique? , There are no other wind chime towers in the world like the Tower of Voices. The Tower of Voices contains aluminum tubular chimes which create music when the wind blows through the concrete tower, which is 93 feet tall and 15 feet in diameter. The Tower of Voices' chimes are activated solely by the wind. Conifer and deciduous plantings are arranged in concentric rings, representing sound waves emanating from the tower., Music Theory and the Chimes Construction , The notes of the chimes span two octaves and include C, D, E, F#, G and B. These notes are based on a C Lydian mode. Some chimes are tuned to nearly the same frequency, to create a subtle periodic variation in pitch and volume which contributes to the musicality of the tower. In order to build the chimes with different pitches, their lengths vary, ranging from five feet to ten feet. Shorter chimes have higher pitches, and the longer chimes have lower pitches., The powder-coated aluminum chimes are eight inches in diameter with half-inch thick walls. Five chimes hang from each of the eight tower columns. The musical tones create both harmony and dissonance with the surrounding chimes, representing the voices of the passengers and crew members who gave their lives and, through that action, saved others that fateful morning on September 11, 2001.