14 singing bowls on stick Bell Tree instrument handmade in Nepal.

A bell tree, also known as a Chinese bell tree (often confused with the marker tree), is a percussion instrument, consisting of vertically nested inverted metal shells. The scales, placed on a vertical bar, are arranged approximately in pitch order. The number of scales can vary between about 14 and 28. An effective glissando is produced by sliding a triangular beater, glockenspiel hammer or xylophone hammer down the length of the tree. The bells are usually set to microtonal intervals and do not represent a formal scale. When a glissando is played, the imprecision of the pitch order of the bowls is imperceptible, only creating a fuller sound. The bell tree is often used to accentuate the beginning or end of musical passages with a "bright", "shimmer" effect , add complexity. Chick Corea and his group Return To Forever occasionally used the bell tree (i.e. album Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy), as did the group Santana. Isaac Howie has sometimes used the bell tree in his compositions. The rock band America used one in "Bell Tree", a song named after the instrument, which was found on their 1975 album Hearts. Neil Peart of Rush used this instrument for the song "The Trees" from the album Hemispheres (1978 ), as seen on the song's official music video, and the live album Exit... Stage Left.