Tintinnabulation

                                       
   Her laugh:                                   
tintinnabulation.                               
                                                
a thousand little bells                       
 ring out                                       
her flyaway hair                                
        wispy                                   
 and                                            
        blond                                   
sticks up with glee.                            
                                                
she gives me that cheeky grin                 
        and laughs as she pulls out another pot. 
             tintinnabulation

The Bells "tintinnabulate" in their ringing. Tin - Tin : Did you know Poe was a opium junky? ;)

In Arvo Part's musical language, tintinnabulation refers to a technique he developed in the late 1970s, which (to a slightly fanciful imagination) recalls the ringing of small bells (in Latin, tintinnabuli). This technique predominates in his later work. A single chord (in fact, a triad) rings out again and again throughout the piece, while other voices (possibly even played on the same instruments) play a more melodic part. Tintinnabulation provides, at different junctures, a slow background rhythm, a surprising second voice, or even (in its absence), a suddenly accentuated silence.

A good piece to understand the power of tintinnabulation is Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, although most any late Part composition will do.

Tin`tin*nab`u*la"tion (?), n.

A tinkling sound, as of a bell or bells.

Poe.

© Webster 1913.