The Air (Aria) Koshi chime has eight steel rods sounding A C E A B C E B. They come from the A minor scale, and the maker describes the sound as clear, light and airy. Aria is Italian for air, and also the Italian word for a song, as in an opera aria.
Two of its notes, B and C, sit side by side on a piano with no black key between them. When they sound together, the harmony tightens for a moment. This is not a false note; the tension comes from how close the two notes are.
The body is a treated bamboo cylinder, 6.3 cm in diameter and 16.5 cm tall, with a hard acrylic ball hanging on a cord among the rods. It is handmade at the foot of the Pyrenees and tuned to A = 432 Hz; the workshop says the rods do not go out of tune.
To play it by hand, hold it by the cord and turn it slowly with your wrist. Outdoors, hang it only in a covered, sheltered spot, because rain and damp harm the bamboo. It is not a toy, and the maker says it is not suitable for children under three.
Hung up, it is played by the wind, and indoors a gentle draft by a window is enough to set it ringing.