[1][2] Bell plates were first developed and implemented as percussion instruments in ancient Asia, but did not enter into Western music until the late 19th century.

The plates are typically suspended from a semicircular frame and are occasionally fitted with resonators to enhance volume and the sounding of low partials.

The player then strikes the plates with a wooden, hard plastic, or metal mallet which can be covered in varying thicknesses of felt to create a variety of sounds.

A softer mallet, which has a thicker felt covering, can achieve a greater sounding of the fundamental pitch of the plate, while a harder mallet with a thinner covering of felt will produce stronger overtones and possibly overshadow the fundamental pitch of the plate.

The bell plates may be dampened with the player's hand or with the mallet to quicken or immediately cut off the decay of the sound after striking.