This carillon is a transposing instrument pitched in B. Its 54 bells are chromatically arranged from G (1.5 octaves below middle-C) to C (3 octaves above middle-C) for a total of 4.5 octaves. The lowest bell is an F♯ concert pitch, and weighs 13,400 pounds. Each bell is engraved with the year it was cast, the seal of the foundry, the seal of Yale, and the motto "For God, For Country, and For Yale."
Origin
Harkness Tower, the Memorial Quadrangle that surrounds it, and the Harkness Memorial Chime were all part of a gift to Yale made by Anna M. Harkness in memory of her son, Charles William Harkness. Its original 10 bells (an instrument with a range of less than two octaves is referred to as a chime - the Harkness Memorial Chime - rather than a carillon) were cast by the John Taylor Bellfounders of Loughborough, England, in 1921. They were installed in Harkness Tower in 1922 and were first rung by John Taylor on June 9, 1922. The chimes were rung regularly by the university organist, Samuel H. Smith, until 1946 when this duty was assumed by a student, Elliot H. Kone '49. On his graduation in 1949, Kone formed a student organization, the Guild of Yale Bellringers, to continue with four rings per day.
Expansion
In 1966, the instrument was expanded by the installation of an additional 44 bells, made possible by a gift from Florence S. Marcy Crofut and also cast by the John Taylor Bellfounders. The original chime had 10 pitches, which were named in concert pitch (F♯-G-A-B-C-C♯-D-E-F♯-G); the expansion kept the same bell as bourdon, but the notes were renamed to make the bourdon a G (it is common practice to make carillons transposing instruments so that composers can assume a standard range). The new fully chromatic 4.5 octave carillon was named the Yale Memorial Carillon to avoid showing preference to either the Harkness or the Crofut gift. At this point the Guild renamed itself the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs.
Before the additional bells arrived, a practice carillon was installed in the tower to allow Guild members to learn the new instrument ahead of time. The practice carillon has a keyboard and pedalboard identical to those of the carillon, but the keys strike small tone bars instead of full-sized bells. The practice carillon allows Guild members to practice at a volume comparable to that of most other instruments instead of at the full volume of the carillon, which can be heard for several blocks. A second practice carillon was installed in April, 2006, adding greater flexibility to practicing schedules.
Yale tour guides like to perpetuate the myth that Harkness Tower was once the tallest free-standing stone structure in the world, but needed to be reinforced because an eccentric architect poured acid down the walls to make the tower look older. However, the Washington Monument has been the tallest free-standing stone structure in the United States since it was completed, long before Harkness Tower was built. Furthermore, it was the weight of the additional bells in 1966 that necessitated the reinforcement of the tower with a steel frame structure to carry the additional weight.
Current use
The instrument is currently rung by members of the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs twice a day when classes are in session, and in the evening during the summer. The Guild is a group of approximately twenty undergraduate and graduate students. From September to May, rings occur at 12:30p.m. and 5:30p.m. During the summer, the Guild hosts a concert series of guest carillonneurs on Friday evenings. Free tours are led by students throughout the year and can be arranged using the Guild's website.
The carillon console. Guild members strike the batons with their hand and the pedals with their feet to move the clappers of the bells.
Every fall semester, all students from Yale College and the Yale Graduate Schools are invited to learn to play the carillon and can audition for a place in the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs. These students undergo an intensive five-week training program led by experienced members of the guild concluding with an audition. The most skilled students are admitted to the group, and perform regularly on the carillon.
A carillon ( KERR-ə-lon, kə-RIL-yən) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniously together. They are struck with clappers connected to a keyboard of wooden batons played with the hands and pedals played with the feet. Often housed in bell towers, carillons are usually owned by churches, universities, or municipalities. They can include an automatic system through which the time is announced and simple tunes are played throughout the day.
Sather Tower is a bell tower with clocks on its four faces on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. It is more commonly known as The Campanile for its resemblance to the Campanile di San Marco in Venice. It is a recognizable symbol of the university.
Campanology is the scientific and musical study of bells. It encompasses the technology of bells – how they are founded, tuned and rung – as well as the history, methods, and traditions of bellringing as an art.
Harkness Tower is a masonry tower at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Part of the Collegiate Gothic Memorial Quadrangle complex completed in 1922, it is named for Charles William Harkness, brother of Yale's largest benefactor, Edward Harkness.
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an internal "clapper" or "uvula", an external hammer, or—in small bells—by a small loose sphere enclosed within the body of the bell.
A chime or set of chimes is a carillon-like instrument, i.e. a pitched percussion idiophone consisting of 22 or fewer cast bronze bells. Chimes are primarily played with a keyboard, but can also be played with an Ellacombe apparatus. Chimes are often automated, in the past with mechanical drums connected to clocks and in the present with electronic action. Bellfounders often did not attempt to tune chime bells to the same precision as carillon bells. Chimes are defined as specifically having fewer than 23 bells to distinguish them from the carillon. American chimes usually have one to one and a half diatonic octaves. According to a recent count, there are over 1,300 existing chimes throughout the world. Almost all are in the Netherlands and the United States, with most of the remainder in Western European countries.
The Rainbow Tower is a 50.3 metres (165 ft) tower located at the Rainbow Plaza Canada–US border station of the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Construction on the tower was completed in 1947. The tower, part of the Canadian plaza of the bridge, was designed by Canadian architect William Lyon Somerville.
JonkheerJacob van Eyck was a Dutch nobleman and blind musician. He was one of the best-known musicians of the Dutch Golden Age, working as a carillon player and technician, an organist, a recorder virtuoso, and a composer. He was an expert in bell casting and tuning, and taught Pieter and François Hemony how to tune a carillon. Van Eyck is credited with developing the modern carillon together with the brothers in 1644, when they cast the first tuned carillon in Zutphen. He is also known for his collection of 143 melodies for recorder, Der Fluyten Lust-hof, the largest work for a solo wind instrument in European history.
The Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn" is a music school in Mechelen, Belgium, that specializes in the carillon. It is the first and largest carillon school in the world. The Belgian government defines it as an "International Higher Institute for the Carillon Arts under the High Protection of Her Majesty Queen Fabiola". The school has trained many of the foremost carillonneurs of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and houses a rich archive and library.
Cleveland Tower is a bell tower containing a carillon on the campus of Princeton University. Inspired by Boston College's Gasson Hall, the design by Ralph Adams Cram is one of the defining Collegiate Gothic architectural features of the university's Graduate College. The tower was built in 1913 as a memorial to former university trustee and U.S. President Grover Cleveland. A bust of the former president is the centerpiece of the grand chamber at the tower's ground level.
The Century Tower is a 157-foot-tall (48 m) bell tower containing a carillon in the center of the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida, United States.
The Belmont Tower and Carillon is an iconic structure on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The Tower is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Belmont Mansion registration and is prominently featured in the university logo. The current Belmont University Tower and Carillon chimes each hour from 9:00am–8:00pm.
The Waag building is a National monument (Rijksmonument) listed building on the Waagplein in Alkmaar in the Netherlands. On this square Waagplein every Friday from April till the second week of September, the famous cheese market is held. The Dutch Cheese Museum and the tourist information Office (VVV) are also in the building. In the tower is a famous carillon weekly played by a carillonneur and also automatically by a drum chiming the quarters of the hour. There is also the famous automatic horse with knights play in the tower with an automatic trumpetplayer.
The 'Drommedaris' is the southern gateway of the city Enkhuizen. It is the best known building in Enkhuizen.
Ronald Montague Barnes was an American carillonist, composer, and musicologist. He first began playing the carillon as a teenager at his hometown's church. In 1952, at 24 years old, he was appointed to play the carillon at the University of Kansas, where he developed as a musician. He was later the carillonist for the Washington National Cathedral from 1963 to 1975 and the University of California, Berkeley, from 1982 until his retirement in 1995. He was an involved member of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, having served as its president, vice president, and several other roles.
The Senior Memorial Chime, known more commonly as the Altgeld Chimes, is a 15-bell chime in Altgeld Hall Tower on the central campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, in Urbana, Illinois, United States.
The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) is a professional association of carillonneurs in North America, dedicated to the advancement of the art, literature, and science of the carillon. It was founded in Ottawa, Canada, in 1936 by American and Canadian carillonneurs so that they could keep better contact and develop the musicality of the instrument. It publishes sheet music, two periodicals, and instrument design standards; holds an annual congress for members to share ideas and developments; administers music examinations for its members; and offers grants for various activities concerning the carillon.
Campanology is the scientific and musical study of bells. It encompasses the technology of bells – how they are cast, tuned, and rung – as well as the history, methods, and traditions of bellringing as an art. Articles related to campanology include:
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