What Is a Carillon?
The History of the Carillon
The Carillon as a Musical Instrument
The Carillon Keyboard and Playing Mechanism
Fun Facts About the Wellesley Carillon

What is a carillon?

A carillon is a musical instrument composed of at least 23 carillon bells, arranged in chromatic sequence, so tuned as to produce concordant harmony when many are sounded together. It is played from a keyboard that allows expression through variation of touch. The keys are struck with the half-closed hand while the larger bells are connected to foot pedals.

Although bells were first made during the Bronze Age, it was not until the 15th century that Flemish bell founders discovered the process of accurately tuning bells. The art of making carillon bells almost died out by the 19th centry. It is only in the 20th century that carillon bell founding was revived and has surpassed the quality and tuning of 15th century bells.

The world's greatest concentration of carillons is still in the Low Countries of Europe (Belgium, The Netherlands, norther France, northwest Germany). The art of the carillon has spread world wide, however, with instruments on every continent except Antarctica. Nearly 200 exist in North America.

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The History of the Carillon

The carillon is an extraordinary musical instrument with a history as rich as it is long. For more than five centuries, the carillon has been a voice of the hopes, aspirations, and joys of humankind.

Carillons evolved in the lowlands of Holland, Belgium, and norther France. Their rich mercantile towns exhibited their status by installing fine carillons in their church towers and arranging tunes to be played every quarter hour (or more often!) by an automatic mechanism. The town carillonneur played on market days and holidays. It was said that good bells and good schools were the sign of a well run city.

The first tuned carillon was cast by the brothers Pieter and Francois Hemony and installed in Zutphen, The Netherlands, in 1652. The Hemonys produced many fine instruments and their work set a standard to which modern carillons are still compared. By the time of the French Revolution, changing musical tastes and the wars sweeping across Europe put an end to the first "golden age" of the carillon. Although several Flemish and French founders continued to make large sets of bells, the tuning secrets of the Hemonys were lost. In addition, new "power" mechanisms were developed to make the carillon easier to play; unfortunately, these mechanisms sacrificed musicality for loudness and ease of playing.

Just before the turn of the twentieth century, there was a resurgence of interest in this ancient instrument, due in large part to the efforts of Jef Denyn, carillonneur in Mechlin, Belgium. He improved the musical qualities of his carillon and began a series of weekly concerts that became famous beyond the borders of his own country. In particular, they inspired an American civil servant, William Gorham Rice, who wrote a series of books popularizing this old world instrument. At the same time, developments in England led to the rediscovery of the art of bell tuning.

England never developed a tradition of playing music on sets of bells. Instead, they invented a unique system of ringing mathematical variations of bells, called changeringing. Bells are swung in changeringing, so they were shortened to make them easier to swing. The negative effect this had on the tone of the bells was a serious consideration in changeringing. In the latter part of the 19th century, a Church of England clergyman and ardent bell ringer, Canon Arthur B. Simpson, began investigating why English ringing bells sounded so poor. He published his results in two articles in Pall Mall magazine, entitled "On Bell Sounds" and "Why Bells Sound Out of Tune, and How to Cure Them." Later published in pamphlet form, these articles laid out the principles of five point tuning, eventually adopted by English bell founders. The first set of "Simpson" tuned bells was cast by the Taylor bellfoundry of Loughborough, England, and installed in Ames, Iowa. Today those 10 bells are the foundation of an important carillon at Iowa State University. Based on Simpson's work and a study by H.W. Van Heuven of bells removed from towers in the low countries during WWII, modern founders now consistently surpass the standards set by the Hemony brothers over 300 years ago.

In addition to more accurate tuning, another advance of modern founders is the development of thicker profiles for the small treble bells, so their sound will better balance the sounds of the bass bells.

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The Carillon as a Musical Instrument

The smallest range of bells that can constitute a carillon is two chromatic octaves, or 23 bells (historically, the lowest C-sharp and E-flat were often not installed for reasons of space and expense). An instrument with less than 23 bells is a chime. A chime is a uniquely American instrument which usually consists of one to one-and-a-half diatonic octaves.

Carillons range in size from two to over six octaves, or from a minimum of 23 bells to as many as 77. A range of four to four-and-one-half octaves (47-56 bells) is most desirable since almost all carillon music can be played on such an instrument (by comparison, a piano has 88 notes, while an organ keyboard has 61). Most contemporary carillon music, and much historic music, is written for carillons with a range of four or more octaves. The available repertory for smaller instruments is more limited.

The pitch of the bourdon bell (the lowest bell) of a carillon is often dictated by non-musical considerations, since both pitch and cost are directly related to the size of the bourdon. The largest carillon bell in the world is the bourdon of the Rockefeller carillon in Riverside Church, New York City. It sounds the note C, weighs over 40,000 lbs (20 tons), and exceeds ten feet in diameter. A bell sounding its octave (low C in the four octave range example) weighs approximately 5000 lbs (2.5 tons) with a diameter of about five feet. A bell sounding the next octave (middle C) weights approximately 580 lbs (a quarter ton) and has a diameter of approximately 30 inches. The size and weight-bearing capacity of the bell chamber also has a direct bearing on the size of the carillon.

Since a carillon is seldom played with another instrument, the bourdon may be any pitch deemed suitable for the installation and funds available. Regardless of the actual pitch of the instrument, it's common for the keyboard to be laid out based on the key of C, to simplify the writing and playing of music for it. Thus many carillons are transposing instruments. This is more likely to be true of small or older instruments; modern instruments are more likely to be in concert pitch.

Carillons are usually installed in a tower, either in a partially enclosed bell chamber which helps soften and blend the tones, or else hanging from an exposed bell frame. The keyboard is either in a room directly below the bells or placed in a cabin located in the bell chamber among the bells. A very few instruments have been mounted on trucks or trailers so that they can be moved from place to place.

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The Carillon Keyboard and Playing Mechanism

Carillon bells are bolted to steel or wooden beams and do not move in performance. Instead, the clappers, which are connection to the keys of the keyboard, move to strike the bell. The carillon's mechanical playing action, like that of the piano, gives the performer the ability to control dynamics and phrasing by variation of touch.

Although the traditional carillon keyboard (sometimes called a clavier) shares some similarities with other keyboard instruments, performance technique is unique to the carillon. The keyboard has a manual key (played by the hand) for each not in the carillon. These keys are sometimes called batons because they are wooden levers about 2 feet in length and are rounded at the playing end, resembling batons. In addition, there are one to two octaves of pedal keys, played with the feet, that pull down the corresponding manual keys. This permits a performer to play the heavy bass bells with the feet, while still using hands in the middle and upper octaves. Up to six bells can thus be sounded at once. Generally it is not musically desirable to do so, however, because the rich overtone structure of the bells produces a muddy, dense effect when too many are sounded at once.

Although the keys are played with a closed fist, the carillonneur does not "pound" or "beat" the keys. A properly adjusted and maintained carillon allows the performer to play with a minimum effort.

The motion of the key is carried to the bell's clapper by a wire, usually stainless steel. In the bell chamber the wire is attached to a transmission system that transfers the motion from a vertical wire to a horizontal wire that pulls the bell's clapper (see illustration). At rest, the clapper is about 2 inches from the bell wall. Immediately above the key is an adjuster that allows the performer to compensate for changes in wire length due to temperature changes.

The keyboard should be located close to the bells to keep the mechanical connections short allowing for more precise playing. When the keyboard is too far from the bells, the mass of long wires keeps the clapper against the bell too long, deadening the sound. On large bells, gravity is sufficient to pull the clapper back from the bell; for smaller bells, return springs are need to pull the clapper back quickly.

While ate first glance it may seem that an electric mechanism may be better than a mechanical action, no electrical system has yet been developed which permits expression through variation of touch, as required for proper musical performance. Electrical strikers hit the bell with the same force every time, so none of the great dynamic range of the bell is available to the performer. In addition, such actions are less reliable, and more expensive, than mechanical action.

Some carillons have automatic mechanisms that act as clock chimes, playing the Westminster Quarters or other tunes and striking the hour. Electric action is well suited to such simple tunes. Occasionally, three to five bass bells are arranged to swing in a peal. The sound of such a peal is glorious, but outside clappers must then be used for the carillon action. If this is not done carefully, these bells can be more difficult to play than the rest of the carillon.

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Fun Facts About the Wellesley Carillon

The Wellesley carillon has 32 bells which have a range of C-D-E and then which is chromatic to A. This amounts to almost three octaves.
The carillon was installed in 1931.
The bells are made of solid bronze and are controlled by a series of levers that control the clapper inside of the bell.
The largest bell is 4-5 feet tall, about 3 feet in diameter, and 1600 pounds.
Our smallest bell is 80 pounds.
Each clapper is about 1/10 of the weight of the bell.
The carillon was donated by a student, Charlotte Nichols Greene, in honor of her parents Charlotte Peabody Nichols and John Howard Nichols in June 1931.
Jef Denyn of the Netherlands was the first to play the carillon at the commencement of the Class of 1931.
The carillon is a transposing intrument - when a C is struck on the manuals a concert G is heard.
The Guild of Carillonneurs is currently sponsored by the Wellesley Class of 1951

Created by: Amy Allport
Date Created: 5 October 2007
Date Modified: 6 October 2007
Expires: 1 September 2008