Quasimodo gets revenge

Lilting, lyrical, lulling, lovely, loud—somehow, words cannot capture the full experience of hearing the sounds of a carillon's bells. The bells of Harkness Tower may not be foremost on your mind during the semester's first weeks, but after a month or two of serving as their unsolicited audience twice daily, you will incorporate their sounds into your Yale experience.

FABIAN ROSADO/YH The Guild of Carilloneurs serenades Yale with Harkness Tower's 54-bell carillon.

The enormous sound of the Harkness bells is created through a simple musical instrument called a carillon. Consisting of a clavier-style keyboard and organ-like foot pedals, the carillon controls wires which are attached to other wires connected to individual bell clappers. When a carillonneur strikes a baton, the clapper hits the side of the bell and rings a note. The harder a baton is hit, the louder the sound. Since the bells of Harkness range from anywhere between 30 pounds and seven tons, a large range of tones and dynamics can be created.

Every day at 12:30 and 5:00 p.m., two members of the Yale Guild of Carillonneurs climb the 150 steps to the playing cabinet halfway up Harkness Tower and serenade the entire campus for 30 minutes. As diverse as the Yale student body itself, the music that Guild members perform includes all styles and tastes; you're just as likely to hear something by the Eurythmics or Simon and Garfunkel as you are to hear arrangements of Mozart or Beethoven.

The process of joining the Guild starts in September with the "heel." A current Guild member teaches each interested "heeler" how to coordinate the hand and foot motions involved in manipulating the carillon. After two months of practice, the Guild holds auditions to select new members. It then decides who will join the ranks of those who receive one of the coveted keys to the top of Harkness Tower, with its awe-inspiring 216-foot view.

Once initiated in-to the Guild, new members pick a time slot to play and are allowed to attend the Guild's weekly dinners and annual spring tours. While not as exotic as the Guild's triennial spring tour to Belgium, its spring tours to places like the Midwest and eastern Canada nonetheless give members the chance to meet and bond with an eclectic cross-section of the Yale community.

During your first few days adjusting to Yale, stop and take a moment to listen to the carillon bells. Over the next four years, their daily music will become the sound of home.

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