Gettin' down, up Harkness Tower

BY DAN VENNING

At 12:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. every day, the bells on Harkness Tower ring. Just a little above halfway up the tower, someone is playing the organ-like instrument she calls a carillon. "We are, officially, the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs-make sure you spell that right, we get weird about that," Elizabeth Adams, BK '04, a member of the guild, announces.

DANIEL VENNING/YH

Originally, a professional organist was the only one to play the bells until Elliot H. Kone, BR '49, took over and founded the student guild. Today, about 20 members are involved, and the 2001 rush has begun for freshmen and sophomores interested in joining the guild.

Students become guild members by passing through a rush called "The Heel." The Heel is nine weeks long, far longer than the a cappella rush that ended Tues., Sept. 18. About 100 students signed up at the Freshman Bazaar, and more than 80 attended an organizational meeting. About 60 are heeling. For the next nine weeks, the 60 heelers will take half-hour lessons from a guild member once a week, learn material, and eventually audition which involves playing songs on the actual bells.

DANIEL VENNING/YH

The process of rush is rigorous, so heelers are free to go to the practice room and practice at any time. Last year, when a similar number of heelers rushed, seven had the "bells" to be admitted. The year before, eight joined the guild. In charge of The Heel is the "Heeler Monster," Ken Shevlin, BK '04.

Construction of Harkness Tower started in 1917, with funding for both the tower and the bells provided by Anna Harkness in memory of her son Charles, Class of 1883. The entrance to the tower is just inside the gate to Branford; climbing the spiral staircase, one first encounters a carpeted room about a third of the way up Harkness, which is on the level of Vanderbilt Hall's roof. The room contains a practice carillon that isn't connected to the bells.

Guild members tend to practice for a short time (sparing students' ears as they become carillon masters) before they climb higher up the staircase to play the actual bells.

DANIEL VENNING/YH

The real carillon is located inside a small metal shack, about halfway up the tower, just beneath the clock. The stair continues to the roof past the bells, and it is extremely windy in the higher levels. There are 54 bells; the largest, weighing in at a hefty seven tons, is at the bottom, and the smallest, a lightweight at only 23 lbs., hangs at the top. "Carillons come in all sizes," said Shevlin, "Ours is probably bigger than what's necessary to play most pieces." The original 10 were cast in 1921, the rest in 1964. All were inscribed with their birthyear and the familiar motto "For God, For Country, And For Yale."

"They'll pretty much last forever," Shevlin said. However, he noted that they have to be rotated every few decades so that the bells aren't bent out of shape by the clappers continually hitting the same spot.

The carillon itself is just below the bells, and is connected, by wires, to the clappers. Each of the clappers is connected to both a foot pedal and hand pedal on the instrument. "Anything you can play with the feet you can play with the hands also," Shevlin said. "The pedal board doubles the manual board. There are composers who write for carillon. Since it's such a unique instrument, it has special overtones. Sometimes piano music doesn't work as well because of those overtones. Most of what I play is written for carillon."

Shevlin has a repertoire of about 20 pieces, but he says that older members of the guild probably play more. Since each member plays one shift a week, and there are only two half-hour shifts a day, a variety of music rings through the air depending on the taste of the person ringing the bells.

When asked how pieces are chosen, Andrea Giese-Sweat, PC '04 said, "Last year, when I had just joined, the older guild members suggested pieces for me to play. But after a while, we pretty much play what we want." She also noted that members often adapt their favorite popular pieces, ranging from classical works written for carillon to selections from My Fair Lady, to student arrangements of Britney Spears songs and the theme song from Inspector Gadget.

After playing the familiar notes heard at the beginning of every set to signify the hour, then striking the bells five times, Shevlin played The Chorale Partita III: Harmony Of Zion, a classical piece by Knox. He then handed over the carillon to Suzanne Bratt, SM '03, and Alex Milsom, CC '03. There are duets, they said, but almost all of what they play are solos.

While the bells were playing, below in the practice room a heeler, Ryan Miller, PC '05, was trying his hand on the practice carillon. He was playing very simple pieces out of a book called Carillon Method.

When asked what motivated him to rush the guild, he said, "I played the piano for about nine years... and I always think [the carillon] sounds really awesome. It's not something you're usually exposed to." 

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