Yale Memorial Carillon

The Yale Memorial Carillon (sometimes incorrectly referred to as the "Harkness Carillon") is a carillon of 54 bells in Harkness Tower at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

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. [http://www.yale.edu/carillon/aboutcarillon.htm] 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."

Origins as a chime

Harkness Tower, the Memorial Quadrangle that surrounds it, and the Harkness Memorial Chime were all part of a gift to Yale made by Anna 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 from chime to carillon

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 re-named 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.

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 Guild members twice a day when classes are in session, and in the evening during the summer. From September to May, rings occur at 12:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., times chosen to avoid disturbing University classes. During the summer, the Guild hosts a concert series of guest carillonneurs on Friday evenings.

Every fall semester, a number of Yale undergraduate students who wish to learn how to play the carillon can audition ("heel") for a place in the [http://www.yale.edu/carillon/ Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs] . After attending an introductory meeting, these students receive nine weeks of basic instruction on how to play the carillon. During these nine weeks they have access to Yale's two practice carillons (an instrument with a keyboard identical to that of the large carillon, but whose small tone bars are not audible outside the tower) to prepare two audition pieces, which are performed for judges (current Guild members), along with a standardized exercise and sight reading. Each year, four to eight auditioners ("heelers") are admitted to the Guild and allowed - after further practice - to perform regularly on the carillon.

External links

* [http://www.yale.edu/carillon/ Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs]
* [http://www.yale.edu Yale University official web site]