Allen Bell Tower to be included on tour for national carillonneurs
Janel Shoun |
| Dr. Tam is a native of Hong Kong and the carillonneur for Iowa State University. She has given recitals around the world. |
The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America will meet for its national congress at the University of the South in Sewanee June 18-21. Tours of Nashville’s three carillons – at Lipscomb, Belmont University and the Bicentennial Mall – will be included as a post-conference field trip.
A carillon is a collection of bells tuned to specific pitches and played through a keyboard. The first tuned carillon was installed in the Netherlands in 1652. The varying size of the bells can range from a few pounds to 20 tons or more.
Carillons are very common in Europe and are played often, but in America they are somewhat rare and
| The Allen Bell Tower was built in 1999 in memory of James Allen's son. The bells were cast in the Netherlands and range from 11 pounds to 550 pounds. |
Nashville’s three carillons offer an interesting diversity, King said. Lipscomb’s carillon is new – installed when the tower was built in 1999 – and relatively light – with bells ranging in size from 11 pounds to 550 pounds. The bells were cast by the Petit and Fritsen company in the Netherlands, the oldest family-owned company in the Netherlands.
Lipscomb’s light carillon is appropriate for a campus in the middle of a residential area, King said. Belmont’s carillon, located in a more urban setting, has heavier bells ranging from 22 to 1,200 pounds, and the Bicentennial Mall carillon is a unique combination of an automatic and manual carillon, she said.
In the past 20 years, carillons have become more common in America, King said. She can think of at least four bell towers with carillons that have been constructed in Tennessee in that time period.
Following the guild field trip (which is not open to the public), Lipscomb University will present on Saturday, June 23 a free concert by carillonneur Tam, an expert player of the carillon and organ, at 7 p.m. at Lipscomb’s Allen Bell Tower.
The entire community is invited to attend. Tam will play a selection of folk music and classical pieces on the 35-bell carillon in the bell tower. Attendees should bring their own lawn chair, blanket or be prepared to sit on concrete steps for the concert.
Many of the pieces Tam will play were composed specifically to be played on the carillon, and unlike the computer-programmed tunes students hear three times a week, Tam be up in the tower, in person, playing the music live.
“It really makes a difference in the sound,” King said of the live performance. “When the carillon is played automatically, the bells are struck from the outside and the instrument loses a lot of the nuance of a live performance.”
Lipscomb has only had one other carillon concert, held in the year the Allen Bell Tower was completed. Lipscomb’s carillon is played regularly by King at graduation and at special events.
“The way carillon bells are tuned, they really don’t sound like anything else,” she said.