Carillon

The console of the carillon at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Maine-et-Loire, France.

The carillon is a keyboard instrument. Though it shares similarities with other instruments in this category, such as the organ or pedal piano, its playing console is distinct.[5] Playing with the hands is done on a manual keyboard composed of rounded wooden batons. Like a piano, the manual has short chromatic keys (i.e. "black keys") raised above the diatonic ones ("white keys") and arranged in the same manner; however, they are spaced far apart—about 46 millimetres (1.8 in)—and the chromatic keys are raised 97 millimetres (3.8 in) above the rest.[6] To operate, the keys are depressed approximately 40 to 55 millimetres (1.6 to 2.2 in) with a closed fist.[7] In addition, the bottom 1.5 to 2.5 octaves of the manual are connected to a pedalboard, which is played with the feet. The connection is direct, meaning that when a pedal is pressed, its corresponding key on the manual is pulled down with it.[8][5] Unlike the organ or pedal piano, the carillon's pedals are shorter and fatter (232 by 30 millimetres (9.1 by 1.2 in) for diatonic pedals and 110 by 30 millimetres (4.3 by 1.2 in) for chromatic pedals), and spaced far apart, about 85 millimetres (3.3 in).[6] They are typically arranged with a slight radiation and concavity on North American carillons and without those features on European equivalents.[7]

Austin Ferguson plays the carillon at the Plummer Building in Rochester, Minnesota. The console, transmission wires, and bell structure are all visible.

Each key is connected to a transmission system via a wire, usually made of stainless steel. When a particular key is depressed, it pulls on the wire which, after interacting with other wires and pulleys, causes a clapper to swing towards the inner wall of the key's corresponding bell. At rest, these clappers are about 50 millimetres (2.0 in) away from the bell wall.[8] For larger bells, gravity is sufficient to pull the clapper back from the bell. Smaller bells are fitted with return springs to pull it back immediately after the stroke, so that the bell is not sounded more than once for each keystroke.[5] Immediately above each key is an adjuster that allows the performer to compensate for changes in wire length due to temperature changes.[8]

The cast bronze, cup-shaped bells of a carillon are housed at the top of a tower in a structure typically made of steel or wooden beams. The arrangement of the bells is highly dependent on the available space, the height and construction of the tower, and the number and size of bells. When the heaviest bells are especially large, they are usually placed below the playing cabin in order to achieve a better tonal distribution.[9] The bells themselves do not move during operation, only the clappers.[10] However, with some instruments, the heaviest bells may be outfitted with a mechanism enabling them to swing. Carillons may also feature an automatic mechanism by which simple tunes or the Westminster Quarters are played.[8]

View of the bells and transmission system of the 49-bell Peace Carillon, Aarschot, Belgium

Carillon bells are made of bell bronze, a specialized copper-tin alloy used for its above-average rigidity and resonance.[11] A bell's weight and profile, or shape, determine its note and the quality of its tone. It produces a sound with overtones or partial tones are not necessarily harmonically related.[12] To produce a pleasing, harmonically related series of tones, the bell's profile must be carefully adjusted. Bellfounders typically focus on five principal tones when tuning, most notably the minor third overtone called the tierce, which gives rise to the unique sound of carillons and has been the subject of additional research.[9] Since the casting process does not reliably produce perfectly tuned bells, they are cast slightly thicker and metal is shaved off with a lathe. Once finished, a bell never loses its sound profile. Only fires and air pollution will destroy a bell after it is founded.[13] On older European carillons, bells were tuned with each other by using the meantone temperament tuning system. Modern carillons, particularly those in North America, are tuned to equal temperament.[14]

The carillon has dynamic range similar to that of a piano's, if not more. Through variation of touch, performers are able to express a wide variety of volumes. Bigger bells have more dynamic range than small high bells. Higher-pitched bells, with less bell mass, can only reach a fraction of the volume of the bass bells.[14]

Along with pipe organs, carillons are one of the world's heaviest musical instruments. Most carillons weigh between 4.5 and 15 metric tons (5.0 and 16.5 short tons), with extremes ranging from very light 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) instruments to the world's heaviest at over 91 metric tons (100 short tons)—the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon of the Riverside Church in New York City. It's bourdon or largest bell is the largest tuned bell ever cast for a carillon, which sounds a full octave below most other bourdons.[15][16] With weight not standardized across the population, the same music will sound different on each carillon.

The range of the carillon is directly proportional to the number of bells it has. The instrument's total number of bells usually depends on funds available for the creation of the instrument: more money allows more bells to be cast, especially the larger, more costly ones. It is generally accepted that a carillon must have at minimum 23 bells, or else it is called a chime.[10][15][14][17][18][19] There is no standard pitch range for the carillon,[14] and as a result, several subcategories are used to categorize them:

• Carillons with 23 to 27 bells and 35 to 39 bells are classified as two-octave and three-octave carillons, respectively. Players of these instruments often use music written specifically for the limited ranges.
• A "concert" or "standard" carillon has typically 45 to 50 bells, or a range of about four octaves.
• Carillons with more than 50 bells are referred to as "great" or "grand" carillons.
• Instruments with fewer than 23 bells and build before 1940 may be classified as a "historical carillon" by the World Carillon Federation.[17]

The title of world's largest carillon by number of bells is shared between two instruments: the carillon of the Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and the carillon at Daejeon Institute of Science and Technology in Daejeon, South Korea; both have 77 bells.[20]

Since a carillon is seldom played with another instrument, its bourdon may be any pitch—whichever is suitable for the location and funds available. It is common for the console to have a C-compass to simplify the writing and playing of music. As a result, many carillons are transposing instruments, especially those that are small or older.[18] The transposition can be anywhere from down a perfect fourth to up an octave.[14] In the United States, an increasing number of new carillons have been installed in concert pitch as a result of the desire to establish the carillon as a full-fledged concert instrument.[15]

Carillon music is typically written on two staves. Notes written in the bass clef are generally played by the feet. Notes written in the treble clef are played with the hands. Pedals range from the lowest note (the bourdon) and may continue up to two and half octaves. In the North American Standard keyboard, all notes can be played on the manual.

Because of the acoustic peculiarities of a carillon bell (the prominence of the minor third, and the lack of damping of sound), music written for other instruments needs to be arranged specifically for the carillon.

The combination of carillon and other instruments, while possible, is generally not a happy marriage. The carillon is generally far too loud to perform with most other concert instruments. The great exceptions to this are some late twentieth and early twenty-first century compositions involving electronic media and carillon. In these compositions, sound amplification is able to match the extreme dynamic range of the carillon and, in the case of sensitive composers, even the most delicate effects are possible. Brass music is often heard together with a (traveling) carillon.

The World Carillon Federation is the central organization of carillon players and enthusiasts. It was founded in the 1970s as a federation of the preexisting national or regional carillon organizations.[21] As of 2021, it is comprised of 14 member organizations:[17]

The federation organizes an international carillon congress in one of the home countries of the member organizations every three years. The congresses host lectures, workshops, and committee meetings about the topics related to the carillon, for example: news, tutorials and demos, and research developments.[22] Most member organizations publish periodicals to update its members on the current state of carillon culture in their respective regions.[22]

Training to perform on a carillon can be obtained at several institutions, though the Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn" remains the most sought-after educational program for the carillon in the world. Founded in 1922, it is the oldest and first school of its kind and has branches in several cities and affiliate schools.[22] The LUCA School of Arts in Leuven, Belgium offers a master's program in the carillon, and the Utrecht School of the Arts in Amersfoort, Netherlands has a dedicated school.[23] There are schools elsewhere in the United Kingdom,[24] France, and Denmark.[25]

Carillonneur demonstrating using the sides of the hands to strike the clavier (keyboard)

The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America organizes carillon examinations during its annual congresses. Those who pass are certified as carillonneur-members of the guild. It also partners with the North American Carillon School, founded in 2012 as an affiliate of the Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn."[22][26] Several American universities offer a carillon program within their curriculum.[22] The University of California, Berkeley,[27] the University of California, Santa Barbara,[28] the University of Michigan,[29] the University of Florida,[30] and the University of Denver[31] offer complete courses of study. Clemson University,[32] the University of Kansas,[33] Iowa State University,[34] Marquette University,[35] Grand Valley State University, and the University of Rochester offer limited credit for carillon performance. Employed carillonneurs at several universities and also those not employed at university-owned carillons offer private lessons.[26] Universities that possess a carillon but do not offer course credit often have a club or student-run education program, such as the Yale Guild of Carillonneurs, which manages performances on the Yale Memorial Carillon.[36]