What is a Carillon?
Traditionally native to steeples and town towers of Northern Europe, a carillon by definition requires at least 23 bells. The precise tuning of the bells allows the carilloneur--controlling them via a keyboard--to play them melodically and in harmony with each other. There are approximately 200 carillons in North America, just over 100 of them classified as "grand carillons" because, like Wake Forest, they have at least 47 bells (four octaves with the bass C-sharp and E-flat omitted). North Carolina is home to six carillons, including Wake Forest's. Others ring in Belmont, Charlotte (2), Durham, and Hickory.
Bells on the Lawn
The first 47 bells of the Janet Jeffrey Carlile Harris Carillon were given in 1978 by the Very Reverend Dr. Charles U. Harris ('35) in honor of his wife. In 1981, Mrs. Harris gave the final bell, a bass E-flat, in honor of her husband. Cast by the Paccard Fonderie de Cloches in Annecy, France (a 200-year old foundry), "Janet's Bells" range from 28 pounds to 4,397 pounds and together weigh approximately 22,142 pounds. Twenty-seven bear cast inscriptions of dedication, verse, or prose.
The First Sounds Ring
The first music the carillon produced was a concerto for a crane, clapperless bell, and sidewalk superintendent, as the crane lifted each bell into the steeple at Wait Chapel over the watchful eyes of students, faculty, and passersby. The bells are all made of the best bronze, about three-fourths copper and one-quarter tin.
Playing the Instrument
The carilloneur controls the ringing of the bells via a room directly beneath them and behind the upper part of the clock face. The carillonneur uses a clavier of wooden batons and pedals to activate clappers hung at each bell. The carillon's transmission is the set of wires and joints which translate the play of the keys to the clappers located inside each bell. When the carillonneur strikes a key on the clavier, the metal wire to which the key is connected pulls on a square joint in the bell chamber which pulls another wire connected to the clapper. The clapper then strikes the inside of the bell at the ideal point to produce the bell's pitch.
A Special Sound
One of the special features of the Wake Forest Instrument is the double action of the bass C, D, and E bells that allows them to be swung by motor in addition to regular carillon play, creating a "peal" or, when only one bell is used, a "toll" to express celebration, mourning, or to call people to worship.
Groovy Carpet
Bringing vibrant color to the Carillon playing room, the shag carpet covering the floors is unmissible.
The Very Reverend Dr. Charles Harris
The Very Reverend Dr. Charles Harris ('35) received distinction as a pastor, professor, seminary president, and theologian throughout the country. Speaking shortly before Wake Forest severed official ties to the Southern Baptist Convention, Harris imagined his sonorous gift "will proclaim that there is, indeed, a Reality beyond our most advanced humanism and most exalted philosophies, the Source from which springs Truth, as we are able to perceive it." Read the full text of Harris' dedication here. Harris' wife and eponym of the instrument, Mrs. Janet Carlile Harris, studied alongside her husband under Tillich and Nieburh at Union Theological Seminary in New York. She is the second member of her family to have a carillon named in her honor: the Smith College Carillon is named in memory of her sister, Dorothea Carlile.
In Scales' Words
"The Janet Jeffrey Carlile Harris Carillon is the newest member of the Wake Forest community. It will be at the center of our lives, heralding our commencements, celebrating our victories, and announcing ceremonies that mark our times. [...] The University has received gifts of bricks and mortar, of books and endowment, but never one so splendidly of song and soul. For this, for the Harrises' many contrubitons to us and others, and for the part this carillon will play in our lives together , we are thankful." -James Ralph Scales, 11th President of Wake Forest University, from 1968 to 1983