Twamley Hall tower houses the equipment that plays the bells. File photo.

The familiar and comfortable chiming of the bells on campus are not actually physical bells, and haven’t been for the last decade.

UND’s Carillon Americana, a set of bells usually housed in a bell tower, is now in its simplest form — an amplifier and a large CD player soundtrack system located in the tower of Twamley Hall.

Two sets of amplifiers, each with six speakers, sit atop the building sending the chimes across campus.

When the original carillon was installed in the spring of 1963 it was among the six largest in the nation. Others of the same size were located at the University of Illinois, the United States Air Force Academy, the Lincoln Center in New York, the Seattle World’s Fair, and the Singing Tower at Lake Wales, Florida.

The fourth floor of Twamley was built as a gift from the Twamley Family in honor of James Twamley, a key individual in the founding of the university. The addition of the fourth floor made it possible for the carillon to be added. The building sits side by side with the foundation of Old Main.

“To know the carillon goes back to the building of this building, which is the successor to Old Main, which was the first building on campus,” Johnson said. “It’s that sort of thread of history that’s connected to this building.”

Former UND president George W. Starcher said the carillon was given to the university for educational use in music department and the cultural life of the campus.

The 305 bell electronic carillon boasted 61 Flemish bells, 61 harp bells, 61 celesta bells, 61 quadra bells and 61 minor tierce bells. The tuned bells were connected to three keyboards. When struck, they produced barely inaudible tones to the human ear. The vibrations were then picked up electrostatically, amplified and reproduced from the tower.

The carillon made it possible to house such a large musical instrument in a small and efficient capacity.

According to an article published in 1964, “The electronically amplified sound of the largest bell (8 inches long) is equal to that of a bell weighing over 44,000 pounds.”

The carillon used an automatic roll player, operated by a precision clock, but could also be played by a member of the music education department or guest carillonneurs.

“There used to be a big organ playing thing, so you could actually play the bells,” UND spokesman Peter Johnson said. “I had a good friend who actually used to play it during commencements. He’d get up there and he’d play live. At some point we did away with that.”

Tradition

Although there are no physical bells, Johnson understands the familiarity and importance of the sound.

“It’s the kind of thing people hear and think of a traditional university setting,” he said. “That’s the kind of sound you would hear in the movies — part of what tells you this is a collegiate environment.”

In former UND President Starcher’s address at Twamley’s ground breaking in 1961, he gave sense to the pride and power of the new Twamley building and the soon to be installed carillon.

“There from the Tower of Twamley Hall will be the voice of Twamley, calling to classes, to meetings, to University functions and celebrating victory and accomplishment,” Starcher said.

Half a century later and the voice continues to be an integral part of campus

Aside from its quarterly and hourly chimes, the bell carillon plays songs, notably “America the Beautiful” at 8 a.m., “Over the Rainbow” at noon, and the “Alma Mater” at 8 p.m. Soundtracks can be comprised on request for certain occasions.

“Sometimes we’ve used it to play special music during the holidays, or commencements,” Johnson said. “We’ll set it to chime somberly during observances.”

Students have noticed the bells beginning to ring anywhere from one to two minutes ahead of their quarterly time, but the staff in Twamley and maintenance had not.

“We’re going to have to look into that. Nobody’s ever really brought that to our attention before,” Johnson said.

David Sundine, Electric Equipment Tech Supervisor, speculates the early ringing is due to the time the machine accounts to mechanically grab the appropriate disc, load and play  the soundtrack, and the length of the quarterly chiming.

Paula Kaledzi is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].