All University of Wisconsin students know the familiar chimes of the Carillon Tower.
The tower is open to visitors from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. every Sunday, where carillonneur Lyle Anderson has been on duty for 30 years.
Visitors can also go directly into the attic of the tower and see the impressive set of bells. In the attic, the sound is loud, but not annoyingly noisy. Watching the snow-covered and carefully carved bells while immersing in the resonating music is strong enough to touch one’s soul.
The tower as well as the bells were first constructed in 1936. Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, it went through several renovations and replacements, resulting in the current configuration of 56 bells. The size of the bells vary from 15 to 6823 pounds. But with intricate mechanical design, a carillonneur wouldn’t feel too much of a difference when playing different notes.
The tower has a space for practicing. It exhibits two old carillons of the tower, but they are not open for students to use, Anderson said.
Anderson earned his master’s degree in music history at UW and his carillon degree at Dutch Carillon School in Amersfoort, Netherlands.
When we left, Anderson took out a camera.
“I have been taking photos of the tower from the same three spots for ten years,” he said. “Although in snowy days like this it could be hard to find the mark, I can still tell when I see it”.
