How do you practice a bell tower?

[@joeybrinkbells]

Song trivia! See how many songs you can identify in the video. I'll wait a week to reveal the answers :-)

[@WayneKitching]

Flowers my Miley Cyrus? Claire de Lune.

[@clavile93]

Another Day of Sun from the soundtrack of La La Land and Christmas Time Is Here by Guaraldi/Mendelson

[@clavile93]

1:19 is a difficult one!

[@cathykopecky8083]

Hells Bells, Scenes from an Italian restaurant.

[@1on95]

Norwegian Wood!

[@valdemarsvensson3167]

Being outside in pouring rain or heavy snow while bells play in the background seems like such a mood

[@onepersonintheuniverse]

yes. absolutely yes.

[@jumbie6]

A little incident you might enjoy. My alma mater, Worcester Polytech, in Worcester, MA had an electromechanical carillon in the belltower of the auditorium, Alden Memorial, back when I was a student in the 1960s. I was no musician but was very involved in stage lighting and audio in the building as a student and was familiar with the carillon. The "bells" were tone bars, hit by a solenoid, with a magnetic pickup, amplifiers and speakers, big horns in the bell tower and a smaller speaker in the (pipe) organ loft. There were three means of sounding the bells. There was a clockworks which played the westminster chimes, but in deference to the neighbors only played them on the hour and only between 7AM and 6PM. There was a "player piano" like mechanism which used "piano rolls" to play short carillon serenades, daily at 11:50 AM and 5:50 PM. And there was a stop on the pipe organ which could also play the carillon, either inside, outside or not at all, as selected by a rotary switch. Being an engineering school, there was then no music department, but some students were permitted to play the organ, mostly for their own enjoyment. The first rule they were told was that it was verboten to play the carillon outside without (never given) permission from the school administration. Violation, and you'd be banned. Yet there were occasional reports of hearing the carillon play when students were playing the organ, always denied by the organist. I never thought much about it until it happened to a close friend one day. He swore he never turned the switch (on the organ console) on to enable the carillon, either inside or outside. What was going on. He asked me, the "audio guru" what was happening. I had a suspicion. I asked him if by chance was the stop for the carillon pulled? He said he used some previously saved sets of stops and paid no attention because, as he said, the switch was in the "off" position. Now, I had noticed for a long time that although the westminster chimes only played on the hour, not every 15 minutes, the timer for the amplifier for the tower speaker turned it on every 15 minutes. Hmmm. So I had him run a little experiment. At 15 minutes after the hour, I had him pull out the stop for the carillon, with the switch off and hit one note, as I stood out in front of the building. Sure enough, I hear "Boing"! It turned out that the installers (only a few years earlier) hadn't thought much about the westminster chimes controls when adding the stop and switch to the organ, and the organ carillon stop was "live" to the city whenever the westminster chime controller turned the amplifier on. I reported my find to the head of "physical plant", who, in the absence of a music department, was responsible for both the organ and the carillon. I asked for and received permission to dig into the organ console wiring to disable the stop when the switch was off. A little rewiring accomplished that and saved my friend (and others) from being banned from playing the organ.

[@J19_vlogger74]

Were they Mass-Rowe chimes?

[@jumbie6]

@@J19_vlogger74 That was back in the early 1960s. I don't remember any of the details. I saw the insides a couple of times. As I recall, for each note there was a tone bar, a solenoid to hit the tonebar nd generate the note, and a magnetic pickup to make the electronic signal. But, who made it, I don't know. A little web research shows that a number of companies made these. The photos of the Maas-Rowe unit looks different than my recollection of the WPI one. The WPI one did not have its own keyboard, it was connected to stop on the organ in the auditorium. The tone bars were in the same cabinet as the mechanism that played the pre-punched rolls.

[@jumbie6]

So you made me do some research. The unit was a J.C. Deagan Celesta Chime installed in 1955, and written up in the December 13, 1955 issue of the student newspaper, the Tech News. It was replaced in 1983-4 with a Maas-Rowe one according to an article found here on the web.

[@J19_vlogger74]

@@jumbie6 I was thinking it was an older system (probably Mass-Rowe) because to my knowledge most, if not all of the older electric bell systems used chime rods instead of digital recordings and samples.

[@michaelcallisto]

I feel like I've seen this guy before. His face looks familiar... He definitely rings a bell.

[@MatthewHilbertsBaritone]

If I were walking in the rain, and I heard someone practicing the carillon, I would be finding my way into the tower to listen and chat.

[@AbbeyB77]

I never realized that they made practice bells that made sound! Our church has a pretty small carillon and we're missing notes. One of the original carillonneurs, the one who taught my sister to play, decided he wanted a replica of the board to test new music out. It's just a box with wooden handles on springs so when my sister would practice it was just the groan of the springs and the sound of wood on wood.

[@adamm2693]

Change ringer here and we are blessed with a separate miniature set of bells for practicing, portable and can also be used for performances - and currently making my own !

[@francescogreenslade7793]

It seems to have completely passed your head that most bands have a weekly/regular practice on their tower bells!

[@adamm2693]

@@francescogreenslade7793 Did you even watch the video? Referring to 2:59.

[@ghavinga]

Nice explanation, thank you. Building a practice carillon might be a nice project for @LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER - creating a MIDI version with a mechanism to simulate the weights of the bells and the playing action. ;-)

[@cathykopecky8083]

Interesting video. Thank you for sharing. That one pic looked like the carillon at the Chicago Botanic garden. It did make me laugh when you said that you were alright at sight reading. I watched you sight read Rain. You are a bad ass at sight reading! 😊

[@joeybrinkbells]

Yes that's Chicago botanic! And haha thanks :-)

[@michellex98]

I love how the KZbin algorithm just gives me a video of a random topic ive never thought about before that turns out to be super interesting!

[@markiangooley]

I went to graduate school at UIUC (main campus of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign). What’s now the Math building, Altgeld Hall, has a 15-bell chime specifically designed to be able to play the school song (though not in the usual key). I assume there’s a practice chime because I recall some polished renditions of wildly assorted tunes. The tallest hill in peninsular Florida has a tower with a carillon, surrounded by gardens. It’s something of a tourist attraction but when I visited I don’t recall the carillon playing at all. It’s sort of out of the way, though, so unless they can afford a resident player it might not get used a lot. I don’t know.

[@joeybrinkbells]

Yep, that's Bok Tower Gardens (the tower I show at the end of the video). It's an icon in the carillon world. I was an intern there for 6 months, playing daily concerts. They have a full-time resident carillonneur there too, with live music almost everyday during the busy season. It's an amazing place!

[@Veroniquekky]

Great video. Glad to catch it so soon after publication!😊

[@davros_adl8155]

On a note about change ringing, at St Peter's Cathedral in Adelaide, one tower has real bells, and the other has 8 dumbbells with simulated sound through speakers. There are also a few towers where the clappers can be tied and a simulator turned on in much the same way.

[@stormfist9927]

thank you! truly an endlessly fascinating and lovely instrument. you can't hear the haters when you're playing

[@tdrifty]

The last tower showed in the vid is Bok Tower in Florida. Its one of the most stunningly beautiful buildings I've ever seen in person.

[@garyg6000]

So glad to hear Clair de Lune.

[@UraYukimitsu]

Thanks for this video, I'd been waiting for it since the previous one! I figured practice carillons would be a thing but I wouldn't really have thought about the weight/inertia of the keys being that different. Very interesting!

[@jenlfpotter3870]

Its a tricky one. Organs can be fairly public instruments as well, especially at full stops out or full volume, because you can hear even quieter instruments sometimes when you're stood outside a church or a concert hall or whereever the organs are situated. I had a full size electric digital piano until I had to sell due to the fact it was taking up half a wall space in my mum's dining room as I was living there when she bought it nearly 25 years ago. I would play it all hours of the day on headphones, which is a huge advantage over playing a building where it doesn't have the optional headphone jack availability. If I had the money now, I'd upsize and buy a full digital piano again, but as I can only afford to rent a two up, one down weirdly designed back to back house, there's no place for another piano here, however, I do have an 88-key folding keyboard to make up for not having a piano any more. My Grandparents also bought a sort of theatre mini upright organ off one of their friends and I would be there during half terms and Holidays. My mum's old bedroom, for a couple of years before they moved house then, became one of two practice rooms as one of my Aunt's neighbours gave away this very out of tune upright piano, which my Grandparents took on for me to play and they put it in the dining room of the large 4-bedroom house where they lived 30 years ago. Gran remembers me making a variation of the dam busters on the afore-mentioned electric theatre organ and her best friend, no longer with us bless her, heard me playing as she walked into the front hall downstairs and it brought back some memories for her. Also, the dark side of being so good at an instrument such as the carillon, piano, keyboard, organ Etc, everybody expects you just to spontaneously entertain them at any given moment, when you haven't practiced or rehearsed anything for that exact moment. It’s just too overwhelming when I'm caught off guard like that by a very expectant family audience of around 11 people. I remember playing my own cover of Robbie Williams Angels, The Kinks, Sunny Afternoon, Jamirocquai, Virtual Insanity, A couple of pieces, Let It Be, A little help from my friends, Yellow Submarine by the beatles on the organ, using both keyboards and the built-in drums and rhythms which you could also alter by depressing different combinations of buttons which were magnetised so they stayed down, varying the acoustics by flipping two little levers back like the sound levers, but they were to the left of the on/off power switch.and other such fairly memorable and also fairly easy pieces.

[@381delirius]

I must say I like the way you wrote this paragraph. Felt like I was reading great gatsby.

[@MaskedMarble]

I wondered how you guys practice. Now I know.

[@maryannesteinberger7652]

I was a student at UC Riverside when they built the carillon tower. I do not remember anyone complaining about hearing the bells.

[@charlzthedrummer]

So carillon players play excruciatingly loud and the people are like “oh what a wonderful sound,” but drummers play comparatively softer instruments and those same people are like “I’m calling the police for noise complaints?”

[@connorgoss7786]

Just want to say how much I appreciate all your videos on your channel here! I didn't even realize until 1:51 that you were based in Denver, I knew that I recognized the tower but couldn't figure out where it was from. I'm glad I was able to come and see your Memorial Day performance today; it was brilliant hearing this massive instrument in person. The tour that your students gave of the tower after the performance was amazing as well, it's a beautiful thing to see and experience. (Someone even asked about the weight of the high notes vs the low notes; this video gave me the answer already!) Looking forward both to more performances and more videos from you in the future!

[@joeybrinkbells]

so glad you made it out to hear in person :-)

[@queefcheif9306]

broo i recognized the tower he showed, thats the chime tower in Longwood gardens up in PA, god i miss my home state

[@wynnleibee9790]

so much effort good job!

[@markiangooley]

I went to graduate school at UIUC (main campus of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign). What’s now the Math building, Altgeld Hall, has a 15-bell chime specifically designed to be able to play the school song (though not in the usual key). I assume there’s a practice chime because I recall some polished renditions of wildly assorted tunes.

[@made.online2149]

Oh, to be playing a carillon past midnight in a secluded botanical garden... Question for you, I presume most modern carillons try to match 12TET, but are there any you know of that are tuned otherwise to better align overtones between bells?

[@joeybrinkbells]

Yes most modern carillons are equal temperament, but there are many historic carillons in Europe that are tuned mean tone, back when that was the standard keyboard tuning

[@Altoclarinets]

I know it's not the main focus of this video, but it did get a mention, so - handbells were invented for change ringing practice! It's obviously not their primary use anymore, though

[@joeybrinkbells]

Oh wow I didn't know that! Fascinating :-)

[@emilioovalle3070]

This is such an informative video, thank you so much for posting! Im curious, do different carillons have different tonal qualities? And if so, do people make online samplesets of their instruments like they do for organs?

[@joeybrinkbells]

yes, each carillon has its own unique sound, and there are wide variations particularly between bell founders. We have a couple of samplesets from different instruments, but not all that many

[@noorvanderelst3473]

I recognized the picture of the 'kamerbeiaard' in Mechelen haha, I was there just this evening!

[@Loretta418]

That was interesting. Thanks!

[@NSMike87]

You know, one of your videos got recommended to me a couple weeks ago, and my first thought was, "How does he practice?" My first guess was that somebody had probably made a practice version that used electronics and weights or tension to simulate the sound and feel of the real tower. Interesting that there's not one out there that can mimic the real weight. I'm guessing that's complicated by the fact that each carillon is to at least some degree, a unique instrument.

[@Brandonforty2]

Even the practice carillons can be a nuisance if they are poorly placed... I had people complain while i was practicing because their office was next to the room my practice carillon was in 😭 I didn't know there were electronic practice ones though, the one I played on was the xylophone style. Do you think you prefer the electronic or the mechanical style ones? Or are they just kinda the same?

[@joeybrinkbells]

An excellent xylophone practice carillon will always be my favorite, as the action and the dynamics are more similar to the real thing. But... eletronic instruments have their advantages - noise control as you mention!

[@fanir33]

Amazing chanel

[@Respectable_Username]

This perfectly answers my question from the last video of yours I saw pop up, thanks 😊 PS, how many "carillon" pun songs do you have in your repertoire? Things like "Carillon My Wayward Son" etc 😜

[@joeybrinkbells]

Oh wow I'm not sure! Definitely Sweet Carillon

[@firenutter1798]

After watching this for some reason I had the cursed impossibly hard challenge for someone to play rush E on that bell tower

[@clavile93]

Very interesting, especially that you adapt your practice schedule to the weather conditions! But I feel you - after having only played my digital piano for a long time I dream about performing on a nice grand piano! :) Interesting as well to hear about a carillon in a tower of a botanical garden. Are carillons common in the US? I don't know any here in Germany, just a lot of organs. :D

[@joeybrinkbells]

Yep we have about 200 here!

[@VinTheRalph]

Bell towers do tell the time, right?

[@IAmKelpyG]

Even though you do not see your audience while you are playing, do you still get stage fright frin tine to time?

[@joeybrinkbells]

Occasionally! For a big performance maybe, but not so much a daily recital :-)

[@liv5645]

Wait *what*??? DU has a *carillon*?! How did I live two blocks off of this campus for four years and never once realised there was a carillon up there?!?! I'm losing my mind. Did I just happen to never be around when it was played??? Did I hear it and just assume it was an auditory hallucination or something?? How??? How could I have missed what is almost certainly THE hardest instrument to miss????

[@joeybrinkbells]

ahhh oh no! what years were you at DU? I've been here since 2022, but the instrument arrived in 2000

[@Braveplantt]

me who actually has to pull the bells with others in a bell tower:

[@wcodelyoko]

Why not practice at night? :^)

[@ragnkja]

Too loud.

[@therealperegrine]

Organs can be played in isolation? The priests in my parish, where their living spaces are connected to the church, would disagree. I mean, they never complain, but I know they hear it. xD

[@sligma200]

Only looking for the answer to the question? 3:57

[@Elephantine999]

Interesting, but four minutes to get to the beginning of the answer was a long wait...