The ringing of the Riverside Church carillon

Riverside Church's carillonneur Dionisio Lind gives an inside look at the massive bells in the church's carillon.

[@eatamymeata]

I was lucky enough to spend time around these incredible instruments while a student at Culver Military Academy in Indiana. I was given the job of helping the carillonneur / choir director in cleaning and maintaining the church's carillon. You can't help but marvel at these when you see them up close. Any instrument that can be heard for miles is a teenage musician's dream.

[@bantam38]

There was a time that for 25 cents you purchased a ticket and could to up in the bell tower and listen up close to these concerts and look out over the city from the top of the tower.. 911 changed all that, it's now all off limits. Quite a loss for New Yorkers and visitors. I loved going up there and would treat my out of town guests to this, one of NY's treasures.

[@ToddSF]

I doubt if they'd let you listen to the carillon being played while standing in the bell tower. It would have done severe damage to your hearing. The carilloneur plays in a relatively soundproof cabin so he can hear the bells in a suitable muffled way to preserve his hearing but still have a clue what his playing sounds like. However, in the old days, you could pay a small fee to walk the winding, convoluted staircase that wends its way upward through the bells and arrive at the observation level of the tall tower, which exists on all four sides, to take in the incredible view. On the way up, you got to see the carillon bells (and the cabin with the keyboard within) on an up-close and personal way -- it was so interesting making the climb. You rode the elevator to the top inside floor in the tower, paid the small fee, went through a door on that floor and started climbing the staircase. It was wonderful. I did it in 1994 and I still remember what a thrill it was climbing that complex layout of stairs that finds a path among the bells to the carilloneur's cabin and still climbs higher to the observation level. That tower is rather like a skyscraper and it afford a wonderful view from each of its four sides.

[@saliftrilok6129]

worked there for a couple of years also worked on d bells

[@YouAreSoRight]

0:40 No! Job security is not about not finding a substitute person to play the instrument, it is about the redundancy of the worker. . Any computer today could be programmed to do what that man does physically, by automaton device. . Also, if he moved to New Jersey, for example, he'd be out of a job, so his skills are not really in high demand, he is just one of few people who can do a particular job but you'd have to be a local to do that job. . . . Cheers. from, del-boy Is

[@YouAreSoRight]

@StayFawnTop Dear St., Yes you are quite right; 'man' has to give instruction to a computer, a computer can't foretell what man will do next. . Cheers. from, del-boy.

[@YouAreSoRight]

@iluvcynder My brother used to sing, now he just plays a recording of his voice, at weddings. . Sounds just like him; he can get drunk at said weddings, with abandon. . Cheers. from, del-boy.

[@MinecraftingPlatypus]

I don't care if you people think it sound like shit I fucking want one on my roof.

[@uriahpeep9036]

No you don't.......I live next door to you......I would throw all my garbage onto your porch if you did this........bye for now.

[@StayFawnTop]

@YouAreSoRight "Any computer today could be programmed to do what that man does physcially, by automaton device." Not really. Computers are very far from being musical. All they can do is play notes. They can't play with musical feeling the same way as a trained musician can.

[@MagWrath]

So what happens when the man dies, do they dismantle this thing? Also the neighbours must really hate this guy.

[@nufaith]

MagWrath I imagine everyone is aware of the Bell Tower before they moved to the neighborhood. They must not mind it too much. I was there in 1975 and I loved it.

[@honema123456789]

@iluvcynder dubstep my friend dubstep...

[@honema123456789]

@iluvcynder oh and vocaloid :|