For whom the bell tolls

  BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff The Carillon
console (left) and the Digital Chronobell are used to record and
play songs from Powell Library’s tower.

By Lisa Klassen
Daily Bruin Contributor

For more than six decades the peals of graceful bells have
floated over campus, acting not only as a clock, but also as a
symbol of the university.

But recently, they have been experiencing some technical
difficulties, said John Hayes, manager of the Technical Services
Department for the School of the Arts and Architecture.

Despite the recent lack of their resonance, the bells have
attracted some well-known celebrities to UCLA.

“We even had Weird Al Yankovic come here and use the
carillon in one of his songs,” Hayes said.

But the absence of the resonant chimes have created
inconveniences for some students.

“I usually don’t notice that they’ve been
gone, but I’ve missed them recently,” said Maria
Dahlin, a fifth-year political science and economics student.
“Without them, I don’t know what time it is.”

Some professors became so dependent on the bells for telling
time that some kept their classes late because they did not hear
the bells ring, according to some students.

Although bells do not technically create the chimes we hear
today, at one time, actual bells rang to signal the time of
day.

Bell tones first resounded through campus on March 26, 1939,
wrote Andrew Hamilton and John B. Jackson in their book “UCLA
on the Move.”

The original set of bells were a donation from Count Frederick
Thorne-Rider and his wife, both residents of Bel Air, according to
a 1940 news brief in the Los Angeles Times.

The small chimes were housed in the east tower of Royce Hall.
But technical failures, spurred by age and use, led the university
to purchase a new system in 1952.

It was also at this time that the control panel for the bells
was moved into the basement of Schoenberg Hall.

“A lot of people are surprised to know that the bells are
mechanical and that they are played from Schoenberg,” Hayes
said.

A device known as a carillon, produced by the Maas-Rowe Carillon
Company, replaced the small set of bells. This machine, noted
Hayes, greatly improved the bell system.

“The bells were the unreliable part,” Hayes said.
“We would have problems with them all the time. The
mechanical parts would break and then we’d have to go in
there and fix them.”

A carillon system is a device comprised of two sets of 37 tiny
bell-like rods. Each set of rods improves the reliability and sound
of the actual bells, according to a brochure published by the
Maas-Rowe Carillon Company.

One set of rods is tuned in a minor key and the other in a major
key, allowing this combination to play more songs throughout the
day.

Along with the improvements in sound came improvements in
technology. In the 1950s the new carillon system included four
speakers, chimes, an amplifier and an automatic clock, enabling
more people to hear the bells, Hayes said.

The device also enables a carillonneur or “chime
mistress,” a person who plays the carillon, to practice her
tunes before the rest of campus can hear.

For this purpose, the carillon system has a special practice
mode where it can be disconnected from the speaker system and only
heard by the person playing it.

“A staff member would come in here between five and twelve
and practice on the keyboard,” Hayes said.
“There’s a switch that can turn the bells off for
practicing. Then when they were ready, they’d record the
songs onto tapes.”

The new digital taping system allowed songs to be prerecorded
and played at a later time.

From here, a device known as a Digital Chronobell took over,
automatically playing prerecorded songs on an hourly basis. It
starts chiming at seven in the morning and continues to chime on
the hour until ten at night.

Use of the carillon system continued until 1998, when a new
computer system replaced the existing equipment.

“When the new digital carillon was put in, we could
download hundreds of songs. It was also at this time that we began
digitally recording old songs,” Hayes said. “Since lots
of carillons are used in churches, having this greater selection of
music allowed us to pick songs that were more appropriate for the
campus.”

This digital revolution practically eliminated the need for a
carillonneur. Before this change, there was always a person in
charge of playing the carillon.

Past carillonneurs included Laura Brown, a member of the theater
department, and Peggy Sheffield, a member of the music
department.

Mary Crawford, of the music department, was the last to play the
carillon and gave her final performance in 2000.

Although fewer people are physically playing the carillon, it is
still used for special occasions.

“We’ll play something if it’s requested by a
department and is deemed important,” Hayes said. “We
played it for New Year’s Eve 2000, when the mayor declared it
a festival.”

During the millennium celebration, the carillon rang three times
and played Auld Lange Syne as people on campus and in Westwood
celebrated the new year.

The bells are often used for special occasions such as dinners
and charity events, Hayes said.

The carillon also made appearances during campus events. It was
used to play the aria from La Boheme during a performance of the
opera in Royce Hall. A former music student also composed a piece
for the carillon and performed it live as part of her performance
requirement, Hayes said.

Although the carillon has newer and more reliable equipment, it
still falls victim to mechanical mishaps.

In October 1999, the bells were not heard for several weeks
because of problems with the electronic wiring.

Hayes said a similar problem caused the recent absence of the
carillon.

“We found that there is a switch that turns the carillon
off when we check it,” he said. “You can push the
switches on and off, and they must have accidentally been turned
off.”

Despite recent problems, Hayes is confident that the bright
tones of the carillon will once again float through campus.