A view of a bell, its' clapper and othe parts of the
carillon.
Unique Instrument and Performer land Berea a Conference
Perhaps you're aware of it, or maybe you're not, but Berea hosts within its' city limits an instrument that ways thousands of pounds and is quite rare throughout the United States. This instrument also allowed Berea to host a conference that drew 115 attendees from Sunday June 15th to Friday June 20th. The instrument I'm talking about is a carillon, pronounced CARE-EH-LAWN, and is housed in the tower of Berea College's Draper Building in the center of campus. The tower is the tallest part of any college structure, and can be seen from many places in Berea.
You may be asking why Berea College would decide to pay the money and do the work necessary to install a carillon in one of its' buildings if it is a rare instrument. The answer to that question is that John Courter is a faculty member at Berea. Mr. Courter, a member of the Music Department, has played the instrument since his college student days at Michigan State University. While at Michigan
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State, Courter had a professor who played carillon and that was enough to spark interest in John to want to play himself. After starting lessons, Mr. Courter didn't stop with just learning himself how to play the instrument himself while at MSU, as he additionally convinced his teacher to start a carillon class. After college, he continued to study about, and perform on the instrument. In addition, Courter has composed pieces of music for carillon playing, including a work in remembrance September 11th and its' heroes that has been played worldwide. A carillon is played by pushing down on wooden knobs that are connected by cords to bells that ring in correspondence to the knobs' pushing. Berea's carillon has 56 bells and weighs several tons. Installation of this carillon began in 1999, and was completed in October of 2000, in which there was an opening ceremony that a group assembled for. This carillon is the first of its' kind in the world, as it combines the features of both the North American (keys further apart) and traditional European (keys closer) instruments. |
Mr. Courter is a member of the Guild of Carilloners in North America, and they asked him about 18 months ago to host their 61st Annual Summer Congress in Berea. He obliged, and the congress came to Berea.
The congress consisted of several concerts, at least one an evening, including one by Courter on the carillon and fellow Berea citizen Letha Hembree on the BELLS??? in the college's Phelps Stokes Building. Other events were performances by examiners (explained below), general meetings for members of the guild, a trip to the Cincinnati area to see the World Peace Bell rung and to visit the Verdi Company (which constructed the Berea carillon), and presentations, exhibitions and sales related to carillons. The aforementioned examiners at the congress are people who have studied carillons and want to become approved players of the instrument by the guild. This year, seven examiners attempted the tests. Also throughout the week, nine carilloners from around the world performed concerts. The group also shared in some folk dancing at the Berea Folk Center and had a large meal together hosted by Steve and Ann Rhodes. |
 The largest bell in the Berea Carillon, weighing 2,650lbs. |
Courter said that all comments he has received from attendees of the conference were positive, as people were quite pleased with Berea and being able to have the event here. While the unique and quality carillon was definitely appreciated, the people also enjoyed the friendly people of Berea they met and the atmosphere that the town and college provided. One person also wrote Courter after the event and in addition to complimenting the friendly people of Berea who made him feel so welcome, he also praised how well organized the event was.
The Berea College Office of Special Programming helped Courter organize the conference.
written by Evan Bolster
