ETSU to become more musical with construction of carillon
Heather E. Seay
Issue date: 4/14/05 Section: News
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What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
-from Edgar Allen Poe's "The Bells"
When students return to ETSU next fall, the sights and sounds of campus will be a lot more musical.
As ETSU quickly approaches its 100th anniversary in the year 2011, the ETSU Foundation under Tim Jones, and the Alumni Association under Dan Mahoney, have partnered with ETSU President Paul E. Stanton Jr. to bring a new musical instrument to campus - a carillon.
What is a carillon? Well, it is a collection of bells, usually more than 23, which may be rung in rapid succession to play a tune.
"Too often people look at it as a clock tower or a bell tower, but it's really a work of art and a musical instrument, one of the largest musical instruments in the world," said Jeremy Ross, associate vice president of university advancement and the campaign leader for the carillon project.
ETSU's carillon will have 26 bells, under production in Holland by the Verdin Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio.
In addition to the 25 bells that will be housed in the tower, the carillon will include an extra 250-pound bell, Ross said. This bell will be called the Alumni Bell.
The Alumni Bell will be cast in the spirit of the "Unity Bell," which Ross said was a feature at graduations and other ceremonies as recently as the 1970s, but was somehow lost.
"[The Unity Bell] was around in the '80s ... but miraculously it disappeared," said Bob Plummer, executive director of ETSU Alumni Association and associate vice president of University Advancement.
The carillon's Alumni Bell may revive a lost tradition, Ross said, or return in a new form. When "Someone graduates, they go through the arch and ring that bell," Ross said.
Some students, like senior Ben Fowler, like the idea. "As a graduating senior I would enjoy ringing the bell as I graduate," he said.
But the carillon isn't just for graduates, it's meant for everyone to enjoy, Ross said. "The foundation over the years has helped single scholarships or colleges, this time [the foundation] wanted to leave a gift that would affect everyone, and this project, the carillon, will affect 12,000 people every day through the sound of the bells or the beauty of the structure," Ross said.