Carleton College is fortunate to be served by both a carillon within Skinner Memorial Chapel and a system of bells within Willis Memorial Hall. Each contributes to the dynamic and beautiful soundscape of our campus.
Carillon of Skinner Memorial Chapel
The carillon plays music each day at 11:57am, broadcast from speakers located in the tower of Skinner Memorial Chapel. Each piece ranges from one to three minutes long and strives to offer diverse and culturally relevant music to make campus a more welcoming and beautiful place.
Daily music is typically programmed to play randomly, with exceptions made for special holidays and seasons. New music is often recorded from the organ console by Janean Hall, our Enid & Henry Woodward College Organist. Should you wish to hear a particular song, we invite you to submit your request and we will do our best to record it.
In addition to daily music, the carillon is programmed at particular times of the day to address sepcial times of cultural or religious significance. Recent examples have included La Llorona for Día de Muertos, Avinu Malkeinu for Yom Kippur, and Silent Night for Christmas Eve. The carillon is also played live by Carleton’s organ students on Wednesday evenings, ahead of weekly Taize Evensong services.
Beyond music, the carillon is used for spoken word and prayer. Each Friday, for example, in advance of Jummah prayers, Muslim students recite the adhan (call to prayer) over the carillon’s broadcast system.
The carillon in its current form was installed in 2018, alongside a major restoration of Skinner Memorial Chapel.
Our use of the carillon system is guided by several principles:
- Diversity: All of Carleton should feel represented by the carillon
- Belonging: The carillon should make the Carleton community feel more at home
- Relevancy: The carillon should speak to the cultural moment we are in
- Musical Literacy: The carillon should enhance the soundscape of campus and be understood as a teaching instrument
Bells of Willis Memorial Hall
The bells of Willis Memorial Hall ring on the hour each day from 8 a.m. to midnight. The four bells used today were purchased in 1886, fourteen years after the construction of Willis Memorial Hall, Carleton’s oldest building. Manufactured by W. Blake and Co., the bells are installed on fixed mounts. They are 19, 23, 28, and 38 inches in diameter, and ring G#, F, C#, and G# tones, respectively.
The tone sequence the Willis bells will ring is traditionally known as the “Cornell” chime, because it mimics the chime used at the McGraw Tower at Cornell University. At the top of each hour, the three smallest bells ring a three-tone sequence of eight strikes, which is followed by the largest bell ringing once for each hour.
Carleton purchased the four Blake bells and Willis Hall’s tower clock at the same time, and up until the late 1950s, the bells were rung every quarter of an hour to keep time across the campus. A fifth and swinging bell, manufactured by C.H. Meneely, was added to the tower at an unknown date, and is currently not in use. The bells are controlled by a computerized electrical system, installed in a small booth just below the Willis Hall bell tower.