IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
WINTER 2010 VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2
SOCIETY OF CARILLON ALUMNI
AND FRIENDS
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
F
RIDAY
R
EQUESTS
2
E
XCERPTS FROM
THE PAST
3
A
LUMNI
M
EMORIES
4
ENJOY THE NOON
C
ONCERTS EVERY
W
EEKDAY 11:50-12:10
O
N THE WEB
http://www.music.iastate.edu/
feeds/carillon/
“THE CAMPANILE
IS PLAYING A
TUNE TO BAD
ROMANCE! HAHA”
AN ISU STUDENTS
F
ACEBOOK STATUS ON
FRIDAY REQUEST DAY
WHEN UNIVERSITY
CARILLOUER DR. TAM
PLAYED
B
AD
R
OMANCE
BY LADY GAGA.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Saturday, April 16th
The Society Board is very excited to announce the next society event will be held
in conjunction with VEISHEA 2011.
Hello, carillon alumni! My
name is Josh Hellyer, and
I’m a sophomore in
Community and Regional
Planning and French at Iowa
State. But more impor-
tantly, I am a carillon
student with Dr. Tam. I’m
writing this article on the
day before my first solo
noon recital, after
completing my second
semester of carillon lessons.
I’m definitely nervous, but
also excited to play the
carillon for such a large
audience. I’ll be playing
“Two Estudios for Guitar”
by Fernando Sor,
“Herinneringen aan J.S.
Bach” by Willem Créman,
“Toccata No. 10” by Johan
Franco, and two Christmas
carols: an arrangement of
Leontovich’s “Carol of the
would be such an
interesting and unique
experience, so I emailed
her and enrolled for spring
semester.
I started out playing simple
warm-ups and technique
exercises, just as everyone
has to do in the beginning.
(Continued on page 2)
Bells” and a Barnes
arrangement of “We
Wish You A Merry
Christmas.”
I started taking lessons
almost a year ago. I had
tried to get into piano
lessons, having played
for 11 years, but there
wasn’t enough space. So
I tried to think of a way
to continue studying
music, and one day, as I
was sitting in my dorm
room listening to the noon
recital, it hit me: someone
has to be playing the bells.
I knew nothing about the
carillon, so I did some
Internet research. As I
researched, I also found
Dr. Tam’s carillon lessons,
MUS 118E. I thought
learning to play the carillon
CURRENT STUDENT REFLECTION: JOSH HELLYER
Join our Facebook group:
Iowa State University
Society of Carillon
Alumni and Friends.
PAGE 2
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2
FRIDAY REQUESTS CAUSE A CAMPUS SENSATION
How does one connect the stately ISU Campanile with
today’s students? By playing pop music on an instrument
normally used to play classical music of course. In the
process, Dr. Tam became a “minor overnight sensation.”
Dr. Tam has always taken music by requests on Fridays.
Not very many requests were ever submitted. That is,
until this semester, when everyone on campus heard the
now famous carillon rendition of Bad Romance by Lady
Gaga, played on August 27
th
by request.
Brad Riley, a senior at ISU, started a Facebook group to
encourage his friends to lobby Dr. Tam to play the song
and the ISU Daily set up a camera to record the event,
which was posted on YouTube. Within minutes of the
performance, Twitter and Facebook had links and
comments flying. Within 1 week, the video had been
viewed over 400,000 times. View the video at
www.youtube.com and
search for Iowa State
University Carillon.
Since then Dr. Tam has
received many requests,
playing Queen’s Bohemian
Rhapsody, Nirvana’s Smells
Like Teen Spirit, Led Zepplin’s Stairway to Heaven and the
Harry Potter theme song. Even more impressive, the
students stand out on central campus waiting to hear if
their song is played – high-fiving and cheering each other
if it is.
Dr. Tam never expected the buzz that surrounded her
performance, but as she says: "It's such a public
instrument, so it belongs to the community. So it's got
to connect to them."
STUDENT REFLECTION CONTINUED
I remember being pretty intimidated by the carillon
when I first saw it. There were foot pedals, the keys
were heavy, and all of Iowa State’s 26,000 students (and
half of Ames too) could hear me if I played a wrong
note. But I kept practicing, and signed up for another
semester.
This semester, I started playing basic songs, and even
started arranging my own music for my final project,
(Continued from page 1)
which I hope to play in a recital next semester. It has
been quite a bit of work, between practicing and spend-
ing hours on Finale writing up sheet music, but I am
happy to be able to learn to play such a fascinating instru-
ment. When I came to Iowa State, I never thought I
would be up in the Campanile playing a carillon recital
for all of campus to hear. Tomorrow, I will be. And
now, I’m off to the Campanile to practice. Happy holi-
days, and wish me luck!
ISU SOCIETY OF CARILLON ALUMNI AND FRIENDS
Officers:
Amy Brandau, President
Michael Pawlovich, Vice-President
Eric Wittrock, Secretary
Board of Directors:
Michael Pawlovich [email protected]
Debra Schiel-Larson [email protected]
Ex-officio:
As I was thinking about Dr. Tam
playing pop music on the carillon, I
realized that even the current classical
songs that we find “normal” today, were
frowned upon in the 1930s.
Dr. Schroeder’s History of the Stanton
Memorial Carillon , 1957 is 8 pages
long. I would like to share some sections
from this history that show how the
music selections have changed over time.
The carillon
music,
especially the
hymns played
every morning
as students are
going to class,
has a very
interesting
history. Only
nine student
were here that
first day (of classes in 1868). Before
their first class convened this small
body of students and their instruc-
tors gathered together to offer
prayers of thanksgiving. This prayer
service continued daily for many
years.
(Stanton) first had the idea of giving
the college a large bell to be rung at
the hour that the daily chapel took
place. At the time, interest in the
daily chapel services before the first
classes of the day was not as popular
as in the old days. It was hoped that
the tolling of a large bell every
morning would set a devotional
attitude on the campus.
This thought grew until Stanton
decided to purchase and have
installed a chime of ten bells. It was
decided that only hymns should be
played in the morning. This was to
take the place of the daily chapel
services which were discontinued
soon after this.
There were very few hymn tunes
that could be played on the original
ten bells without leaving out a note
or two here and there or
substituting another which was the
custom. In spite of muffled protests
this practice continued thirty years
until the carillon of three octaves
was installed.
For a short time, nearly two years,
the carillon was played by college
students. Dr. R. M. Hughes, then
president, was unhappy with the
result. They had no practice
instrument and he refused to spend
any money for one. A practice
instrument was delivered to Iowa
State in the fall of 1930 with funds
from the Stanton Estate.
I was hired by the college as the first
professional carillonneur in 1931
and arrived on the campus in August
of that year. At the time the college
had a miscellaneous budget and it
was from this that I was paid fifty
dollars per month for playing from
seven forty-five to eight in the
mornings and five forty-five to six in
the evenings.
It appears that either they were
unhappy with me, my playing or
were wanting to economize because
there was much ado about an
automatic player which Dr. Hughes
was interested in. The “thing” as
Mr. Breese called it proved to be
very expensive and the Stanton heirs
were not interested. Some of the
correspondence with Taylor’s (the
bell foundry) indicate that college
authorities were not in favor of
oiling the carillon and I insisted that
this be done. I also insisted that
heavy screening be installed to keep
out the birds. Furthermore I
insisted on a shower. I presume that
all this mounted to more than they
could cope with and perhaps
thought that demands would
continue as long as I was around.
However, Taylors set them right
about all these demands. They were
all complied with in due time.
In the thirties the Iowa State
listeners found it quite difficult
making the transition musically from
a ten bell chime to a carillon. The
“Old Guard” was a little reluctant to
accept the carillon. They were
accustomed to one bell at a time and
found it very difficult to accept
carillon music especially having the
good old stately hymns tampered
with in the form of variations or
chorale preludes. As time has passed
carillon music became more and
more acceptable until it has become
significantly a part of the life of Iowa
State College. Music from the
carillon holds a nostalgic interest
among alumnae.
EXCERPTS FROM THE PAST
PAGE 3
SOCIETY OF CARILLON ALUMNI AND FRIENDS
University Carillon-
neur (1931-1969 )
Dr. Ira Schroeder
PAGE 4
SOCIETY OF CARILLON ALUMNI AND FRIENDS
The Loughborough Carillon is called
the “first grand Carillon in Britain”.
The historic tower supports 47 bells
and was opened in 1923. The
Loughborough carillon was conceived
and built as a war memorial.
Inscriptions on the bells
honor the memory of the
480 men of Loughbor-
ough who gave their lives
in WWI. Bronze tablets
on the tower itself honor
soldiers who gave their
lives in both World
Wars and conflicts which
followed.
As a carillon student of
Dr. Von Grabow at Iowa
State, I was very fortu-
nate to be invited to play
a senior recital on the
Loughborough carillon
in 1981. Visiting the
Foundry, standing in the
rich history of the
place, seeing the park
and the memorial,
climbing to play the his-
toric bells in the
Loughborough tower – it
was a humbling experi-
ence. Mr. Alan Berry
and his staff at the Taylor
Foundry were generous
and welcoming. It’s a
memory I treasure.
Bells from the Taylor
Foundry can be found all
over the world. The
Bok Singing Tower in
Lake Wales, Florida has
Taylor bells. The
carillon in Canberra,
Australia was cast at the
Taylor Foundry too.
This edition of the Alumni Spotlight
features Deb Schiel-Larson. Deb played in
the early 80’s with Dr. von Grabow. She
included a newspaper clipping from her visit
to England.
Did you know that the Bells of Iowa
State were born in England and
immigrated to Ames? It’s a rich
heritage and history.
Loughborough (pronounced “luff-
burra”), England is a city of over
55,000 population that documents its
history all the way back to 1086.
Loughborough is also the home of the
Taylor Bell Foundry, where the Taylor
family began casting bells in 1784. In
1896, the Taylor family researched and
perfected the art of bell tuning, where
metal was carefully removed from the
inside of a cast bell. Tuned bells from
several pounds up to 45,000 pounds
were possible.
The largest bell in Great Britain, called
t h e “ G r e a t P a u l ” i s f r o m
Loughborough. This immense bell is at
St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and it
weighs 37,483 pounds.
The first ten bells of the ISU carillon
were installed in memory of Margaret
Price MacDonald Stanton in 1899.
They were the first scientifically tuned
bells to be exported by John Taylor &
Company, Loughborough, England.
Additional bells were purchased from
the Taylor Foundry in 1929, 1956 and
1967 for a total of 50 bells in the
magnificent instrument at Iowa State.
You can find Taylor bells in
Loughborough too. The Taylor
Foundry has a tower with 18 historic
bells. You will also find the
Loughborough Carillon and War
Memorial in a beautiful city space
called Queens Park.
If you find yourself in England, please
don’t hesitate to visit Loughborough
and the Taylor Foundry. After that
experience, the Bells of Iowa State will
ring even more richly in your heart and
memory.
Alumni Spotlight: Deb Schiel-Larson
THE BELLS OF IOWA STATE RING WITH A BRITISH ACCENT
