What is a carillon?

Short answer: Think "tower bells."

Long answer: A carillon (pronounced carrel-on) is a musical instrument composed of anywhere from 23 to 70+ bells, which are arranged together just like piano strings (chromatically). Carillons can most often be found in large towers, either attached churches or freestanding. The instrument originated in the so-called Low Countries—present-day The Netherlands, Belgium, and Northern France—in the mid-17th century, and it is still most prominent there today.

Image captions:

1. Me standing next to the largest, 5-and-a-half-ton bell of the Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon in Springfield, IL

2. Me playing the Jean L. Rainwater Memorial Carillon at Principia College, Elsah, IL

3. A detail of the playing console. "Royal Eijsbouts" is the Dutch bellfoundry that made this instrument.

The carillon player (carillonist or carillonneur) plays the bells from what’s basically an enlarged piano keyboard, with each baton (key) connected to a bell clapper. The larger and heavier bells can be played by foot pedals as well, like a pipe organ.

My friends from Florida will likely be familiar with a carillon in our own state, the Singing Tower of Bok Tower Gardens. This exquisite instrument is one of about 200 in North America and about 600 in the whole world.