Bournville, England resident Trevor Workman plays the carillon for the first Muelder Summer Carillon Recital of the year Wednesday at Beaumont Tower. Recitals will be held every Wednesday through Aug. 3.
The 15th Annual Muelder Summer Carillon Series began without a hitch Wednesday as more than 150 people spread blankets and lawn chairs under clear blue skies to listen to the tolling chimes of Beaumont Tower.
University carillonneur Ray McLellan said the event is anticipated every summer with many attendees returning year after year.
“It’s not just for people who enjoy classical music; it’s for everyone,” McLellan said.
The series began in 1996 and was sponsored by Milton Muelder, an MSU faculty member, administrator and benefactor for more than five decades. Before McLellan’s performance on July 20, a memorial bell will be dedicated to Muelder and longtime university carillonneur Wendell Westcott, both of whom died in 2010.
“Both gentlemen were important to us, and their memory lives on,” McLellan said. “We’re glad to be able to do something to remember them.”
English carillonneur Trevor Workman was the first to perform in this year’s series, which also features carillonneurs from Denmark, Belgium and France. Workman said he became interested in the carillon after playing the piano and organ growing up.
“(The carillon) has the ability to input to a wide audience the beauty you’re playing,” Workman said. “And to really make it sing — the potential to do that is so wonderful.”
After Workman’s performance, Beaumont Tower opened its doors for a tour and brief demonstration on how the carillon works.
Carillons are structured like piano keyboards, but instead of pressing keys, the carillonneur plays by striking wooden pegs and pressing pedals with his feet to vary the volume and intensity of the sound. Each key triggers a lever attached to a different bell in the bell tower.
The MSU carillon has 49 bells — ranging from 15 pounds to 2.5 tons — and a range capable of playing all music composed for the instrument.
McLellan said many MSU students have never set foot inside Beaumont Tower, a fact he wants to change.
“I want students to come before they graduate (and) to have the opportunity to show students the instrument and let them experience it,” he said. “It represents MSU, right? It brings everyone together.”
East Lansing residents Chuck and Carol Swinehart have been attending the carillon concerts for more than a decade and said they enjoy the opportunity to hear a unique instrument.
“It’s a gorgeous day, and the music is always lovely,” Carol Swinehart said. “(It’s) one of those lovely days — so rare in June to have those perfect days.”
Concerts are every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Beaumont Tower and will run through Aug. 3.
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