Liz Berghout, associate professor of music and dance, plays the carillon inside the World War II memorial Campanile tower.
Professor serenades campus from a Tower of song
Not many people can claim they've climbed a 120-foot tower and struck a 13,000-pound bell. But Liz Berghout, associate professor of music and dance, does it nearly every day.
Let freedom ring
Berghout will ring the carillon bells as Chancellor Robert Hemenway reads the preamble to the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 23 as part of Consitution Day at Memorial Stadium.Ronald Barnes was the inaugural carilloneur. He started when the instrument was dedicated in 1951. Bert Gerken followed with a nearly 40-year tenure from 1963 to 2000. Berghout succeeded Gerken in 2000.
Somewhat like a combination of a piano and giant xylophone, the carillon has a series of levers and pedals that pull a metal string that controls a clapper for one of the instrument's 53 bells. The player slides back and forth on a wood bench, striking levers with closed fists, aware of the need to push harder on the levers for the large bells, yet not so hard the noise drowns out the melody of the smaller ones.
Carilon facts
- The largest bell weighs 13,000 pounds
- There are 53 bells in the 120 foot tower
- In 55 years, KU has had only three carilloneurs
- Carilloneurs play using their hands and feet
"Most people take a tour and come up and see the instrument and realize it's not just a computer playing the bells," she said.
In 1996, she took her first tour of the campanile and saw Gerken play the instrument. She knew right away she wanted to learn. She began studying under the long-time player, and a few years later succeeded him as KU's official carillonneur.
"When you think of KU carillon, you think of him," Berghout said of her mentor. "I was just blessed to study with him."
Now she's passing the craft on. Several times a week, she enters a door near the engraved names of students and faculty who were killed in World War II. With a student right behind, she scales the extremely narrow spiral staircase about 50 feet almost straight up. There she comes to the practice carillon.
A slightly smaller version of the master instrument, its levers are the same, but strike a xylophone bar to replicate the sound of the bells. Students practice there until they are ready to chime the big bells.
A few flights of narrow spiral stairs higher is the real deal.
Three windows provide a bird's eye view of the campus. More than 50 cables ascend through the ceiling and pull the clapper of each individual bell, hanging some 20 to 50 feet above the player. The cables have to be constantly adjusted to keep the clappers the proper distance from the bell. Made of metal, the cables expand and constrict as the day's temperature changes. Each has to be adjusted two or three times every day.
Recitals are held at 5 p.m. Sundays. On July 26, a visiting carilloneur from Australia visited and played a recital. Lynne Tidwell, a staff member in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, recently played a Sunday recital. A few other community members play from time to time as well. Berghout recently played a recital for a reunion of War World II U.S. Army Rangers.
Fun as it may be, carillon is serious business. Last May, a master's degree program for carillon was approved. Several players are certified by the Guild of Carilloneurs in North America. Students who learn to play the instrument often go on to play in one of North America's 180 carillons. Most are located in churches, schools, universities and parks.
"You can usually find one close enough to where you are to continue playing," Berghout said.
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