The cost of installing the Schulmerich g5 system was to the tune of $15,000, but the new digital bells at the University of Toledo are anything but ordinary.
The newly installed carillon, or bell, system boasts more than 7,500 preprogrammed melodies. Systems operator Jason Stumbo can also compose his own music with digital samples of 32 different bells.
The carillon system continues an 82-year tradition of bells ringing from University Hall’s tower throughout campus and the adjoining Old Orchard neighborhood.
“Personally, it would be hard to imagine that [University Hall] tower without the bells,” said Barbara L. Floyd, professor emerita of library administration.
However, the old bell system was dated. It worked, Dr. Stumbo said, but to use it one had to trek up to the cramped Carillon Room on University Hall’s sixth floor. The bells were only set to toll the hours — nothing special.
The new system is entirely online, accessible from any place and at any time, and Mr. Stumbo has big plans for the bells, starting with uploading the University of Toledo alma mater and fight song into its library.
“My personal deadline to get that done is before classes start, so as soon as students start showing up, those are regular tunes that are being played daily,” said Mr. Stumbo, who is also director of the school of visual and performing arts.
When exploring the carillon’s lengthy music catalog, Mr. Stumbo was asked by a friend if the system played anything from Star Wars. Sure enough, John Williams’ compositions from the Star Wars soundtrack were there, along with those from ET: The Extra-Terrestrial and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
“Something else I’m looking to do as well is to work with the University social media and see if we can have some fun with social media, especially as soon as students are back,” Mr. Stumbo added. “Maybe we can do a special request. Maybe we can set up a particular day, a particular hour, when we play top choices.”
The new bells come in four tones, or “voices” — True Cast Bells, Flemish Bells, English Bells, and Harp Bells. Mr. Stumbo explained that the True Cast Bells sound like classic, old-school European bells that might sound their deep, long-sustained tones from Big Ben or the Tower of London. The lighter Flemish bells are not as deep. The English and Harp bells are even smaller and ring less.
Consequently, Mr. Stumbo says the True Cast bells are great for tolling the hours, while the lighter bells are ideal for intricate harmonies.
There are also clear advantages to electronic bells over physical ones.
“Actual bells would have mechanical parts to them — things break, things have to be fixed,” Mr. Stumbo said. “And then, you can only do so much with a few [physical] bells.”
When the University Hall was built in 1931, the bell tower did not even include physical bells, Dr. Floyd said. It wasn’t until students took up a campaign to buy carillon bells and Grace Snyder, the widow of a wealthy stockbroker, donated the needed $3,000 in 1940, that the original University Hall carillon system was installed and dedicated during a Doermann Hall concert on Jan. 22, 1941.
Dr. Floyd estimated that the physical bell system was replaced by a recorded sound system during the 1960s. She recounted efforts to improve the quality of the sound that culminated in the purchase of an improved system that could program songs in the late 1990s.
Listeners immediately noticed the change after the new carillon system was installed, Mr. Stumbo said, even though the bells initially tolled only the hours, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“They sound clearer,” said Mark Sims, a retired priest who lives nearby in Old Orchard. “It’s a welcoming sound. I heard them this morning reading the paper and realized it was later than I thought it was.”
Beth Ames, an environmental scientist at the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Old Orchard resident, agreed that the bells sounded “a lot clearer.” She saw an announcement about the new bells on the neighborhood’s Facebook page.
“[The bell tower is] really part of the fabric of the university,” Mr. Stumbo said. “It’s just always there, and it’s one of the things I think people don’t really notice until it’s not happening.”
First Published July 11, 2022, 1:01 a.m.
