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The Yale Alumni Magazine is owned and operated by Yale Alumni Publications, Inc., a nonprofit corporation independent of Yale University. The content of the magazine and its website is the responsibility of the editors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Yale or its officers. |
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Tucked in behind the four clock faces of Harkness Tower is the Yale Memorial Carillon—Yale’s model of the world’s loudest unamplified musical instrument. Matt Wrather '02, shown here, spent countless hours entertaining the campus with the Harkness version of heavy-metal music when he was an undergraduate.
Originally mounted with ten bells (it now boasts 54) between 1917 and 1921, the carillon bongs out tunes twice a day during the school year, courtesy of student members of the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs. Wrather recalls playing melodies by Joan Jett, Prince, and the Backstreet Boys back to back with works by Mozart and Bach. He also performed pieces written specifically for carillon. (“You probably haven’t heard of any of the composers,” he says.) The carillon’s keys are extremely heavy to the touch; the biggest clapper in the tower, which sounds the lowest bell (an F-sharp), weighs 500 pounds. These days, despite his full-time job as program director of Yale’s St. Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center, Wrather tries to keep up his carillon playing. After all, at Yale, “it’s the only radio station that everyone has to listen to.” |
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©1992–2012, Yale Alumni Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Yale Alumni Magazine, P.O. Box 1905, New Haven, CT 06509-1905, USA. yam@yale.edu |
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