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D A I L Y O R A N G E

March 1, 2005

Chime Masters uncover secrets behind SU bells

By Michelle Carleton

As the sun sets and students scurry across the Quad, the sound of "I'm a Little Teapot" rings out across the Syracuse University campus.

This tune is just one of the many songs played on the bells in the top of Crouse College.

Students known as the Chime Masters play the bells three times a day, at 8:15 a.m., noon and 5:45 p.m. The bells, which range from 375 pounds to 3,000 pounds each, are in a separate room above the one from which they are played.

The musician pushes levers in order to move the clappers of the 10 bells, not the bells themselves. Pushing each lever is like lifting a 5-pound weight, according to Joseph Downing, an associate professor at the School of Music.

"It takes a lot of physical effort," he said. "To ring a single bell is no big deal, but do it 50 times and you start to notice." He added that anyone who can read music can play the bells, and that the majority of the Chime Masters are music students.

The bells have been in Crouse College since the building's construction in 1890. The McNeely Bell Company in New York made the bells for SU, as well as the bells at Cornell University.

"Generally only music students know about it," said John Liberatore, a sophomore music composition major who played the chimes regularly last year. "Other people may think there's a hunchback up there."

Ellie Wolfe, the head of Chime Masters, created fliers and announcements about ringing the chimes at the beginning of the year, but the organization is still mainly music students because the music school is very tight-knit.

As someone who has seen the students come and go, Downing considers ringing the bells a grand tradition and an honor. He says bells have been used all over the world and go back thousands of years in some countries such as China.

"Historically, music has more of a spiritual connotation to it, which is true with bells, too," Downing said.

Originally, members of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity rung the bells, but now anyone who wants to can ring the bells.

On the walls of the tower are signatures of past ringers and spray-painted artwork, which supposedly includes famous SU graduate Dick Clark's signature, since he was a brother of DKE and once rang the bells.

In addition to playing every weekday, the bells are rung for special occasions such as the December anniversary of the Pan Am Flight 103 tragedy, when they ring once for every victim.

While special occasions like weddings allow some people the privilege to request songs, the Chime Master gets to choose which songs to play on a regular basis.

John Balcourt, a freshman music education major who rings the bells every week, said Chime Masters often play music that fits the day.

"If it's raining, sometimes people will play 'It's Raining, It's Pouring,' or if it's someone's birthday they'll play 'Happy Birthday,'" Balcourt said.

Despite the playful nature of some of their songs, the musicians are limited in the tunes they can play because there are only 10 bells in Crouse tower.

"It's enough to have fun on ... but with 10 bells you can't play all music," Downing said.

A music book sits on the chimes in Crouse with a variety of children's songs, Americana songs and other simple tunes, said Wolfe, whose favorite songs include "I'm A Little Teapot" and the theme song to "The Smurfs." Wolfe added that a past Chime Master arranged Beatles songs such as "Yellow Submarine" and "Hey Jude" because she loved the group's music.

Sophomore magazine journalism major Carly Migliori said when she hears the bells she often thinks the songs sound familiar, but can rarely place them.

"They remind me of church," Migliori said. "I think that's why they're so familiar to me."

Wolfe enjoys playing the chimes and now knows the different tunes for each hour, half hour and quarter hour.

"I don't know anyone who doesn't like doing it," she said. "Some might get scared away by the stairs."

The staircase is actually a high, steep ladder in an open circular room with stone walls, Balcourt said. He said the staircase is a lot higher than most people think, and that right now it's really cold.

Despite the staircase and the cold, Liberatore said he enjoys volunteering to play the chimes.

"They don't need to pay you for it, it's just fun to do," he said.