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Here at Impact 89FM, our staff has the opportunity to interview a lot of bands, artists and other musicians. We're excited to be highlighting those conversations and exclusive live performances.
Live from the East Lansing skyline, this is 88 9 bringing you the basement. And tonight, we are very much not in a basement. We're actually having a very special episode today, live from our very own Beaumont Tower. So I'm your host, Liv, as always.
Speaker 2:And I'm Griffin.
Speaker 1:And our special guest today, would you take a moment to introduce yourself?
Speaker 2:Sure. I'm John Lehrer. I am the university carolinist, which means I play the carillon in Beaumont Tower, which is the bells that you might have heard.
Speaker 1:Well, it's an honor to have you on the show tonight. Could you talk us through a little bit what your responsibilities entail and why this tower is so important to MSU as a campus?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Let's start with the tower. So this tower is almost a 100 years old.
Speaker 3:Wow
Speaker 2:at 95. It sits on the site of the first ever classroom building at MSU, which means it was the first ever land grant classroom building ever. That building collapsed after about 15 years sorry, 50 years. There were plans to put, of all things, an artillery garage in the site. John w Beaumont, who had studied in College Hall, did not want that.
Speaker 2:He wanted something that would sort of honor that original building. So he basically got this tower built with a musical instrument in it and got the entire space around the tower protected so that there's gonna be no other buildings in this lovely green space we have. As far as my responsibilities, I'm responsible for using this instrument that we have to enhance campus life, culture, support the university, support the community, help people breathe a little deeper, slow a little down, enjoy the world around them, in this sort of fast paced high pressure setting that we're all, working in. So it involves regular playing. I teach students.
Speaker 2:We're training the next generation of carillon performers here. Special events. Keep your keep your ears open for a Halloween event coming up on the 31st. Tours, outreach, education, basically just trying to get as much use and service out of what we're so fortunate to have here.
Speaker 3:Well, nice. Thank you, John. Now Beaumont Tower is a big part of Michigan State culture. Whether you're popping a bottle of champagne on the door, all over in front of it, or, you know, you're just walk walking to class and you hear a beautiful, composition. But I wanted to ask you, how long have you been part of the community here at Michigan State?
Speaker 3:And how did you land this position?
Speaker 2:I came here in 2022. So I'm just starting my 3rd year now. Yes. I've been playing the instrument for almost a quarter century, more than half my life now. I started in college much like, many of my students, and then, didn't stop.
Speaker 2:You know, I started doing things on the National Carillon scene and then started, studying abroad in Belgium, where I went to the oldest conservatory for Carillon. Did some international competitions, did a lot of international touring, worked at our Renaissance Festival for a while. That was kind of fun. And eventually, you know, this position came open, and I thought it would be a good fit. So here I am.
Speaker 1:Very cool. Well, talking about all of these community like, it's apparently a very widespread, if not very historical community. It goes way back from what you're describing.
Speaker 2:Over 500 years.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And the first piece that you played today kind of ties into that, correct?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So that's something that you could have heard 500 years ago in a medieval, European city, either in Belgium or the Netherlands or France, sort of before those borders were established, that was where cities were popping back into existence after European feudalism. And so bell towers initially existed for communication. No radio, no TV, no cell phones. If you want to tell people to arrive at some place at some time, bells in a really tall tower was a way to coordinate the times of your life.
Speaker 2:Around 1500, people started using them for more than just signaling. They started using them for art and for music. And it became this huge thing that spread throughout the low countries. Every tiny little town would have their carillon and their carillonist, and they would be playing melodies for the market days and, special events. There was some church music, but there was also music that you would have heard at the pubs the night before when you were drinking and singing with your fellow, citizens, I guess, in the city.
Speaker 2:And, you know, I guess 500 years later, here we are. Very different context. But in some ways, you know, public arts and arts integrated into life and into the landscape of where we live and work is just as important, perhaps even more so because it's very difficult for many of us to set aside several hours in the evening for a concert and check schedules and all of that. And often the people who are busiest and who can most use a little infusion of joy or or, something beautiful in their lives don't have the time to schedule it in themselves. So I think as we're moving through the 21st century, like this is something that's gonna get more and more important.
Speaker 3:Well, I just think it's so beautiful, how music is timeless and how, a carillon can bring a community together. And just as the sun is setting right now, I think it'd be even more special if you played another composition for the people here on campus to listen to. Sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I'd love to do that. Okay. So we've got, how about I play you this? I'll play you this instead.
Speaker 2:It's fall. Summer is, you know, undeniably on its way out as is the setting sun. So this is sort of a good piece for this time of year. It's called Autumn Leaves. It was not written for carillon.
Speaker 2:It was, written for voice. And, you know, presumably some piano or orchestra at the beginning. Bit of an old jazz standard. Old French, if you will. You might not recognize the, the verses, but you might well recognize the obverse.
Speaker 2:And it's all about, sort of reminiscing about a love lost.
Speaker 1:Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for playing this for us. I would love if you could talk us a bit through the actual mechanism of this instrument because it looks a lot like a piano. For those who are just listening, it kinda looks like a piano, but it's got pegs in place of keys. But it works pretty different from what I understand.
Speaker 1:Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the layout is piano. You've got your natural keys. You've got your accidentals, sharps and flats above them, groups of twos and threes. From there, it gets a little different because we also have pedals much like an organ.
Speaker 2:So you can play notes with your hands. You can play notes with your feet. Sounds like a lot of possibility. There's one catch, which is that these pegs are, or keys are pretty far apart. And they travel probably about 2 inches from top to bottom.
Speaker 2:So it's a much bigger movement than a piano key. It's a much bigger key than a piano key. So you usually end up playing with, closed fists, or occasionally with, like, an open hand holding 2 notes. But these big chords that you might see in a in a piano concert, those take a bit more, cleverness or ingenuity to go off. Sometimes I tell people it's like, if you imagine a a squirrel trying to play an organ, how it might look, just with that scale.
Speaker 2:Other times it's like, well, imagine that you were playing piano, but you only had 1 or 2 fingers on each hand. But you do have 2 feet, so it's almost like you have 3 hands. So
Speaker 1:with a piece like this last one that was not written for this instrument Yeah. What are some of the changes that you might make to adapt it?
Speaker 2:There are quite a few. Number 1, you might thin out some of the chords. Those have a lot of what we call overtones or harmonics. There are other frequencies that are higher than what we call the fundamental pitch or the note that it sounds. So you get a lot of harmony built up just in the sound of 1 bell.
Speaker 2:And so you don't necessarily have to play 12 notes at once to get a complex sound. We have a lot more power in the bass than we do in the trebles. They're just smaller bells up there, so we might do things where we'll bring melodies downwards into the bass and accompaniment above in some sections. Those are probably some of the bigger changes. There are also some harmonic considerations because, any instrument you play will have these multiple frequencies that compose a single note, but they're different frequencies for bells.
Speaker 2:And so what harmonies might sound really good or what voicings, you know, if we're talking about chord arrangements, what might sound
Speaker 3:good on a
Speaker 2:piano might not sound as good on a carillon. And then things that might not sound so exciting on a piano might really come to life on a carillon because of those harmonics.
Speaker 3:So to elaborate on what you're saying is that the arrangement could be any type of music and have it be converted, for the carillon?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I
Speaker 3:have a question. So what is your favorite arrangement to play?
Speaker 2:Well, it varies with the seasons.
Speaker 3:Okay. But it
Speaker 2:varies with the years. So this is, you know, Autumn Leaves is a big one, that I enjoy. But I also like to play a lot from, you know, film scores. Okay. Familiar you know, I'll I'll go to, like, you know, rock from the nineties or 2000s or, you know, probably gonna move into some some Taylor Swift at some point.
Speaker 2:You know, it really runs the whole gamut. I can play some, music from I've got a Beauty and the Beast score that you can go through.
Speaker 3:I'd love
Speaker 1:to hear that.
Speaker 2:Me too. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's one
Speaker 1:of my favorite things during the day is walking through campus and hearing the bell tower, and there's that that little flicker of recognition that it might be something. Fun moment.
Speaker 2:So I do like pulling into that.
Speaker 3:Once again, you're listening to The Basement Show with a careless, John Lair. He's a careless for Michigan State University. And right now, we're in the Caroline, which is also known as the Beaumont Tower. That was all new to me. I did not know that bell towers were referred to as carolines to the people that are listening.
Speaker 3:But, John, I wanted to ask you, is there a special time of year on campus where, you know, you are allowed to play a composition like Beauty and the Beast? Or is there a certain, activity on campus where it allows you to go through your compositions and have some freedom with what you play?
Speaker 2:I I don't think of it in terms of allowed so much as, you know, what fits. What fits.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:So for example, let's say it's a football game. I'd probably play the football song, and I'd probably not play, like, I don't know, Stephen Sondheim's Send in the Clowns. That just wouldn't be appropriate for the moment. Mhmm. If, you know, Halloween is coming up, so I'm leaning more into spooky repertoire, by the way.
Speaker 2:October 31st, 9 PM, We are going to have a really fun spooky concert evening on the plaza here. Keep your eyes peeled for that. You know, Christmas season, of course, Christmas music, plenty of other holidays that are not necessarily part of the Christian calendar that are also worth leaning into. You know, times of celebration, times of mourning, all of these call for a different, response musically.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And so I try to match it to the seasons. I try to match it to what the community is experiencing. And sometimes I just want to have fun and play Beauty and the Beast. So if it's not counter to what's going on, great.
Speaker 3:Do you ever bring friends up here?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure. You know, part of playing an instrument that nobody has ever heard of is is sharing that instrument with people and telling them how it works and letting them see it and hear it and experience all of it. And part of having a key to a cool tower like this is getting to bring your friends up. So they kinda go hand in hand.
Speaker 1:Are there any emotions that the carillon really lends itself to in your opinion?
Speaker 2:I think it lends itself to quite a few, but perhaps not all. I mean, there are things that work that you might not expect. Like, I played ragtime for Bells. I tend to play more lyrical, slower, sort of unplugged music, if you will. But there's plenty of, like, big celebratory, action packed music that can be played on the carillon.
Speaker 2:I've never figured out how to do hip hop on carillon or anything that's very, like, vocal based. But, yeah. I mean, one of the things about the carillon, those overtones or harmonics that I've mentioned, is that, most instruments have a major third harmonic in in their notes, and so it has a bit of a brighter, happier feel.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Bells have a minor third in their series. So we get a bit more of a dark somber feeling. And so pieces that are a bit, sadder or darker or more contemplative can take advantage of that a lot. And of course, if you stack 2 minor thirds, you end up with a diminished chord. And so, you know, Halloween's coming up.
Speaker 2:Those go very well together, and the carillon has that sound particularly, consonant.
Speaker 1:Like a spookiness?
Speaker 2:Yeah. No. You can do a lot of really good spooky on the carillon.
Speaker 3:Let me hear some other spooky sounds.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Let me grab something. That is sweet.
Speaker 1:I will say, I think the the characteristics you're describing, even not understanding them, like, you can you can feel them and you can sense them when you're just walking across campus. Like, the bells as they're being played, take some time to resonate out. So there's a certain, like, slowness to it. You know? It has to breathe.
Speaker 1:And it really does kind of affect the mood that you're in listening and just having to take some time on your walk rather than being in your head.
Speaker 3:Alright. So
Speaker 2:here's what we'll do. I'll play you something spooky, and then I'll play you something a bit more active and and, okay.
Speaker 1:That sounds great.
Speaker 3:It's a totally different feel. Uh-huh. And what was the name of this composition?
Speaker 2:That is called Turn In, Turn Out. That was written probably about 30 years ago by a composer who's still living today. Wow.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow. Mhmm. Something which I'm definitely starting to observe, is before the session, you mentioned it's a very physical activity to play the carillon. Yeah. And, wow, it's incredibly apparent.
Speaker 1:Just you were talking earlier in the belfry, which is where all of the bells are stored, if anyone is unfamiliar. These bells range in size enormously. And since it's entirely manual, like, the bigger bells, the deeper notes are actively more difficult to play than some of the higher tones. Can you speak to that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we're dealing with a fully mechanical instrument, and you have a direct connection between the key that I play here at the playing console and the clapper of the bell. Now the bells can weigh up to 2 and a half tons.
Speaker 1:Woah.
Speaker 2:And you need a pretty big clapper to get all of that metal vibrating, so those could be a 100 a few £100 themselves. We're not lifting them directly off the ground, but we are pulling them sort of to the side and a little upwards into the bell, which which is one of the reasons it's helpful to have, pedals so that you can play some of those larger bells often with your feet. Another interesting thing is that, you know, carolongs are not standardized. So you might go to a different tower where the keys are suddenly lighter or heavier. I gave a concert over in Ann Arbor on a very heavy carillon, and all of a sudden, it takes so much more force and so much more precision to sort of keep up with the tempo Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Because those keys are slowing you down with each note.
Speaker 3:Now, John, I have a I have more of a simpler, question for you. I know there was, you mentioned there was some confusion with the students whether, oh, does someone come up in here and ring the bell every hour, or is it mechanical? Do you wanna break the ice for us and kinda tell us, like, what it is?
Speaker 2:Sure. So this is one of the funny things about playing an instrument that's completely housed in a tower that you can't see through. It's hard to know exactly what's going on in there. So, we do have a computerized system that will play the hours and the clock chimes and all of that. But if you are hearing music, it is being played live by a human being in the tower from this fully mechanical console.
Speaker 2:So, if you hear something that you like, somebody's up there doing it for you.
Speaker 3:And when's a good time, for a student to run over here and listen to a nice tune when they
Speaker 2:Noon. On Wednesdays is when I play regularly.
Speaker 3:Oh. I
Speaker 2:have an assistant who plays often on Mondays at noon, and then I have students who play throughout the week at various times. None of those are as regular or predictable. And then during the summer, if anybody is here over the summer, we have a series of evening concerts with artists who come from all over the world to play these bells and play this instrument. Wow. And people just picnic or, you know, bring their lawn chairs, have a nice drink or a meal, and take in summer evening with music.
Speaker 3:And I know this tower has, lots of history to it from the bells that came from Netherlands, you said?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:And, remind me the name of this, the sad piano. It's not an organ.
Speaker 2:It is a carillon.
Speaker 3:It's a carillon. Correct. And where did you said this this well, where did this come from? The Netherlands?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, actually, we're very lucky. We have, what I'd call a hybrid instrument. There are a few different places where you can get, bells that are tuned to be in a carillon. England is one of them.
Speaker 2:The Netherlands is one of them. There's a foundry still active in France. There's one that's starting up in the US these days now as well, but a fairly limited number. Our bells, because we installed them gradually, so this tower started with only 10 bells and we now have 49, we've been able to sort of get the best manufacturer for each type of bell. So our high bells are from the Netherlands, and they're famous for these bright, projecting, singing high bells.
Speaker 2:And their low bells are pretty good, but not something you'd necessarily write home about. On the flip side, the English bells, they make incredible, rich, sonorous low bells. Beautiful bass, beautiful dark character and complexity. And then their high bells sound a bit like flower pots that you're banging on, although they've gotten a better better better of that, over the years. So we've really been able to just customize for which part we're building.
Speaker 2:We have British low bells. We have Dutch high bells. And every, you know, couple of decades, we'll put some more in. So the last addition was in 1996, but, between 1929 when the tower went in and now, there have been 7 different, installations of bells, bringing us up to 49.
Speaker 3:So soon is when we'll get the newest bells?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Maybe. Mhmm. How how do you know? That.
Speaker 3:Yeah. When when do you know? Oh, time for a new bell. Yeah. The South Dakota is fine.
Speaker 2:There's there's no, like, alarm that goes off and says time for a new bell, and it's not something that necessarily happens because it has happened in the past, but it is something that we can sort of, you know, note and say, like, for example, the tower is gonna we're 95 years old, 95 years of Beaumont Tower, 5 years away from the 100th anniversary. Perhaps that would be an appropriate time to add more bells in celebration of that legacy. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:What would be your first choice if you got to add some new bells?
Speaker 2:So I would be adding low bells. I I really like base
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:In a carillon. We do have
Speaker 1:How do you find space for that? We were up in the Belfry. It's pretty cramped already.
Speaker 3:How do you bring it up here? It's not How many tons?
Speaker 2:Over a giant hatch right now.
Speaker 3:Okay. Oh.
Speaker 1:That explains how those couches got up here.
Speaker 2:Yeah. We got couches up through a hatch. We got bells up through a hatch. As far as I can tell, there was no, like, electronic machinery in bringing the bells up. It was literally people pulling with, like, ratchets and pulleys to get a 2 and a half ton bell up into that belfry.
Speaker 1:Oh. That's incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But, we have, you you know, one of the things about our carillon is we have, a c sharp in the bass that is not included in the carillon. The reason for that is it takes so much copper and craftsmanship to make a big bell like that. How often do you play your low c sharp? Maybe less often than other bells, and so you can do you know, you can get a whole octave of treble bells for the price of a low c sharp.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But it does mean that there's that opportunity to complete that later. Our carillon also transposes up, a major second. So when I play a c on the keyboard, it plays a d. Many carillon's transpose.
Speaker 2:Ours used to be in concert pitch. You play a c, you get a c. And so that's something that, like, if there were interest, in the community or from the university, like, we could work towards restoring that original pitch. And that would be another project that would sort of continue the legacy of of building up. Much like the spire of Beaumont, you know, we have that one taller spire that's supposed to symbolize that we're always reaching higher and growing and becoming better.
Speaker 2:And so yeah, why not do that both inside and out? That's my pitch.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Do you have any songs for us tonight that you feel really do honor the strengths of our bell tower as it is now?
Speaker 2:Yeah. You know, music that was composed for the carillon often, you know, really takes advantage of some of the acoustic properties and will sound really good. On our bells, I let's see. What can we play? I know.
Speaker 2:Okay. So this is a romantic why don't I wait till I get back to the lake? This is a romantic composition, by a 20th century musician, so late romantic, style, named Emile Enelard. He was the this is the coolest carillon title in the world. He was the Dominion carilloner of Canada.
Speaker 3:Say that once more.
Speaker 2:The Dominion carillonner of Canada
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 2:Which means he plays the carillon in the Peace Tower, which is right built right into the House of Parliament of the Canadian, Canadian seat of government.
Speaker 1:Quite a title.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Canada ceased to be a dominion of England a while ago, but they've kept the title, and I get it because that's kinda cool. So this is, it's called Image. And I find in this piece he's kind of playing a lot with a few ideas, like the idea of a rising line. That sort of 2 note theme that comes through a lot.
Speaker 2:And then this sort of like is another one that sort of compares and contrasts it. And those are very simple ideas, but they're sort of woven into this big tapestry of something much bigger. So I'll play that for you. Hear all over the range of the instrument lots of high bells, lots of low bells, lots of movement, lots of slowness. Like, this is a really good take it for a test run kind of piece that showcases the instrument quite well.
Speaker 3:And what was the name of this composition?
Speaker 2:This was called Image number 2. Okay. Image, and was written, I'd say in the second half of the twentyth century, by the Dominion Carolinist of Canada, Emilean Allard.
Speaker 1:Well, that was incredible. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:My pleasure. We have, an incredible instrument here. It's really quite special, and it's all of ours. Like, so part of I I just wanna share it as widely as I can.
Speaker 1:Well, we're incredibly lucky to have it on our campus. From what I understand as well, it's pretty rare to have a bell tower or a carillon on a campus that actually has live music being played.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:Most are prerecorded. Right?
Speaker 2:Most will be recorded or preprogrammed. Sometimes they're real bells but played by a computer. Sometimes it's a speaker that's playing, midi samples of bells or prerecorded bells. It's probably only a handful of dozen college campuses where you can really still enjoy and experience this tradition of live music on a carillon. And so we're quite lucky to have it.
Speaker 3:John, can I ask you what's the most stunning carillon you've ever seen
Speaker 2:throughout your life? Beaumont Tower. Of course.
Speaker 1:But of course.
Speaker 2:You know, carillon's are so different. I can't think of a nicer example of what I'd call sort of like a medium range, medium sized instrument. Beaumont Tower is my favorite in that class. Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Really?
Speaker 2:You've got, smaller carillons that have a bit more of a music box feel. And you've got larger carillons that are just kind of thunderous. And you feel these waves of the largest carillon bell is 20 tons. Ours is 2 and onetwo tons. So it's 8 times the mass.
Speaker 2:That's a lot of bass. And so there are some instruments that I really enjoy in that class. For example, Kirk in the Hills not too far away and in Bloomfield Hills has a 77 bell carillon that goes down to a concert G. So about 5 notes below this one, that is a lot of fun to play. But I think in terms of versatility and sweetness of sound, we've got a pretty damn good thing going here.
Speaker 3:And so do you think the architect Beaumont what was his first name?
Speaker 2:John Beaumont.
Speaker 3:John Beaumont, do you think that was his goal while assembling this beautiful tower?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, I think there were several goals for the tower. One was a timepiece. 1 was as a meeting place. 1 was as a symbol of unity and striving ever higher.
Speaker 2:And one was for the aesthetic beauty of the bells. Back then there were only 10 bells when he installed it. You could play some nice tunes with 10 bells. It turns out you couldn't play the alma mater with 10 bells. So of course, we jumped up a few bells right then.
Speaker 2:And we've been building it first to 23 bills, then 37, then 47, now 49. So in some ways, it it it has grown far beyond what John W. Beaumont imagined. But in other ways, because this tower has the theme of of ever upwards, ever growing. It is very suited to that vision that John Beaumont planted within the architecture of this tower.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And still today, I feel that Beaumont Tower represents a lot of the themes that you spoke about, and it still serves our campus in a pretty similar way with that, the unity and the beauty, and all of these qualities that it imbues into our spaces. We have time for about one more song tonight. And I know you had an example of a song you played on this carillon to do exactly that, to unify our campus and
Speaker 2:Yes. So this is a piece called Memory. It's written by a Belgian composer named Lisbeth Janssens. And it it sort of came into my repertoire at a time, that was a challenging time for all of us, which was the tragedy of, February 13, 2023, and then the memorial service 1 year later in 2024. There's a saying that where words fail, music speaks.
Speaker 2:And so as we were approaching that memorial ceremony, and knowing that Carillon was gonna be a major part of that, I had to sort of ask myself, you know, what do I say? What do we say with music here? What can you say to an entire community, all of whom are in different places of memory, of knowing those who died on that day, healing journeys. I mean, what I had to do and what I realized was I had to step back and take my voice out of it and find a piece that could really hold whatever anybody was going through. Find something that sort of created a container for people's process.
Speaker 2:And this piece serves quite well at that. So, you may recognize it from February 13, 2024 if you were at the ceremony. This is Memory by Elizabeth Jonsens.
Speaker 3:Well, once again, you are listening to The Basement Show on 88.9 FM. And tonight, we had the magical opportunity to listen to John Laird play the carillon inside the beautiful Beaumont Tower here at Michigan State. And if you wanna listen to him too, go outside on Wednesday next to the tower at noon, and you'll hear a beautiful song. Take care, everyone.