Carillon Concerts are for Chatting, Reading, Relaxing

There will be no ‘shushing’ at a carillon concert. In fact, chatting, visiting, gathering for a picnic or throwing a Frisbee is encouraged.

This is such an important part of attending the concert that Daniel K. Kehoe, the carillonneur for , wrote a pamphlet entitled “How To Enjoy a Carillon Concert.”

Before getting too far into the ‘how to attend’ part let’s cover the basics: a carillon is musical instrument composed of at least 23 carillon bells.

The carillon at Simsbury United Methodist Church has 55 bells. The largest has 77. The carillon is played at a piano-like structure, but bigger. Instead of keys there are short, wooden pieces that are separate from the next (called batons) that are hit with a clenched fist (the edge of your hand) with a bit of force. Feet are also used in the process.

Now back to enjoying the show.

“You don’t listen to carillon,” said Kehoe, a Suffield resident who has been playing the carillon for more than three decades.

The history of the music is that it started as background music in market areas in Europe.

“Carillon concerts are first and foremost social and fellowship opportunities,” he wrote in the guide.

Reading a book is also encouraged.

If this appeals to you, the Simsbury United Methodist Church, 799 Hopmeadow Street, hosts free one-hour concerts every Sunday evening in July at 7 p.m. On July 3, Kehoe will perform. His selection will include everything from the hymn “How Firm a Foundation” to the “Theme from Exodus” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

The other concerts will feature Margaret Angelini from Wellesley, MA on July 10; David Maker from Storrs on July 17; Ellen Dickinson from Hartford on July 24 and George Matthew, Jr. from Middlebury, VT on July 31.

The concerts are rain or shine, and you sit on the church lawn (bring chairs, blankets, food). Tours of the bell tower are offered following the concert. This is the series 25^th year at Simsbury United Methodist Church.

The late Peggy and Chuck Foreman donated the carillon to the church in 1986. Such a donation would be worth at least $1 million, said Kehoe, with half of that for the instrument and the other for installation.

There are about 600 carillons in the world and 180-200 in North America. There are 11 in Connecticut; eight in Massachusetts, two in Vermont; one in New Hampshire and none in Maine or Rhode Island.

Carillon bells are bronze (about 75 percent copper and 25 percent tin) and are tuned precisely — rings scored around the inside — and a specific spot is marked where the clapper will hit.

“It matters where the bell is struck,” said Kehoe.

The clapper is the device that actually rings the bell. In this case it is housed inside the bell. Clappers can range in size from a basketball to a ping-pong ball. The bells do not move, only the clapper does.

The shape of the bell, the way it is tuned, what it is made of, if it swings, where the clapper is located, all have a great deal to do with how bells sound.

A full-size carillon, like the one in Simsbury, has a four-octave range.

“Their sound is unique,” he said, adding players need to have agility and endurance.

Carillon calling

Kehoe came to Trinity in 1974 and that was the first time he played a carillon. Kehoe was the first appointed carillonneur at Trinity College. He remained for 25 years, from 1982 to 2007, when he started at Simsbury United Methodist.

He was first introduced to a carillon back home in Springfield, IL, as a youngster. As a piano player since he was a toddler, it was a somewhat natural progression to try the carillon.

In large part carillonneurs teach each other how to play, although there are schools. He travelled to Belgium in the late 1970s to study at the Royal Carillon School.

At present, he is teaching two boys, one 12 and the other 13 (they played a concert on June 26).

“They play exceptionally well,” he said of students David Foley and Jonah Garcia.

The concerts at Trinity College used to draw about 1,500 people, he said. Today there are 300 to 500 in attendance. Trinity's concerts — when they numbered 1,500 — were considered the largest in the world, he said.

The audience at Trinity, though, no matter what the size, has the right idea about how to behave.

“Trinity has it right. People come to fellowship and, 'oh, by the way the carillon is playing',” said Kehoe, who has a day job as a computer consultant.

He said he is hoping the same will start to happen more often in Simsbury.

In addition to the church, the other presenter is the Farmington Valley Carillon Society, of which Kehoe is executive director. Both groups are seeking funds to help support the concert series. Each Sunday concert costs about $400. Gifts can be made directly to the Farmington Valley Carillon Society at P.O. Box 393, Suffield, CT 06078 or to the Simsbury United Methodist Church, 799 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury, CT 06070. Write ‘carillon concerts’ in the memo space of your check.

Go to www.farmingtonvalleycarillonsociety.org for more information or www.simsburyumc.org. For the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America go to www.gcna.org. To reach Kehoe, call 860-688-1443.