Ed Campion on the University Carillon
Ed Campion, chair of the Department of Music and Director of the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies, was quoted in UC Berkeley News in an article about the 100th anniversary of the first 12 Campanile bells. The article provides a history of the bells in Sather Tower, which were first played at the Cal-Washington football game on November 3, 1917.
UC Berkeley hosts the most extensive carillon teaching program at a U.S. university with a bell tower, with university carillonist Jeff Davis training 15-20 carillonists each semester to play the iconic Campanile bells. Their learnings are further spread to their peers through UC Berkeley's DeCal program. However, the carillons require at least $1.5 million for essential repairs and refurbishments.
Also of note, BCNM alumna and musicology Tiffany Ng previously played on the carillon in the Campanile in 2008-2015, and is currently the university carillonist at the University of Michigan. She currently teaches in the master's program in carillon and also serves as faculty for the North American Carillon School (NACS).
Ed Campion is quoted below:
“It’s something that everyone who steps onto the campus shares,” agrees Ed Campion, chair of the Department of Music. “And thanks to Jeff, it’s also very forward-looking and contemporary in its activities.”
Campion says he’s glad that, thanks to an endowment, Davis’ full-time carillonist position is “guaranteed far into the future” as is funding for carillon festivals. He adds that that the music department is doing all it can to support development efforts to service the mechanisms of the carillon.
Read the full article on UC Berkeley News here.