Sculmerich Carillon details

On Centennial Sunday we joyfully inaugurated our new electronic carillon system. We are deeply grateful to the anonymous donor who made this installation possible. Below are some facts about the system and its planned use.

The system was designed and installed by Schulmerich Carillons of Pennsylvania. Our local sales representative was Mickey Johnson from Chester, SC. Schulmerich is the firm that has also made our handbell and handchime equipment. Among his other roles, Mickey is musician for a Presbyterian congregation in Chester.

The carillon system uses all digital technology. There are no moving parts. All the information and sound is stored in a small computer that is the heart of the system. The carillon uses an amplifier and three speakers to convey the sound to the community. The three speakers are installed near the top of the church tower. One each faces and projects sound to the north, east and south. The west face of the tower has no tonal egress, so there is not a fourth speaker for that direction. Kent Patton did some high-wire carpentry to prepare the tower for the speaker installation. A factory representative for Schulmerich did the final installation.

The carillon system came with about 300 pre-programmed songs. The Worship and Music Ministry will collaboratively select and additional 100 as part of our initial purchase plan. There are more than 1100 other songs that can be purchased as we deem necessary and see fit in the future. The donor and the Worship and Music Committee together selected the distinctive sound of the carillon from 6 options. It is intended to imitate classic English tower bells. The carillon is an outdoor musical instrument; it is not connected in any way to the sound systems in use in the sanctuary nor fellowship hall. While one may overhear the carillon from inside the church, it will be best heard outside.

Part of the installation process was pre-programming the play and performance times and parameters for the system. We consulted with the Black Mountain United Methodist Church so as not to conflict with their established carillon schedule.

Monday through Saturday the carillon will chime the quarter hour, using the very familiar Westminster Chime. At the top of each hour the system will toll the hour. The system will play a randomly selected single song at 10 AM, 1 PM and 5 PM. There will be no sounds between 6:01 PM and 8:59 AM on any day.

On Sundays the system will play 10 minutes of music (hymns) prior to worship services. Beginning in June persons coming to early church will hear familiar contemporary songs and choruses from 9 until 9:10 AM. Persons arriving for 11 AM worship will hear traditional hymns played from 10:45 until 10:55 AM. The system will then, on Sundays chimes the quarter hour between 1 and 5 PM. At 5 PM on Sundays there will be a short (10 minute) concert of randomly selected songs.

The sophisticated computer system allows us to alter the song selection at particular times of the year: near July 4 we will hear appropriate patriotic hymns; at Thanksgiving we’ll hear traditional harvest and thanksgiving hymns; and we’ll have familiar sacred Advent and Christmas songs during the weeks preceding and following Christmas.

The system is currently operating at 65% of it volume capacity. Our desire was to ease the surrounding community gently into an awareness of the carillon’s presence and sound. Over the next several weeks we will adjust the sound and will likely settle at about 90% volume capacity.

There are other options (use at funerals and weddings) available to us in using the carillon system. The Worship and Music Ministry will be settling those decisions in the near future. For now we are delighted to offer this musical gift to the congregation and the community.