Since 1987, the only thing the Beaumont Tower
bells have produced has been the sound of silence.As of May 3, however, they'll be playing a new tune - lots of them, in fact - as the restored carillon is rededicated.
In July 1995, the MSU Board of Trustees approved a $513,000 project to revive the bells. The project, awarded to the Royal Eijsbouts Bellfoundry of The Netherlands, has involved restoration and improvement of the carillon, clock and chimes, as well as restoration and repair of the tower itself.
The target set for completion of the project was spring commencement of 1996 - and it looks like a bull's-eye.
The rededication festivities are nestled between the convocation for undergraduate degree candidates at 1 p.m. and the ceremony for advanced degree candidates at 7:30 p.m., both in Breslin Student Events Center.
The activities at Beaumont Tower will begin at 4:45 p.m. with exhibits highlighting the renovation effort and music by the MSU Men's Glee Club.
President Peter McPherson and Provost Lou Anna K. Simon will offer remarks at 5:15 p.m., followed by the ceremonial ribbon cutting at 5:30 p.m.
Margo Halsted,
visiting University carillonneur, will then put the renovated carillon through
its paces in a seven-selection concert that begins with the
MSU Fight Song and ends with
MSU Shadows.
The event will be shared with listeners worldwide as the first notes played will be sent over the Internet in real time.
Halsted, who is also carillonneur at the University of Michigan, has given carillon recitals across the United States as well as in Canada, Mexico, England, Ireland, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Denmark and Germany.
She has been the consultant for seven carillon and chime installations, including the Beaumont Tower project.
Halsted is planning a summer carillon recital series at 4 p.m. Saturdays from mid-July through mid-August.
In addition to performing, she will be teaching students on a part-time basis. Anyone with a good background in piano who is interested in learning to play the MSU carillon should contact Halsted through the School of Music, 353-5340.
Beaumont Tower has been a campus fixture since
its construction in 1928 at the site of College Hall, the first instruction
building at MSU and the first building in the nation to be devoted entirely
to the teaching of scientific agriculture.
It was donated by John W. Beaumont, an 1882
graduate who was determined that College Hall, which had collapsed during
renovation efforts, would not vanish from campus memory.
Then President Robert Shaw determined that
Beaumont's monument to teaching would serve three functions: as a timepiece
for campus activities, as a meeting place and as an inspiration for campus
unity.
Across six decades, Beaumont Tower has inspired colorful legends that have been passed down through generations of Spartans.
One legend maintains that true Spartan status comes only after a kiss in the tower's shadow.
Another recounts the tale of the "Beaumont ghost," said to be a student killed during World War II who is doomed to haunt campus looking for the sweetheart he left behind.
Yet another describes how the bells of the carillon sometimes ring by themselves, without human assistance.
What was once just a fanciful notion, now has a
basis in reality,however. Among renovation project accomplishments is partial
automation of the bottom 27 bells.
Other accomplishments are:
Funding comes from a variety of sources: