Wendell J. Westcott
Retired University Carillonneur
Wendell J. Westcott
(b. 1911) was the University Carillonneur at Michigan State University from
1941-1987. He graduated from the "
Royal Carillon School 'Jef Denyn'" (Belgium) with the highest honor
ever bestowed by that School, Met Groostste Onderscheiding (With
Greatest Distinction). Dr. Westcott has concertized throughout the United
States, Belgium and The Netherlands, including over 30 dedicatory recitals
in the U.S.
Dr. Westcott was the organizer and director of THE SPARTAN BELL RINGERS,
a handbell organization comprised of MSU students. This group became
internationally known through several broadcasts by the BBC in London.
Included in its tours in the United States was a concert in New York's
TOWN HALL which was favorably reviewed in the NEW YORK TIMES. Dr. Westcott
also had the distinction of organizing and directing a group of handbell
ringers at the PETIT AND FRITSEN BELL FOUNDRY in The Netherlands which
introduced that country via national television to handbell ringing for
the first time.
Dr. Westcott is the author of the book
Bells and Their Music
(Putnam)
and of seven campanological articles in the
Encyclopaedia Britannica.
In retirement Dr. Westcott remains active as a carillonneur, and since
1996 has played a Sunday afternoon recital in Beaumont Tower
at 2:00 pm most weekends from April through October; November through March recitals are
contingent upon favorable driving & walking weather.
Several examples of Dr. Westcott's performances are available in the
[Multimedia] section of this website.
[Reload Main Site Frames]
from left: Wendell Westcott, Percival Price, Maurice Garabrandt and Fred Mariott.
Picture taken circa 1950 in front of the original klavier in Beaumont Tower.