Twice a day, the carillon bells in Boatwright tower chime in elegant tones, a sonic complement to our collegiate gothic architecture.
“When it rings, it lends a certain formality,” said Joanne Kong, director of accompaniment in the department of music. “It’s a rich, warm ringing sound, and the sounds blend together. It’s not at all percussive. It’s very velvety, soothing in its way.”
Kong has been selecting the tower’s songs for 15 years, but the truth is that her choices are limited. She has only a couple of dozen electronic cards to choose among, each with eight to 10 songs. Most are hymns, classical compositions, and seasonal tunes. There are a few oddballs; one card includes the love theme from The Godfather. The bells can also be played live, as a visiting artist did last year.
Hearing the bells got Paul Achter, a rhetoric and communications studies professor, tweeting back in August: “a new school year begins and @urichmond still refuses to put me in charge of bell tower music. We may never know how Weezer sounds up there.”
His joke got us asking him and others on campus the obvious question: If you could play whatever you wanted on Boatwright’s bells, what would you pick?
Ashlyn Gray, ’16
President, Delta Sigma Theta
- “Wobble” by V.I.C.
- “This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan
- “Latch” by Disclosure
- “New Flame” by Chris Brown
- “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé
Joshua Tucker, ’17
Music director, WDCE radio
- “Sunday Morning” by The Velvet Underground
- “San Francisco” by Foxygen
- “Lithium” by The Polyphonic Spree
- “Mercury Dime” by Death Vessel
- “Always Something There to Remind Me” by Naked Eyes
Yvonne Lam
Violin/viola, eighth blackbird, UR’s ensemble-in-residence
- “Music in Similar Motion” by Philip Glass
- “Fanfares” by György Ligeti
- “Dance of Fury, for the Seven Trumpets” from Quartet for the End of Time by Olivier Messiaen
- Last movement of Beethoven’s violin concerto
- A medley of famous ringtones: Nokia, T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, Apple’s “Marimba,” etc.
Paul Achter
Associate professor, rhetoric and communication studies
- “Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa
- “Funkytown” by Lipps Inc.
- “Under Pressure” by Queen
- “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses
- “Where Is My Mind?” by the Pixies