Twice every school day, student musicians climb 194 stairs to perform mini-concerts 157 feet above the University of Florida campus.
Their instrument, the carillon, originated in 16th century Belgium and the Netherlands. Townspeople would gather at markets while the bells’ sweet tones echoed overhead from the tower and served as a soundtrack to their lives.
A carillon is a set of bells in a tower controlled and played similarly to a keyboard but with batons to pull instead of keys to press. UF’s carillon tops the iconic Century Tower and has 61 bells. The tower is celebrating an anniversary this month, as it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on April 20, 1989.
With less than 200 carillons in the United States and only four in Florida, UF musicians are offered the rare opportunity to train and perform in the sky with the College of the Arts’ Carillon Studio.