Emily Dickinson
Trinity College Summer Music Series
Trinity College
Hartford
July 23, 2025
I only had one question when I learned that my old school was hosting a carillon concert on a refreshingly cool Wednesday afternoon in July: What is a carillon?
About all I knew was that it had something to do with bells. When I reached the main quad of the campus, I found about a hundred other people seated perpendicular to the college chapel. I took up a position similar to theirs, and waited. Were they going to drag a bunch of bells onto the quad for the performance?
At 7 p.m. sharp, the clarion sound of bells began to ring out across the perfectly manicured grass. My eyes shot up to the bell tower above us, as the sounds were coming from there. Bell tower. Of course, Jamil, duh.
According to the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, a carillon is “a musical instrument composed of at least 23 carillon bells, arranged in chromatic sequence, so tuned as to produce concordant harmony when many bells are sounded together.” The instrument is operated with a keyboard, and the larger bells of the instrument are controlled with a foot pedal.
Trinity’s carillon, known as the Plumb Memorial Carillon, consists of 49 bells, and is one of only 200 such instruments in all of North America. It was gifted to Trinity by the family of John Landon Plumb, a student who died in his senior year at the school. Originally consisting of 30 bells, itt was installed in 1931, expanding twice over the decades to its current size.
Ever since, Trinity College has played an important role in the preservation and advancement of the carillon tradition. In fact, the first meeting of the Guild of Carillonneurs took place at Trinity College in 1934. The carillon concert series has been a tradition since 1949.
Even with all of that history, an instrument is just a collection of wood, metal and string without a talented performer. Thankfully Emily Dickinson knows how to make the bells ring and sing. (Read a story about her here.)
The word “soft” doesn’t often come to mind when thinking about striking bells, but Dickinson has a delicate touch that brings out the warm tones of the bells. As with many percussion instruments, it can be easy for the sounds to bleed together. Dickinson controls the carillon so that each bell can be heard clearly even as she works through challenging runs and sudden changes in pitch and tempo. It was a shame that we couldn’t see her doing her work.
That’s when I wandered into the chapel itself, and thankfully came across a live stream of Dickinson that the chapel had set up. I was amazed by both Dickinson’s poise before the giant music machine, and also how little of the bells I could hear from inside the chapel, which is a testament to the engineering of the building, because one can hear the bells from across the city on the outside.
As I strained my ears to listen closely, I instantly recognized the hook for Tina Turner’s classic, “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” Dickinson was able to convey the same level of emotion and passion through her play as did the Queen of Rock n’ Roll.
Laying out on the quad and staring into the endless blue sky above while melodious bell chimes washed down over me was a surreal and sublime experience. I got to learn about a whole new instrument and the history of my alma mater. A wonderful evening overall.
"What's Love Got to Do With It," performed by Emily Dickinson.
NEXT
The Trinity College Summer Music Series continues next week with the New Haven Quartet and carillonist Andrea McCrady.
Jamil is taking the rest of the week off. Have a great weekend!
