by Justin Ryan, Brooklyn NY - last updated March 30, 2009
This is a web site of examples and explanations of carillon mechanics, technique, and interpretation. It is intended to supplement my Carillon News (No. 81) article and the presentation I gave at the 2008 GCNA congress in Berkeley. I am planning on expanding these ideas into my master's thesis. The work is the result of extensive study of the instrument, and research of existing writing on the carillon, piano, and acoustics. The material is aimed at carillonneurs, but should make sense to other musicians after reading the Introduction to the carillon section.
My motivation for this project has been to answer big questions about playing the carillon:The answers are important to the carillon art; the more we understand our instrument, the better we express our musical ideas and effectively teach our students.
The examples and explanations are not meant to stand on their own as a unified argument—my thesis will do that, and these are a series of thoughts leading up to it. I will be updating it as research progresses; let me know if you would like to occasionally hear about updates. Flash Player is required for the audio, video, and animated examples.
I welcome any thoughts and discussion, of course, and would be happy to post any responses or counter-arguments. I can be reached at carillonator {at} gmail {dot} com.
The site is divided into the following sections, which are also linked at the top of every page: