PLAYING A CARILLON.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 309, 31 December 1930, Page 14

PLAYING A CARILLON.

"SENSATION OF POWER."

MISS WATKINS* IMPRESSIONS

ADVICE TO LISTENERS,

"I think Wellington people are. going to love the bells, but they must learn to listen to them," said Miss Gladys Watkins, when discussing the War Memorial Carillon which is to be erected at Wellington. Miss Watkins, who has been absent from the Dominion for two and a half years, has as a earillonist at the famous Carillon School at Malines, and las already had experience of playing on the Wellington Carillon when it was erected m Hyde Park, London, and also on the Sydney University Carillon. "People may have a sense of disappointment when first they hear them. The whole sound is utterly unlike any other kind of music," she .continued;-"but if they come again and listen, in the right frame of mind, and knowing a little about the difficulties of listening, I am sure they will be quite won over." Miss Watkins explained that it must be realised that carillon music did not come to the public; the public must expect to go to the bells to listen. She felt that people here had rather the impression that they would be able to sit in their gardens two miles away and hear the bells. While under certain conditions it might be possible to do so, the bells should be listened to as one would listen to any other instrument. ,

Better Farther Away. As regards the best distance for listeners, she would, say not nearer than 200 yards, although it was rather difficult, to make any definite: statement, as it depended upon how near the traffic was to the bells. Speaking generally, however, she would say it was better to be farther away than, near, for the effect was then more glamorous. If one was too near there was a danger of getting a rather blurred effect, the reason for which. Miss Watkins explained ae follows: "The .bells arc tuned in this way. There is the- strike note, which you may take as C. Then the- first overtone above that is a minor third —E flat. If it is followed by an B, you get the overtone from the previous note sounding, though not very distinctly, against the E, which causes a. confusion to the ear. This is what makes people say 'The bells are out of tune.' I can say the Wellington bells are absolutely in tune."

Miss Watkins said that traffic in Malines was regulated when the official programmes were being given, and she thought this rule might be followed with advantage in Wellington. She considered Mount Cook was a very fine position for bells. A carillon sounded best on a rise or near water. Hyde' Park had not been the very-* best place to hear the Wellington bells, because the tower had not been high enough.

Carillon and Chimes. "A point which the public does not always know," said Miss Watkins, "is the difference between a chime aiid a carillon. Twentyrthree or more belV make a carillon, anything under that h called a chime. There are many chime: in Great Britain, and several carillons."

The possibility of the bells proving an annoyance to some was discounted by Miss Watkins, who said that frequent practising might be irritating, but otherwise there should be no objection. The civic authorities at Malines allowed the carillon to be played three mornings a week, either for practising or for programmes, from 10.30 to midday. A programme by a single person lasted from 30 to 45 minutes, and the items followed briskly one after another. When two persons gave the programme it would last an hour. Carillon, playing was perhaps strenuous compared with the piano or violin, said Miss Watkins, but after the initial stages the muscles tightened up, and she did not feel any more strain than was inevitable from playing any instrument.

"At first my car was utterly^/confounded with the intermingling of the sounds," continued Miss Watkins, speaking oi her first experience of carillon playing, "and, of course, one sits near to the bells, and that makes it all the worse, hut after a while the ear adjusts itself, and. I get as much enjoyment out of it now as out of - playing any more ordinary instrument. Playing the bells gives one a sensation that is. indescribable—a feeling of power, controlling all that great mass of metal."