Restoration Highlight

The highly anticipated restoration and renovation of The McGaffin Carillon is complete. We are very thankful for the over 225 donors who have made this possible. A list of donors is on the Friends of the McGaffin Carillon website https://www.ucbells.org/friends . In these series of highlights The Friends of the McGaffin Carillon would like to honor some of the major gifts as well as some of the major upgrades to the installation.

The New E♭ Bell

Rod Keen and Denise Horstman look over the new Eb bell just before it will be hoisted into the tower.

One of the new bells added to the McGaffin Carillon during our recent renovation is a low E♭ on the clavier (keyboard). As was customary for many carillons, including the McGaffin Carillon, the original instrument was cast without the lowest C♯ and E♭ bass notes. Because bell weight triples with each descending octave, it made sense in 1968 to extend the instrument in the upper range rather than include these large, infrequently used bass bells.

As part of this renovation, we have added four new bells to expand the carillon’s musical range. The low E♭ bell was generously gifted by Denise Horstman, founding president of The Friends of the McGaffin Carillon, and her husband, Rod Keen—much to the excitement of our performers. This bell, weighing 1,672 pounds, was cast in 2023 by Royal Eijsbouts to match the original bells in tone, tuning, and decoration.

An inscription on the bell’s shoulder reads: EIJSBOUTS ME FECIT FOR THE MCGAFFIN CARILLON MMXXIII. The decorative band surrounding the inscription features symbols of the gospel writers, matching the ornamentation on the original bells. The bell is a memorial to the donors’ parents and includes a Latin inscription encircling its body:
NON VOX SED VOTUM NON MUSICA CORDULA SED COR NON CLAMOR SED AMOR CANTAT IN AURE DEI
(“Not the voice but the prayer, not concordant music but the heart, not noise but love sings in the ear of God”)—a quote from a 17th-century bell in Cambridgeshire, England.

This bell is featured in the new quarter-hour chime and is heard as the final note of each quarter. The photo shows the proud "parents" inspecting their gift before it was hoisted into place in the tower.