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 Smallest Bells of the McGaffin Carillon
The two smallest bells of the carillon prior to their installation.
Jane Leggiero and the top D bell
Not all of the carillon updates weigh thousands of pounds! George and Jane Leggiero gifted two bells at the upper end of the instrument. This extends our range with a C# and D at the very top of the clavier. The treble bells of the McGaffin Carillon are truly special, very sweet and singing. These two new bells increase what hymns and other tunes we can play in this “music-box” range of our bells. Each of the bells weighs about 30 pounds.
The C# Bell is the new number 50 bell and is a gift from George Leggiero to celebrate 2023, the 50th year of his playing the McGaffin Carillon. George came to Cleveland from Connecticut as a freshman engineering student at CWRU in 1968, only months after the carillon was installed. As a graduate student in music history, in 1973 he took on the role of Covenant Carillonist.
The top bell, D, is a gift of George’s daughter, Jane Leggiero, also celebrating 2023. The bell commemorates her 40th year and the year she completed her doctorate at CWRU, a DMA in historic performance.
The bells are small enough, about 8 inches across, that there isn’t much room for fancy inscriptions or decorations. The C# bell simply has “G 50 L” and the D bell “J 40 L”