Library & Archival Collections Manager Bok Tower Gardens Lake Wales, Florida, United States
Carillons are an uncommon and mysterious musical instrument: most are incorporated within towers of buildings such as at churches or universities. Many municipalities have a carillon but may not know that they do. Even further, many may not know that there is a person who plays the instrument – a carillonneur. There are not many large collections of carillon music in most music libraries. Before I go further, I should note that a carillon, as defined by The Guild of Carillonneurs of North America (GCNA), 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.” (“About Carillons.” The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. Accessed May 7, 2022. https://gcna.org/about-carillons.) The Anton Brees Carillon Library (ABCL) is located in Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida. Bok Tower Gardens has a sixty bell carillon. The library is home to one of the largest carillon focused research and music collections in the world; we also house the GCNA archives. We collect music, artifacts, bell literature, programs, material on foundries, and much more. The objective of this poster is thus twofold: 1.) to promote the carillon as an instrument that may be near attendees & 2.) to promote the ABCL as a music library and research center for campanology and carillon music. If an attendee is interested in learning more about a carillon near them, I am available for consultation.
