McFarland Carillon McFarland Carillon __notoc__ The McFarland Carillon, sometimes referred to as the McFarland Bell Tower or McFarland Memorial Bell Tower is a 185-foot bell tower located on the South Quad of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The tower was approved by the University's trustees in 2005 and built in 2008-2009. It was designed by Fred Guyton of Peckham, Guyton, Albers & Viets. The carillon has 49 bells, which can be controlled by a computer with 500 pre-programmed songs, or can be played directly with a keyboard. The carillon project began as an attempt to upgrade and renovate the University Chimes
Carillon from the lowest note (the bourdon) and may continue up to two and half octaves. In the North American Standard keyboard, all notes can be played on the manual. Because of the acoustic peculiarities of a carillon bell (the prominence of the minor third, and the lack of damping of sound), music written for other instruments needs to be arranged specifically for the carillon. The combination of carillon and other instruments, while possible, is generally not a happy marriage. The carillon is generally far too loud to perform with most other concert instruments. The great exceptions to this are some