Carillon batons are almost never played with the fingers as one does a piano, though this is sometimes used as a special carillon playing technique. The keys activate levers and wires that connect directly to the bells' clappers; thus, as with a piano, the carillonneur can vary the intensity of the note according to the force applied to the key. In addition to the manual keys, the heavier bells are also played with a pedal keyboard. These notes can either be played with the hands or the feet. The world's first international carillon school, the Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn", is
A♭ (musical note) A♭ (musical note) A (A-flat; also called la bémol) is the ninth semitone of the solfège. It lies a diatonic semitone above G and a chromatic semitone below A, thus being enharmonic to G, although in some musical tunings, A will have a different sounding pitch than G. When calculated in equal temperament with a reference of A above middle C as 440 Hz, the frequency of the A above middle C (or A) is approximately 415.305 Hz. See pitch (music) for a discussion of historical variations in frequency. A/G is the only note to have only one other enharmonic.