“It’s an electric carillon. It’s all programmed through this console,” said music professor Joanne Kong, standing in a small room atop the library where the music lives. On top of the console are AutoBelCards, small disks that each hold about a dozen songs that are inserted into the machine as part of the programming process. On their way to class, students might hear instrumental versions of “The Impossible Dream” from Man of La Mancha, The Carpenter’s “We’ve Only Just Begun,” or Judy Garland’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” There is a Christmas collection and a spring mix that includes “April in Paris” and “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.” More unusual selections include “Love Theme from the Godfather,” “Cabaret,” and the “Star Wars Theme.”

Kong programmed the bells from November 1999 to Fall 2023. It was her practice to change the card every few months. “But theoretically, you could change it every day if you wanted to.” After taking a break for a year, when another faculty took the reins, she returns this semester.

Designed by Schulmerich Carillons, the first carillon was installed in 1955 to celebrate the University’s 125th anniversary. It was replaced with a new carillon in 1993. The Schulmerich technology uses a digital sampling of individual bells and bell tones individually recorded on high-fidelity digital audio tracks, giving a true-to-life representation.

Music for UR’s carillon can also be played manually on a two-tiered keyboard, located in the same room.

Kong has played the keyboard on special occasions, such as the anniversary of 9/11 and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“Sometimes I have played a specific piece, or I can pick a single note and just toll the bell,” said Kong, who is also a concert pianist.

“You can pick different sounds of bells if you want something that's a bright quality or if you want something that's more of a dark kind of tolling. You can get all different kinds of characters through this keyboard.”

Slower songs work especially well. Kong has an affinity for Bach. “There’s a lot of reverberation in the sound of the bells. And when you're outside and hear it, you kind of hear this cloud of sound. Slower pieces tend to carry a little bit better.”

In 2012, the campus held a festival in honor of the 100th birthday of the American composer John Cage.

“He wrote pieces for carillons, very modern sounding pieces,” she said.

Kong came up to the room and performed the Cage repertoire.

“People who were outside had no idea what was going on, and they called and said, `I think something's wrong. I think the carillon’s broken,’” she said with a laugh. “They didn't realize I was playing modern music.”

Across campus, in her Modlin office, Kong rarely hears the bells. But when she does, she enjoys hearing them.

“I think it just adds so much to the atmosphere of a college campus.”