The bells of St. Lawrence

CANTON — Shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday, the tune of "Meet the Flintstones" rang out across the St. Lawrence campus. Up in the Gunnison Memorial Chapel bell tower, the student bell ringers consulted.

"I think that's one of the favorites," said Cody S. Witherell, a graduating global studies major from Parishville.

Mr. Witherell is one of three undergraduates holding an endowed annual position as a bell ringer at the college. Since 1926, when alumnus Irving Bacheller created the endowment and donated the Bacheller Memorial Chimes to St. Lawrence, students have been responsible for playing the 10 bronze bells to denote special events and the end of the workday.

Also called carillonneurs or chimers, the bell ringers perform a variety of tunes from 5 to 5:30 p.m. every weekday during the school year. No Quasimodos, these students aim to please and will play song requests for birthdays, weddings and other special occasions.

"The history of the bell ringers is that they're very responsive to the community," said the Rev. Kathleen Buckley, the college's chaplain. "When I came here 10 years ago, I would meet people in the community and they would say 'I love the bells!'"

The bells, which were cast by the Meneely Bell Co. of Troy, range in diameter from 18 inches to 4 feet; the largest weighs a full ton and would cost at least $95,000 today ($90,000 more than the total cost of the 10 bells in 1926). They are connected by cables to a set of wooden levers or batons in a lower room in the bell tower and each can be rung with about 10 to 15 pounds of pressure.

The three student bell ringers agreed that, though the batons are laid out linearly like piano keys, learning to play the bells is a challenge — and a public one, at that. To learn the ropes, students typically undergo a one-semester unpaid apprenticeship with the current bell ringers before they receive the endowed position.

"When you're ringing for ceremonies, it's a little nerve-racking to know that people are actually listening instead of maybe listening," said Danica Cunningham, a sophomore music and psychology major from Rochester. "When you're practicing, it's in front of everyone. You never have private time."

The endowed position is generally open to two students a semester and is widely recognized among the campus community, as is the ringers' mix of modern and traditional tunes. In addition to "Meet the Flintstones" (for classical music fans, it's derived from the second movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 17), Tuesday's performance included melodies such as "Westminster Chimes," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and St. Lawrence classics "Chapel Bells," "A Tribute" and "Alma Mater."

"I like being a bell ringer," Miss Cunningham said. "When I tell people I have to go ring the bells, they're like 'What? That's so cool!' People are always asking to come up here with me. It's a fun job."