Cornell Chimes
Encyclopedia
John McGraw (merchant)
John McGraw was a wealthy New York State lumber merchant, philanthropist, early benefactor and trustee of Cornell University.-Early years:...
rather than Jennie McGraw, and well-intentioned but misinformed readers of this page have occasionally edited it to say that John, rather than Jennie, lent his surname to the structure. Readers who desire more confirmation of the tower's full name are encouraged to browse, e.g., the many published books which assert that Jennie McGraw Tower is the full name of the tower. on the central campus of Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, in Ithaca
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. They have been marking the hours and chiming concerts, since the original set of nine bell
Bell (instrument)
A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
s first rang at the University's opening ceremonies October 7, 1868. Those nine bells were donated by Jennie McGraw
Jennie McGraw
Jennie McGraw was born in Dryden, NY in 1840 and died in Ithaca, New York on September 30, 1881. She was the daughter of John McGraw, millionaire philanthropist to Cornell. After her father's death in 1877, McGraw inherited his large fortune...
, and have now been expanded to 21.
The Cornell Chimes
The bells are played by a group of "chimesmasters." Approximately ten chimesmasters play three concerts daily during the school year and a reduced schedule during the summer and semester breaks, making it one of the largest and most frequently played chimes in the world. The chimes are sometimes mistakenly called a "carillonCarillon
A carillon is a musical instrument that is typically housed in a free-standing bell tower, or the belfry of a church or other municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze, cup-shaped bells, which are played serially to play a melody, or sounded together to play a chord...
" which is incorrect as a true carillon has at least 23 bells.
Many styles of music are played on the bells, including classical and modern pieces by a range of composers, including Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, and Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas...
. Commonly played pieces include Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's Pomp and Circumstance Marches
Pomp and Circumstance Marches
The "Pomp and Circumstance Marches" , Op. 39 are a series of marches for orchestra composed by Sir Edward Elgar....
and the theme from The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
, as well as a multitude of original compositions. The chimes' music library contains over two-thousand specially arranged pieces and original compositions—both solos and duets.
Every morning concert, since 1869, has begun with the "Cornell Changes" (affectionately known as the "Jennie McGraw Rag"). The chimesmasters' goal is to play its 549 notes as quickly as
possible. The Cornell "Alma Mater" is played at the midday concert, and the "Cornell Evening Song" at the end of the evening concert.
Each spring semester potential chimesmasters, "compets", undergo a rigorous ten-week competition to become a chimesmaster. The only requirement to compete is an ability to read music and the energy to climb the 161 steps to operate the playing clavier (there is no mechanical assistance). The first stage of competition requires that compets learn the three traditional Cornell pieces (the "Jenny McGraw Rag," the "Alma Mater," and the "Cornell Evening Song"). Compets play a practice instrument, where the levers strike tuned bars with hammers (like a xylophone
Xylophone
The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
), allowing them to learn the instrument without the whole campus listening. To advance to the next round of competition, compets must demonstrate their mastery of the three songs, in addition to sight reading a piece. This audition is played on the main chimes console, but compets only press the dampers halfway, and therefore the chimes remain silent. Those who pass the silent audition move on to coached concerts, and then, finally, judged concerts, where compets take on the full responsibilities of a chimesmaster.
The Cornell Chimes welcome visitors to all concerts.
McGraw Tower
In 1873 the chimes were moved from a ground-level playing stand to McGraw Hall. In 1891, they were moved to their permanent home atop McGraw Tower, designed by Cornell alumnus William Henry MillerWilliam Henry Miller (architect)
William Henry Miller was an American architect and the first graduate of the architecture school at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.Born in 1848 in Trenton, New York, Miller graduated from Cornell in 1872...
. The 173-foot (53 m) tower is Cornell's most prominent landmark and is adjacent to Uris Library. The tower is also home to an office, museum, practice room, and a restored 1875 Seth Thomas
Seth Thomas (clockmaker)
Seth Thomas was an American clock maker and a pioneer of mass production at his Seth Thomas Clock Company.-Biography:Thomas was born in Wolcott, Connecticut, in 1785. He started in the clock business in 1807, working for clockmaker Eli Terry...
clock with a 14-foot pendulum
Pendulum
A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced from its resting equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position...
. Visitors can still see the clockwork
Clockwork
A clockwork is the inner workings of either a mechanical clock or a device that operates in a similar fashion. Specifically, the term refers to a mechanical device utilizing a complex series of gears....
s and pendulum
Pendulum
A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced from its resting equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position...
, but the clock was linked to the Global Positioning System
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
in 1999.
The Pumpkin and the Discoball
Pumpkin
A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America...
appeared atop the spire of McGraw Tower. How it was placed there is not publicly known. Because of the danger involved in retrieving it, administrators decided to leave it until it rotted and fell off. However, the pumpkin rapidly dried out in the cold air and remained on the tower until it was removed with a crane on March 13, 1998 (it was planned that Provost Don M. Randel would remove it, but in a practice run the crane basket was blown by a gust of wind and knocked the pumpkin off). Some people had claimed that a real pumpkin could not stay up that long without rotting and that it must be artificial. However, subsequent morphological
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
, chemical
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, and DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
analysis by both faculty members and undergraduates confirmed that it was indeed a pumpkin.
In April 2005, a disco ball
Disco ball
A disco ball is a roughly spherical object that reflects light directed at it in many directions, producing a complex display...
was attached to the top of the tower. A crane was hired to remove the offending orb in an operation which cost the university approximately $20,000.