[ A Dutch bellfoundry, ]Royal Eijsbouts bell foundry
Royal Eijsbouts ( nl, Koninklijke Eijsbouts) is a bell foundry located in Asten, Netherlands.
The workshop was founded in 1872 by Bonaventura Eijsbouts as a "factory for tower clocks." In 1893 Eijsbouts was joined by his 15-year-old son, Johan ...
designed, fabricated and installed the full carillon. In May 1979 the carillon was dedicated in two recitals by Milford Myhre, carillonneur
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...
of the Bok Singing Tower
Bok Tower Gardens is a contemplative garden and bird sanctuary located atop Iron Mountain, north of Lake Wales, Florida, United States. Formerly known as the Bok Mountain Lake Sanctuary and Singing Tower, the gardens' attractions include the ...
, Lake Wales FL, who had served as consultant for the instrument.
In 2002 a major gift from the estate of Larry Allen Webb of St. Augustine, Florida, (a distant relative of President Dwight D. Eisenhower) made possible the addition of twelve trebles for a total of 61 bells, with complete revision of the carillon playing action and provision of an identical studio practice clavier in the adjacent University Auditorium, including sound samples from ten major carillons throughout the world. Thus the Century Tower Carillon of sixty-one bells was completed in its present form at the 50th anniversary of the tower itself. It was dedicated on September 11, 2003, with a recital by University Carillonneur emeritus Willis Bodine.
In 2008 the Century Tower became a contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...
in the University of Florida Campus Historic District
The University of Florida Campus Historic District is a historic district on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. The district, bounded by West University Avenue, Southwest 13th Street, Stadium Road and Gale Lemeran ...
which was added to the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
on April 20, 1989.
Perhaps because Century Tower was built soon after the university became co-ed, an old school joke states that every time a virgin graduates from UF, a brick falls off the tower. It is worth noting that the tower stands in pristine condition.
About the Century Tower Carillon
* It has 61 bells and a range span of 5 octaves.
* The entire carillon weighs .
* The smallest bell in the Century Tower Carillon plays a high C, weighs and has a diameter of about .
* The largest bell, called the bourdon, plays a low A-sharp. It is tall, weighs about and is in diameter.
* The carillon chimes each quarter of the hour from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The pentatonic
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale).
Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancie ...
clockstrike melody
A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
that is played, "Florida Chimes", is unique to this carillon and was written by Dr. Budd Udell, former Chair of the Department of Music (1977–85) at the University of Florida.
* Students at the university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
can take carillon lessons, and regularly climb 194 steps in Century Tower to play in one of the two daily performances.
* The carillon is played using 61 keys (or “batons”) for the hands and 25 pedals for the feet. The musician sits in a small room just below the bell chamber.
* There are fewer than 200 carillons in North America and only four in Florida."History of the Carillon"
University of Florida Carillon at Century Tower