Come September, Carleton will be the first Canadian university to offer a music performance degree for the carillon instrument, after a donation made the program possible.
The carillon is a large instrument comprised of many bells and has long been played in the Peace Tower of Ottawa’s parliamentary buildings.
The new performance program will allow students access to both the on-campus practice carillon as well as the Peace Tower’s carillons, according to a press release.
Dominion carilloneur Andrea McCrady, who plays the Peace Tower carillons each weekday, said it’s an excellent opportunity for the next generation and beneficial in the long run.
“Now Carleton will be the pioneer in doing this for Canada,” McCrady said. “It’ll be a great extension for the bachelor of music performance, for anybody wishing to get into carillon performance.”
Plans to start the carillon program began last year, said associate professor and supervisor of music studies James Wright, when he and his colleagues sat on the arrangements committee for the Society for American Music conference.
The first major obstacle to launching the program was obtaining a practice instrument, Wright said.
“A practice carillon won’t sound loudly like a bell, and won’t annoy people around campus,” McCrady said.
Carleton alumnae and music department volunteer Dianne Parsonage purchased a practice carillon from Pennsylvania, and donated the instrument to the music department.
“[Donating the carillon] is something I can use as a marker for a significant milestone in my life,” Parsonage said.
She said she was eager to give back to her alma mater, but also in memory of her nephew, who died at the age of 26 while on duty with the Canadian Navy.
The next obstacle, Wright said, was convincing the national House of Commons to allow students access to peace tower carillons.
“There were questions of how precisely would we engage the dominion carilloneur, since her hours are paid by the taxpayers,” Wright said. “But these problems weren’t insurmountable.”
In the upcoming academic year, prospective students would be required to fulfill the same criteria as any keyboard student and courses would be similar, McCrady said.
A lot has already been done to promote the program, she said, and they’ve already received inquiries from people about the program.
Wright said he now hopes they will be able to establish scholarships for the program.
“We’re not talking about a program with the large number of students in the short term, but it is a big international community with an international guild,” Wright said. “I have a feeling the program will definitely take off in time.”
To date, the music program at Carleton has an “eclectic range to offer, from classical to pop-fusion,” Parsonage said.
“This new program will add to [the music department’s] reputation and it’ll add to Carleton’s profile,” she said.