As he walks across campus, Robert Hurwitz said he takes notice of the melodic bells emanating from the EMU. Hurwitz, associate dean of the School of Music and professor of music theory, said he has heard students engaged in conversation about how the bells are a favorite aspect of campus.
But for other students running behind schedule, the bells that ring across campus are an instant reminder they are late to class.
Hurwitz, who has been teaching at the University since 1965, said the bells have an occasional “healthy competition” with an identical unit that plays religious hymns at the Central Lutheran Church, located across from Pioneer Cemetery, and this overlap adds a weird dissonance to the music.

Sounding chimes
The Carillonic Bells are not real bells. They are an electronic unit that plays the sound of bells. They are set to ring every 15 minutes, striking a progression of notes called the Westminster Chimes from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, according to Event and Technical Services Manager Mike Kraiman.
For some University students and faculty, Kraiman said the chimes may have become embedded as an “audible reminder that time is passing.”

But on Saturday and Sunday, Kraiman said the chimes do not start ringing until 10 a.m. because of complaints that arose from students in the residence halls who enjoy sleeping in on the weekends.
Hurwitz said the bells’ particular sequence of notes follows the tradition of Big Ben, the bells inside one of London’s best-known landmarks. Hurwitz added that lots of colleges and universities have taken on the tradition of playing such chimes.
“It does add a special touch to the feeling of an academic institution,” Hurwitz said.
The currently used unit, which can be heard approximately a mile away from the EMU, was purchased by the University in February 1995 for $19,000 with the help of the University of Oregon Foundation. A 200-watt amplifier drives the bells through speakers perched on top of the EMU. But Kraiman said there are no moving parts in this unit, which means there is less of a chance that it will break down.

Kraiman said the current unit has never stopped or broken down. The unit also has the capability of playing 10 pre-programmed songs that have been recorded onto memory cards, which include everything from Canadian patriotic selections, Beatles songs, Bach, Handel and Rodgers and Hammerstein classics. A keyboard can also be connected to the machine to play live or recorded music, and a microphone could even be patched in to emit a human voice.
“You could record the riff from (Van Halen’s) ‘Jump’ and put it in there,” Kraiman said.
Kraiman added that the Office of the President requested that the bells play a sequence of remembrance songs after the Sept. 11 attacks. And during commencement ceremonies in June, “Pomp and Circumstance” will be projected at the unit’s maximum volume.
The unit also plays the University’s fight song Monday through Friday at noon, as well as a slower version of the song again at 6 p.m. The original fight song, “Mighty Oregon,” was written by the University’s first salaried band director, Albert Perfect, along with University student DeWitt Gilbert.

Original ‘bells’
Kraiman said the original unit that emitted the Carillonic Bells was manufactured in 1948 by one of two companies nationwide that specializes in such special machines. The company, Schulmerich Carollons, Inc. is based in Sellersville, Pa. The original unit created sound electronically by miniature tuned bars that were hit by hammers and amplified sound through speakers. But back then, Kraiman said the technology was “unreliable,” and especially during the late 1980s, the machine “was in the habit of breaking down quite frequently.”
“The bells were always electronic,” said University archivist Heather Briston, adding that the chimes were installed in May 1954. Briston said the installation cost was about $3,500, and the funding came from the class of 1943 and 1953 and alumni donations.
Briston said University archives record that in 1954, it was “an exciting time” for the campus to have chimes. She also said there were always plans to install the chimes in the tower of the EMU student union, where they still reside today.
“It’s one of those things where it would be odd if they weren’t there,” Briston said. “Every good university should have chimes.”