After upgrade, Carillon bells will be able to play thousands of tunes

Staff photos by Jim Noelker The 150-foot-high tower was dedicated in 1942.

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Patrick Bradley, an employee of Verdin Co., installs new strikers and electronics in the Deeds Carillon on Wednesday, March 24, at Carillon Park. The equipment will enable the bells to be programmed to play thousands of songs.

Staff photo by Jim Noelker Patrick Bradley, an employee of Verdin Co., installs new strikers and electronics in the Deeds Carillon on Wednesday, March 24, at Carillon Park. The equipment will enable the bells to be programmed to play thousands of songs.

By Jim DeBrosse, Staff Writer Updated 11:02 AM Thursday, March 25, 2010

DAYTON — Call it the world’s largest iPod.

The 150-foot-high Deeds Carillon — Dayton’s most visible landmark — is being modernized to play any tune downloaded to a digital device the size of a VCR.

The automated system being installed by Verdin Co. of Cincinnati will store up to 10,000 tunes that can be programmed remotely by computer to play a single song or an hour-long concert. For live performances, a carillonneur can operate the bells via an electronic keyboard.

Requests for weddings and other private activities at Carillon Park will be forwarded to Verdin’s studios in Cincinnati, “where they can put all that together on a (computerized) keyboard and just upload it to our system,” Dayton History Chief Executive Brady Kress said. Dayton History operates Carillon Park.

On Wednesday, March 24, Verdin crews were busy mounting electrified strikers atop 32 of the tower’s 57 bells.

Edith Deeds — wife of automotive pioneer and former NCR chief Col. Edward Deeds — played the carillon’s first concert on Easter Sunday, 1942. An accomplished pianist, Mrs. Deeds was the guiding force behind the carillon, while her husband provided the financing.

In 1988, the ground-floor electrified keyboard was replaced with an all-manual system mounted in the tower. The elevator to the playing cabin has been difficult to maintain, requiring the carillonneur to climb 100 feet up an internal ladder, Kress said.

Once the automated system is working later this spring, Daytonians will hear a lot more music from the carillon than just the standard Westminster chimes, Kress said.

“We hope to have daily themed concerts for (park) visitors starting this summer,” he said.

Deeds Carillon and its stone terrace is undergoing $200,000 in renovations.

Another former NCR chief, Jerre Stead, and his wife, Mary Joy, are the leading contributors to the project, Kress said.

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