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.
About the Author