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8B - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 13, 2005
Carillons offer musical outlet or student
The Michigan Da
TUNED IN
WOLV-TV OFFERS DIVERSE PROGRAMMING
By Niamh Slevin
Daily Weekend Editor
Tucked between the newly renovat-
ed Hill Auditorium and the expanse
of the Modern Languages Building,
the Burton Memorial Tower remains
one of the defining characters of the
University landscape.
Though few have explored its nar-
row hallways and music-filled class-
rooms, most students know it as
a staple of their years on campus,
announcing their tardiness as they
rush to class. For University Musical
Society fans and musicology buffs,
tly offices within may bear a certain
sense of familiarity.
But housed high up on the ninth
floor, Joseph Daniel has a deeper con-
nection with the tower's history at the
University. As the main carillon play-
er, Daniel has learned all the intrica-
cies of this lesser-known space.
Daniel originally came to the
University because it is currently the
oly university to offer a graduate
degree in carillon, but he soon found
himself enjoying another unique
"Margo's position, which she held for 17 years,
is unquestionably the number one position
in the country as far as carillon goes."
-Joseph Daniel
Music Graduate Student and carillonist
By Sarah Zarowny
Daily Arts Writer
opportunity here.
In addition to battling the stress of
being a doctoral student, organizing
class material as a graduate student
instructor and learning the harp-
sichord (his fourth musical instru-
ment), he is now the University's
carillon player and coordinator for
both Burton Tower and the Lurie
Tower on North Campus.
The position, which Margo Halst-
ed, associate professor of Campanol-
ogy, held until her recent retirement,
allows Daniel to work with two of
only about 165 such instruments in
North America.
"Margo's position, which she held
for 17 years, is unquestionably the
number one position in the country
as far as carillon goes," Daniel said.
Adjacent to Daniel's office, a small
room remains home to replacement
bells, and more importantly, to the
1930s technology that runs the show
in Daniel's absence. Like a music
box, large gears turn to pull back the
hammers, which release every 15
minutes to announce the time.
Outside at the very top of the
tower, Burton seems somewhat rem-
iniscent of the Sears Tower (though
nowhere near its height) with its pro-
tective fencing to keep visitors from
falling and its spectacular view of
the cityscape below.
Yet, unlike Chicago's famous
tourist trap, Burton's observation
deck offers a constant reminder that
it is, above all, a musical haven: the
bells. Daniel stands underneath the
largest of the collection, the 12-ton
hour bell inscribed with its patron's
dedication, and chuckles as he
explains that the quietest place to be
during a recital would be inside the
bell because its design pushes all the
sound out toward the public.
As the snow caked to the rim of
the bells reminds him of the weath-
er, Daniel retreats inside to the small
room that houses the famed Charles
Baird carillon. Its shape leaves room
for a thin strip of walking space on
all sides of the instrument and a
radiator on one wall to counteract
the effect of the breezes outside.
Daniel raises his bench to just the
right height, then proceeds to play a
piece by his favorite composer, Mat-
thias VanDen Gheyn.
Like many skilled performers, he
seems almost oblivious to the pres-
ence of his audience and plays with-
out fear of scrutiny. His fists push
the large bronze keys for the treble
clefs, and his feet move simultane-
ously on the long row of foot pedals
for the bass.
"It's a meaty instrument," he says,
as he demonstrates the force it takes
to push the keys linked to the bigger
bells and the relative ease of those
linked to the lighter bells. He adds
that he often offers his students pro-
tective padding for their pinkies to
reduce the pressure on their hands
From high atop South Quad Resi-
dence Hall, a small studio, well
stocked control room and cubicled
office are broadcasting news, sports,
and entertainment to about 10,000
channel-surfing students living in
University residence halls. Whether
it's sports, news, sex or fitness, it's
likely that WOLV-TV has something
to please all viewers.
That wasn't always the case. Now
in its llth year, WOLV-TV was origi-
nally conceived during the 1993/1994
school year for the purpose of airing
Michigan hockey games. Not until
1996 were other shows added to the
schedule, over time building up to the
eight shows that the network currently
tapes and airs. Two more shows are in
development, and should be airing by
the end of this semester.
Even those who no longer live in
the residence halls may have caught a
glimpse of WOLV-TV during its one-
hour spots which air every night on
UMTV channel 22. WOLV-TV also
provides coverage of the hockey games
to Fraser's Pub in Ann Arbor. Efforts
at updating and re-tooling equipment
during 2004 have improved WOLV-
TV's quality of programming. The
station now feels it can keep up to par
PETER SCHOTTENFELS/Daily
LSA Junior Chris Breece looks over his script before his WOLV-TV sports talk show.
PETER SCHOTTENFELS/Daily
The Carillon bells in Lurie Tower on North Campus.
PETER SCHOTTENFELS/Daily
Music School Graduate student Joseph Daniel plays carillon at both
Burton Tower and Lurie Tower on North Campus.
and holds up his own hand to illus-
trate the kind of calluses the instru-
ment can cause.
Despite this small drawback, Dan-
iel notes that enrollment in his car-
illon studio at the School of Music
has almost doubled since last year.
During her time with the University,
Halsted built the reputation of the
class to a point where the course had
a waiting list of eager students each
semester.
After her retirement almost two
years ago, enrollment dipped slight-
ly as students adjusted to the scary
prospect of a new instructor. This
marks the first semester since that
time that the course has reached full
capacity.
Daniel credits this rapid increase
to his students for, as he says, "going
out and doing the grunt work by tell-
ing their friends, 'this is what I'm
doing. It's really neat. You should
try it."'
But, the University's reputation
with the carillon also contributes to
its popularity with students. Music
majors and nonmajors alike are
attracted to the course.
When Daniel asks his students
why they chose to take the carillon
studio, he says the most common
answer is "because I'm at the Uni-
versity of Michigan, and that's just
what you do."
Because the carillon's sound is so
inherently public, it is often considered
to invite a strong sense of community.
In his class, Daniel understands that
not all his students will want to per-
form publicly as he does.
His hope is "that they'll develop
an appreciation and knowledge (so
they can) go and talk about it." .
Along with Daniel, 10 other
advanced students and community
members play recitals on the Baird
and Lurie carillons five days a week
while class is in session, and they
invite the public to attend their per-
formances.
For more information on the
carillon or open recitals, contact
carillon @umnich.edu.
with the production quality of nation- election and asked it to create a pack- men's hockey games both this Friday
al broadcasting studios. The higher age of students' reactions on election and Saturday for broadcast to approx-
quality of picture and sound enabled issues. Although the package was ulti- imately 600,000 viewers in Alaska.
by this upgrade was especially neces- mately not run, the offer was no doubt "This is probably the biggest event
sary for those sports and news shows exciting, as it showed the station's we've had yet," said Michael Ostrand-
that are broadcast to the larger Ann potential for a national audience. er, a School of Education senior and
Arbor community every night. But this coming weekend, WOLV- co-general manager of WOLV-TV.
During the past year, WOLV-TV TV is getting another chance for Although the live hockey games
has been getting increasingly more exposure outside of the Ann Arbor remain among the station's most
exposure in the national media. "ABC area. FOX Sports Alaska has con- popular programs, according to the
World News Tonight" contacted the tacted WOLV-TV and will be pick- large amount of responses the sta-
station before the 2004 presidential ing up their feed from the Michigan tion receives about them, those Alas-
kans are missing out on other shows
that appear only on channel 70, such
as "Giddy Up!" (formerly known as
"Turned On"), a call-in sex ques-
tion and answer program patterned
after MTV's Loveline. Another hot
show, according the to student e-mail
response, is the aerobics show entitled
"The Big House Beat: Everybody 'n
da Club Gettin' Fit," as well as sports
h talk show, "You Say Maize ... I Say
Blue," modeled on ESPN's "Pardon
the Interruption."
WOLV-TV was, is, and intends to
always be a student-run organization.
"We don't sit here and think, 'Oh, we
want to have this type of show,' "said
LSA senior and co-general manager
Laura Averitt, "Who are we to limit
(the students)?" While support and
advice is provided by faculty, the day-
to-day operations of the network are
in the hands of its student members.
The basic process of creating a
.>>:: <rrshow was followed last semester by
} LSA sophomore Stephanie Mansour.
"I originally joined WOLV-TV to do
the news, but they were looking for
new shows," she said.
Mansour had taken an aerobics
class before and enjoyed working out
PETER SCHOTTENFEL.S/Daily to songs, so she brought up the idea of
Education Senior Michael Ostrander gears up for his show at WOLV-TV. anerbcpogmbfreter-
ducers. The next step involved meeting
with the executive board and pitching
her idea for the show to them. Appar-
ently the board liked what they heard
and Mansour taped a pilot episode
When taping a pilot, the managers anc
producers working at WOLV-TV are
looking to see that the student creator's
idea is feasible and that any technica]
difficulties arising during the taping
can be solved. They received positive
e-mail feedback after the pilot episode
and "The Big House Beat" was picked
up, going on to tape five more episodes
last semester. "We were shocked," said
Mansour, but "it's been so much fun!"
Training is also provided for all
new students. "It's great when you
have someone new in December, and
you see a person who was new in Sep-
tember offer to teach them how to use
the equipment," Averitt said. "We're
all friends. It's a really good organiza-
tion to join for someone who is new at
the University - it's a good family."
WEEKEND
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