Climbing the 80-some steps to the top of the Carillon Bell Tower outside the Social Science building, one begins to wonder if there is a mysterious Quasimodo-like figure lurking at the top of the impressive ivy-covered structure.
The shadows and musty air of 65 years of bell-ringing only sets the mood for the nonchalant bells that chime mellow tunes ranging from The Beatles to Mozart.
The therapeutic chimes that sound every day began with the combined donations of several senior classes to build a $30,000 tower and a three-octave, 36-bell Carillon in 1935.
The Carillon has since expanded to reach 56 bells thanks to the fund-raising efforts of alumni. The bronze- and copper-constituted bells were manufactured in Holland, the Netherlands, France and England.
The history is nothing compared to being inside the bell tower. The largest bell weighs more than 7,000 pounds, accompanied by endless rows of classic monumental bells inscribed with Latin and in excellent condition.
The bells are only tuned once when they are made and surprisingly thin wires connect the clappers inside the bells to the bars of a wooden keyboard in the belfry below.
The rounded bars, laid out similar to a piano, but in two rows, are then played by hand in combination with wooden foot petals.
Student carillonneur Frecky Lewis said, \It helps if you play a keyboard instrument before you play the bells, it's very difficult to coordinate both your hands and your feet, it takes some getting used to.""
Beneath the bells and separated only by a thin wooden floor, sits the carillonneur Lyle Anderson who has playing UW-Madison's bells on and off for the past 40 years. Once studying to be a organist, Anderson took up the bells and studied the Netherlands Carillon School in Amserfoort.
""It's the instrument of musical expression that suits me best,"" he said. ""I feel more accomplished, and thus, one might say, most satisfied on the carillon.""
Mary Cain, one of the few student carillon players at UW-Madison, has been playing the bells since her undergraduate days at the University of Illinois.
""It is fun and relaxing to play, it is one of the very few musical instruments where you can perform live without actually seeing your audience,"" she said.
Anderson puts on free concerts year-round Sundays from 3 to 4 p.m., where free tours of the bell tower are also offered.
During the summer months, the Carillon has been known to be a stopping point for traveling carillonneurs, with artists from Australia, Ireland and Holland performing in the tower.
The bells used to ring once every 15 minutes, a campus tradition missed by many.
But the smaller chimes were controlled by an automatic system that broke down and remains to be fixed.
