chimes

CORNELL CHIMES

MY BLURB ON THE CHIMES

My first real encounter with the chimes was on some Thursday afternoon in the Fall semester of my sophomore year. Since freshman year, I had agreed with the general public that going up the tower at least once before graduating was a MUSTDO. Anyhow, on this day I decided to actually go see the top of the tower. It was early in the semester and I didn't have much work to do yet (this is, of course, only comparative to prelim season.) On top of that, I loved to explore and how could I call myself an explorer if I hadn't been to the top of the tower? So I began that 161-step climb.

Courtney Kimball, the headchimesmaster at the time, was playing a concert. I was the only one up there and she let me play the half hour strike at the end of the concert. At that time, I thought it was the coolest thing and found it natural to brag about the four notes I played. "Did you hear the half hour? I played it!!" I guess you could say I was a little over-excited. After that day, I often found myself climbing up those 161 steps to watch the chimesmasters play. The view was also spectacular. When you're up there, staring down at all the little people on the ground, you feel literally on top of the world and you've got it all under you.

Life went on, Fall semester ended (not so very good) but by Spring, I was ready to face it all again. All those prelims, papers, assignments, problem sets on problem sets, and whatnot... this time with an added challenge. I was trying out for chimesmaster. The competition was ten weeks long - ten weeks of hard practicing, red hands, sore legs, bruises, and the whole bit. On the night the new chimesmasters were to be chosen, I waited patiently (NOT) in my room in Sperry for the phone call from Courtney. You can imagine my excitement when she told me I had been chosen to officially be a chimesmaster. It's a wonder the floor didn't fall through with all the jumping it endured.

Today (and forevermore) I proudly call myself a Cornell Chimesmaster. When I stand at the top of the tower, it's no longer simply "McGraw Tower" or even "the clock tower", but it's now "my tower" and the music you hear are coming from "my bells."