MSU Traditions: A Singing Tower
MSU Traditions: A Singing Tower
January 26, 2022Since it was built in 1928, the John W. Beaumont Memorial Tower has served as an icon of the Michigan State University campus. With a 49-bell carillon, the tower sings out melodies throughout the week, adding to the soundtrack of campus.
The tower stands at what was once the northeast corner of College Hall, the first instructional building erected on the MSU campus—also the first building in the United States devoted entirely to the teaching of scientific agriculture.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, plans were made to renovate College Hall and preserve it as a student union. Workers discovered severe structural problems in the building, and renovation was halted in a nick of time. Shortly after the stoppage, two walls of College Hall collapsed leaving the building ruins.
One alumnus was determined that College Hall would not vanish from campus memory. John W. Beaumont, who had graduated in 1882, conceived the idea of a monument. Beaumont wanted more than a plaque, he wanted something that would stand as a fitting tribute to College Hall.
Beaumont Tower was designed to be a monument to teaching. Built in the collegiate gothic style, the tower looks a bit like a cathedral and a fortress, with a chapel-like base and cathedral-like crown accompanied by the crenellations and lancet windows of a fortress. Complementing the collegiate gothic architecture, an Art-Deco relief “The Sower,” by artist Lee Lawrie, reinforces the monument's dedication to teaching and the “sowing” of knowledge.
With the collapse of College Hall in 1918 and the burning of two adjacent dormitories, Campus Circle—now devoid of buildings—became vulnerable to new development. Plans were made to cover Campus Circle with new buildings. Michigan State College alumni, wanting to preserve the area as a “sacred space,” initiated a “Save the Circle” campaign, and John W. Beaumont presented his plan to replace the artillery garage with a memorial tower. This tower, occupying the highest end of the circle, would dominate the skyline of the north campus and discourage future building in the oldest and most historical sections of the college.
Thanks to their efforts, the heart of campus remains practically unchanged.
What’s a Carillon?
A carillon is a musical instrument consisting of at least two octaves of carillon bells arranged in chromatic series and played from a keyboard (clavier) that permits control of expression through variation of touch.
The MSU carillon contains 49 bells. The first ten bells were installed in the new Beaumont Tower in 1928. Thirteen additional bells were installed in 1935. The smallest bell weighs about 15 pounds; the largest weighs 2.5 tons.
The carillon clavier is located on the tower’s fourth floor, behind the clocks and near the bells.
Campus never hears recorded music from the tower. Twenty-seven bells have a hammer on the outside. These bells, activated by a computer, strike the Westminster Quarters every 15 minutes during the day and play MSU Shadows daily. A carillon practice clavier is located on the ground floor of the tower.
The carillon was developed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in the area of Europe that is now Holland, Belgium, and northern France. There are about 185 carillons in North America, including 13 in Michigan.
Volunteer assistant carillonneurs play the MSU carillon at noon on Wednesdays and Thursdays during the summer and for special tours and events.
Tower Guard and May Morning Sing
Michigan State has always strived to be a place that is accessible to all. One example of this commitment is Tower Guard, initially founded in 1934 by May Shaw, wife of MSU president Robert Shaw as an all-female honors society. In 1977, membership was opened up to include high achieving male students as well.
Their original goal was primarily to serve the needs of visually impaired students. Today, the organization is paired closely with the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (RCPD) to help ensure that all students have an opportunity to be successful at Michigan State.
Membership to this prestigious group is by invitation only and is extended to those in the top five percent of the first-year class each year. The students in Tower Guard are some of the best and brightest that Michigan State has to offer, each of them giving significant volunteer hours with the RCPD.
Students learn they have been inducted into Tower Guard each year at an event called May Morning Sing, which dates back to 1929 and is steeped in rich tradition. During the ceremony, students hear speeches from RCPD representatives, faculty members and university officials, all highlighting the critical role the club plays within MSU. After the speeches and some singing, the students are ready to carry the torch of Tower Guard for the upcoming year.
Content adapted from History of Beaumont Tower and the MSU Carillon
Author: Alex Gillespie, '17Contributing Writer(s): MSU College of Music
