So integrally a part of daily life at Dartmouth, the familiar presence of the Baker Tower bells can often go unnoticed -- until you find yourself humming "Flintstones, meet the Flintstones ..." as you walk across the Green.
James von Rittman '95 is the man behind the machine. From his room in Wheeler Hall, he programs which songs are played and when, using only his computer.
Ringing everything from the Beatles to traditional Dartmouth songs and from Anglican church hymns to Madonna's "Like a Virgin," 17 bells located on the 17th floor of Baker Tower resonate in song at least six times each day.
Ringing requests
Your favorite aunt and uncle from Texas are visiting next Thursday, and you are not quite sure how to welcome them to Dartmouth. Wouldn't it be great if while eating lunch on the Green, the Baker bells suddenly started to play "The Yellow Rose of Texas?"
All it takes is a quick BlitzMail message. An account under the alias "Bells" has been set up for the sole purpose of taking requests for songs.
Three hundred ten songs are currently programmed into the Tower's computer, and this list is expandable. "Programming a new song usually takes about one hour," von Rittman said.
To sound best, however, songs need to fit within the bells' 17-note range, and can't be too fast. "Jingle Bells," for example, doesn't sound very good because the clappers can't hit the appropriate bells in correct time, von Rittman said.
The songs are usually played during the passing time between classes but Von Rittman said he will play a request at any time of the day or night.
If you've ever heard "Happy Birthday" played at 3:17 a.m., that was von Rittman responding to a request to play the tune at the exact time of somebody's birth.
He has also played "Silent Night" at midnight on Christmas.
"One of the spirited requests I've had was last June when [Walt Disney's Chief Executive Officer] Michael Eisner came to speak to Tuck School. I was asked by the Tuck administration to play only Disney songs that day, so I played 'Whistle While You Work,' and 'When you Wish upon a Star,'" he said.
Despite the popularity of the theme song from "The Smurfs" cartoon, von Rittman said he tries not to play it very often because he said he does not like the tune.
The Dartmouth administration has never interfered with von Rittman's control over the bells.
"I think it says something about Dartmouth that the administration exercises so little control over the Baker Bells," von Rittman said. "The students have a voice and it wants to hear Madonna -- or folk songs, or whatever."
Von Rittman said his song list varies each day but the last song, at 6 p.m., is always one of the 13 College songs, which include the "Alma Mater" and "Pea-Green Freshmen."
He is also in charge of the bells that strike on the hour and half-hour throughout the day.
The hourly chime is the same as the one played hourly at Big Ben in the Clock Tower of the British Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London and the half-hour jingle comes from St. Paul's Cathedral, also in London.
67 years of tradition
The history of the Baker Bells began in 1928 when the College commissioned the Meneely Bell Company to cast an impressive 16-bell set for the Tower. Ranging from 200 to 2,500 pounds, each bell represents a different note on the musical scale.
Bell automation originated at Dartmouth in 1929 when Walter Durrschmidt, an instrument maker and music professor, invented three machines and a special clock to regulate the ringing of the bells in much of the same way that a player piano works.
Although Durrshmidt's system did not work in the rain and could not play two notes at the same time, it was universally considered a brilliant invention.
General Electric bought Durrshmidt's patent and Yale University still uses his system today.
Brains behind the bells
Paul Grassie '80 and Chris Walker '73 invented a computerized system in 1979 to control the bells.
A program tricks the computer into thinking it is printing, while in reality it is sending a series of signals to a converter, telling magnetic hammers when to strike the individual bells.
In 1981, Donal Morse '51 donated a 17th bell along with money to pay for the maintenance of the system and to pay the carillonneur -- the bell ringer.
This past July, Baker Library experienced a power surge during a severe thunderstorm, destroying the main bell-controlling computer and all its programs, von Rittman said.
Von Rittman said he has had to implement a new system to correct the damage. With the help of Stan Denton and Richard Brown, both of Computing Services, an upgraded version of the original system was in place in time for Homecoming Weekend.
"I still have to go in and one by one change the tempo speeds," Rittman said. "But everything should be back to normal in a few weeks."
Anything for a song
Although the computer program was not working during Freshman Orientation Week, von Rittman climbed the tower once a day to ring the bells himself.
"I though it was important that the freshmen become familiar with the tunes," he said.
As one of the College's most memorable traditions, the sounding of the bells has always evoked, and continues to evoke, nostalgia in Dartmouth alumni.
"I got involved with the Baker Bells because I believed there were certain things every Dartmouth student should do during their time here: jump off of Ledyard Bridge, go to the [Mt. Moosilauke] Lodge and become involved in the ringing of the bells -- at least once," von Rittman said.
Von Rittman has taken Jennifer Herbst '96 in as his intern this year so she can take over the carillonneur's duties when he graduates. He said he inherited the job from Lynn Gilgut '94.
