Whether it's the uplifting notes of the Indiana Jones theme, the cheerful melody of "You are My Sunshine" or the familiar tune of the College's Alma Mater, the Baker Bells constantly provide the music which accompanies students throughout their day.
Yet many students do not know where these random songs come from or who decides what a day's musical accompaniment will be.
In fact, students can e-mail requests for the Baker Bells to the account "Bells," which is monitored by Ned Holbrook '00 and James Muiter '98.
The two work as a team since Holbrook is currently on a leave term in California. Holbrook programs the bells with on-campus assistance from Muiter.
Whether or not a request is played depends on a variety of factors. Certain songs are ruled out because the same note cannot be played in quick succession on the bells.
Range can also be a problem, since the bells do not span more than two octaves.
However, the requested hour of the day and the time the programmer has available are the main criteria for the decision.
Holbrook said the time he spends programming depends on his schedule. If he has the free time, he said, he sometimes spends several hours working on songs.
For example, Holbrook said, he spent most of the afternoon before the 4th of July in Baker Tower programming patriotic tunes.
The songs are programmed using MIDI files, and any software program that can create these files can be used to program the bells.
The bells are controlled by a Power Macintosh in Baker Tower, but an authorized user can control them from other computers as well, which enables Holbrook to work on the bells from California.
Most requests, which range classical to rock, are not that unusual, Holbrook said.
Muiter, however, said he remembers a request for the Ohio State Fight song, which seemed at odds with the Big Green Spirit. Muiter said the most common requests are for "Happy Birthday."
The job of programmer is passed down from one interested student to another that he knows would fit the job. Holbrook succeeds Peter Yoo '98 as programmer, and he said the next programmer will probably be someone he knows who is interested in music and computers.
As for personal motivation, Holbrook said he feels that the bells are "a unique part of the Dartmouth heritage."
The heritage of the bells themselves began in 1928 when the College commissioned the Meneely Bell Company to create a 16-bell set of 200 to 2,000-pound bells for the College.
Ringing the bells was a manual process until 1929, when a music professor and instrument maker named William Durrschmidt created a system using three machines and a clock to control the bells.
This method, though sometimes hindered by rain, was in use until 1979, when Paul Grossi '80 and Chris Walker '73 created a computerized system.
Donald Morse '51 donated a 17th bell in 1981. He also donated money to maintain the bells and to pay the ringer.
