UM’s famed clocktower bells celebrate 70 years

In 1953, a colossal musical instrument called a carillon — made up of 47 bells and collectively weighing 12 tons — made a journey via ship from Holland, through the Panama Canal to Seattle and eventually to Missoula.

On Tuesday at noon, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the carillon’s installation in the clocktower of Main Hall on the University of Montana campus, musician Barbara Ballas played three songs and let the bells ring out over the stunning autumn colors.

University of Montana musician Barbara Ballas plays UM’s famed carillon from the Main Hall clocktower on Tuesday, Oct. 17 on the 70th anniversary of the installation of the historic bells on campus. Five days a week for about 10 minutes at noon, Ballas plays the bells from the top of Main Hall.

ANTONIO IBARRA OLIVARES, Missoulian

The instrument is played a little like a piano, except Ballas is hitting large wooden sticks that are attached to cables that ring the giant bells in the room over her head. There’s a row she hits with her fists and a row she hits

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