Kerrytown.com Photo Tour Area Maps About The Area The Shops Contact Us

415 N Fifth Ave - In Ann Arbor's Historic Kerrytown District

The Kerrytown Chime was built during the 1990s and finished in 1998. It has seventeen bells, forming a chromatic octave and five more half-steps, from a low B to a high G. The chime is similar to the Baird Carillon, only much smaller. Each bell has a small hammer inside it which is connected mechanically to a lever and a foot pedal in the chime stand. The chime stand is almost identical to a carillon keyboard, with only minor differences: the carillon keyboard has many more levers and a seat - one stands to play the chime. Because there is no seat in the chime stand, one can only play three-note chords (two hands and one foot). The smaller number of bells also limits the number of pieces it can play, especially by restricting the instrument to one voice (a skilled carilloneur can play a piece with several voices of different registers).

The idea of the Kerrytown Chime came from St. Ann's Cathedral in Cork, Ireland, where there is a set of seven bells that the public can play. The bell-ropes are numbered, and visitors can pull the ropes in a certain sequence to play a melody. The O'Neal family, longtime Ann Arbor residents, visited the church in the early 1990s and formulated the idea for such an instrument back in their hometown. Joe O'Neal's construction company built the Kerrytown Shops complex in the early 1980s and had included a small tower on the roof. Mr. O'Neal had thought at the time that it would be nice to put a clock or a bell in the tower someday, but after the visit to the Irish church, the idea grew, encompassing the installation of a set of bells in the tower, set up so that the public could play them. In 1994, Joe and Karen O'Neal found a set of seven bells in a bell shop in the town of Brooklyn, Michigan. These bells had once belonged to a church in Massachusetts. When the O'Neals consulted Margo Hallstead, chief carilloneur at the University of Michigan at the time, she suggested that they obtain ten more bells to form a seventeen-bell chime. While the original seven bells only formed most of a C-scale, the full set of seventeen gave more than a full chromatic octave, allowing any of a large number of songs to be played.

The Chime Master at Kerrytown is Master is Heather O'Neal, daughter of Joe and Karen. She is not a trained as a carilloneur or bell performer of any kind; instead, she was selected for the position based on her ability to work with small children, who often come to play the chime. The children often encourage the adults who bring them to take a turn playing the bells, too. Ms. O'Neal says that nannies with large groups of daycare children often come by the chime, and that the children pressure the nannies to play a song. The Chime Master can also arrange birthday parties at the chime.

No musical experience is needed to play the chime. The levers of the chime stand at Kerrytown are numbered one through seventeen, and the Chime Master maintains a file of cards with songs written out on them as a series of numbers. One simply reads the number off the card and plays the corresponding lever to produce the correct note. No rhythm markings are included on the song-cards, so the performer has to know the rhythm of the song beforehand to construct a coherent melody. As a result of this fact, the file of songs to play is composed entirely of folk melodies for children and other familiar songs. Ms. O'Neal says that some of the most popular musical selections are "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," "Amazing Grace," and "Puff, the Magic Dragon." Some visitors to the chime have experience playing other instruments and are able to pick out melodies once they understand how the chime works.

As a public musical instrument that can be heard by anyone within a few blocks, the chime fits very well into the friendly neighborhood surrounding of the Kerrytown District. The Kerrytown Chime has indeed become an institution of the Kerrytown Historic District and is a unique contribution to Ann Arbor's musical community.

Come ring the bells every Saturday from 10:30am to 11am or Wednesday and Friday from noon to 12:30pm. You will find them on the second floor of Kerrytown next to Princess Designs.