The carillon is an extraordinary musical instrument with a history as rich as it is long. For more than five centuries, the carillon has been a voice for the hopes, aspirations and joys of humankind.

Carillons evolved in the lowlands of Holland, Belgium and northern France. The rich mercantile towns of the lowlands exhibited their status by installing fine carillons in their church towers, and arranging tunes to be played every quarter hour (or more often!) by an automatic mechanism. The town carillonneur played on market days and holidays. It was said that good bells and good schools were the sign of a well run city.

This dates back to a local legend that the local authorities were one day strapped for cash and saw no option but to sell church bells to neighbouring city Kampen. To make sure Kampen did not make too much profit from the deal, the local authorities asked a high price for the church bells. Kampen agreed to the deal, on the condition that they could choose their own way of paying for the church bells. Zwolle consented, and Kampen paid in copper coins of four duiten (the equivalent of 2-and-a-half cents). Because of their distrust, Zwolle wanted to be sure Kampen had truly paid the entire price. The local authorities therefore counted the money until their fingers had turned blue from the copper.

A carillon is a musical instrument composed of at least 23 carillon bells, arranged in chromatic sequence, so tuned as to produce concordant harmony when many bells are sounded together. It is played from a keyboard that allows expression through variation of touch. The keys are struck with the half-closed hand. In addition, the larger bells are connected to foot pedals.

Although bells were first made by man during the Bronze Age, it was not until the 15th century that Flemish bell founders discovered the process of accurately tuning bells. The art of making carillon bells almost died out by the 19th century. It is only in the 20th century that carillon bell founding was revived and has surpassed the quality and tuning of 15th century bells.

Carillon bells are cast from bell bronze, an alloy composed of approximately 78% copper and 22% tin, which is heated in a furnace to above 2,000 degrees F, until it melts and combines into a homogenous liquid. The molten metal is then poured into a mold made up of a core, which is the shape of the inside section of the bell, and a cope, which is the shape of the outside of the bell. A bell's weight and profile, or shape, determine its note and the quality of its tone.

The world's greatest concentration of carillons is still in the Low Countries of Europe (Belgium, The Netherlands, northern France and northwest Germany). The art of the carillon has spread world wide, however, with instruments on every continent except Antarctica.

Those who see a carillon being played for the first time are surprised to find that it requires considerable expenditure of energy, and that playing is such a physically strenuous exercise. They often ask why in this day and age the clavier has not been electrified to ease the touch. People have attempted to fit carillons with ivory keyboards like a piano which operate electronically, equalling the piano in lightness of touch. However, the result produced is wooden and mechanical, and the player has no control over the force with which the clapper strikes the bell. The traditional clavier, which the Village Trust installed at Bournville, has a touch in the same sense as a piano and this enables the player to obtain an infinite number of gradations of tone, from the softest pianissimo to the loudest fortissimo. The carilloneur, who is a true artist, will always prefer the traditional clavier as it gives infinite dynamic colour and allows the melody to sing above the accompaniment.

Once a carillon bell has been struck, the note will decay in a time determined by its design, as a carillon has no damping mechanism like a piano. To prevent the notes from all merging into each other, thus destroying all sense of tempo and melody, carillon bells tend to be less resonant than church bells. To sustain long notes, many carillonneurs repetetively strike the appropriate bell.

"So many voices in our troubled world are still unheard."

This simple dedication on the Netherlands Carillon expresses the gratitude of the Dutch people for American aid received during and after World War II. The carillon itself symbolizes the friendship between the people of the Netherlands and those of the United States... a friendship characterized by a common allegiance to the principles of freedom, justice, and democracy which has weathered temporary differences. To that friendship and those principles, the Netherlands Carillon is dedicated.

The idea for this symbolic gift came from G. L. Verheul, a Dutch government official in The Hague. When the concept took shape the drive for funds to build the carillon and the tower met with generous response from all sections of the Netherlands. Queen Juliana endorsed the project, and on April 4, 1952, during a visit to the United States, she presented a small silver bell to President Truman as a token of the carillon to come. In ceremonies at Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C., the Queen spoke of the importance of the small bells of the carillon:

"To achieve real harmony, justice should be done also to the small and tiny voices, which are not supported by the might of their weight. Mankind could learn from this. So many voices in our troubled world are still unheard. Let that be an incentive for all of us when we hear the bells ringing."