They are separated by nearly 70 years
and some 3,000 miles.
But when they got together last
weekend, they made music.
David Stone
'06 and Ed Moulton '37, of California, were together for the first time at
Homecoming weekend, playing the chimes in the belfry of Memorial Chapel, student
and mentor working the levers of the “chimola” to ring out the Alma Mater, Ode to Joy, America the
Beautiful and other college and patriotic tunes.
On Monday, they performed an
encore for WRGB-TV 6, which featured the brothers in chimes on their 6 p.m. newscast.
They were also joined in the
cramped belfry by President Roger Hull, who played the last note of When the Saints Go Marching In.
Afterward, Moulton and Stone visited
Special Collections, where archivist Julianna Spallholz had Moulton's yearbook
and a Concordiensis story about
Moulton leaving as chimer in 1937. The article referred to Moulton's graduation
as “a crisis in the belfry of Memorial Chapel.”
Thanks
to support from Moulton, Stone continues his thrice-weekly chimes concerts year
round.
“I'm
honored to be doing this,” said Stone, who performs Monday and Wednesday
between 12:30 and 12:50 p.m.,
and Friday afternoons.
Though
the bells toll on the quarter hour, it has been more than 30 years since there
has been a regular chime player on campus. Sheets of music suggest there were a
few players in the late 80's, but it may have been Peter Smith '70 who was the
last regular one. Smith, who has performed chimes concerts at a number of
alumni events, showed Stone the ropes last year.
Stone,
an economics major and music minor who makes money playing piano at weddings
and parties, became interested in the chimes when he heard “First
Watch,” a composition by Prof. Hilary Tann, performed on the carillon at Albany City Hall. He began researching the rarely heard instrument and
learned about the College's chimes and Moulton. Stone already has received some
50 tunes – including eight college songs – that Moulton has transposed in the
Scale of F just for the Union chimes. Moulton says more are on the way.
Moulton
was paid $150 by President Dixon Ryan Fox in 1937 for a year of service at the
chimes. He recalls hearing the 9:45 bells and
racing to the belfry in time to play a few tunes to call students to 10 a.m. chapel. “I must have missed it a few times, or been
late due to snow, but nobody ever called me on it,” recalls Moulton, who
went on to a career as an accountant and a lifelong hobby as a musician
(including the directorship of the Schenectady Light Opera).
Moulton first
played the Union chimes again at his 65th ReUnion last
year. “The stairs were steeper than I remember and at the end of the day,
the palms of my hands were sore,” he said. “But it was such
fun.” Afterward, Moulton contacted Tann about starting a fund to support
student chime players. Stone is putting his stipend toward jazz piano lessons.
Moulton has
become something of a mentor to the College's newest chime ringer, and they
have talked regularly by phone over the past year. They also share
transcriptions through the mail. As for advice, Moulton said, “I told him
not to spend so much time on this that it infringes on his studies.”
Stone
said he is discovering the joy that Moulton recalls from his days in the
belfry: there's nothing like the sound of chimes rolling across the campus.
Said Moulton
of returning to play the chimes with Stone, “This is the fulfillment of
a lifelong dream.”