By Cynthia Vukets
After learning to play piano at the age of four, Gordon Slater’s musical life led him to a very special instrument.
Slater, who calls himself a “musical civil servant,” is Canada’s Dominion Carillonneur. His job is to play the Peace Tower carillon on Parliament Hill, an instrument that is one of only a handful in Canada.
The carillon is a series of tuned bells of different sizes connected to a keyboard that the carillonneur can play softly, loudly, in chords or one at a time.
“You can play it just at the threshold of audibility to something quite thunderous,” says Slater. “And that’s fun!”
He says he loves how sensitive the instrument is. It has the widest dynamic range of any musical instrument, which is difficult to see when looking into the bell tower at the largest bells – huge bronze cones perfectly motionless and silent.
But each time the clock chimes, the bells produce a frenzy of sound much too loud for the naked ear. Slater himself makes sure never to be inside the bell tower when the bells are about to ring.
“Always be careful when opening the door to a belfry,” Slater jokes as he checks his watch. His watch is perfectly timed to the Peace Tower clock, so he knows exactly when the clock is going to chime.
“The carillon is a living memorial,” says David Monahan, curator of the House of Commons.
The Peace Tower carillon has been in existence since 1927. The instrument was commissioned and built by Parliament to commemorate Canada’s sacrifice in the First World War.
The instrument consists of 53 bells, the largest of which weighs 10 tonnes. The Peace Tower carillon’s bells are precisely tuned to represent 4½ octaves.
“This isn’t a collection of bells. It’s one instrument,” says Slater. Each bell has a “clapper” that the carillonneur controls with wires connected to a keyboard. By pressing down on a key, the wire pulls the clapper, which hits the bell. The bells remain stationary.
Five of the bells have a second purpose, says Slater. They have both a “clapper” and a “hammer.” The hammer is controlled by the clock and automatically rings the bell whenever the clock chimes. On Parliament Hill, this is every quarter of an hour.
“When I hear the bells I know I’m on Parliament Hill,” says Benoît Morin. “I could have gone in there blindfolded and I would know that I’m there. It is a sound that is very unique.”
Morin works for Parliamentary Public Programs. He says more than one million people visit Parliament Hill each year; 375,000 take guided tours of the Centre Block.
While the carillon is not a part of guided tours, visitors have a chance to view and hear the bells while climbing the Peace Tower.
“I would be sure that people would have a sense that it is something special because it’s something that they’ve never heard,” says Morin. Although there is no way to measure how many tourists come specifically to hear the carillon, Morin says many enjoy it.
“It is very much a part of Parliament Hill, that sound,” he says.
Slater says he got into music “involuntarily.” His parents were both musical. They met in the church choir at the Metropolitan United Church in Toronto, where his father, James, played the carillon.
The carillon at the church, constructed in 1922, was the first built in North America. It survived a fire in 1928 and had bells added twice to achieve its present state. Gerald Martindale is the church’s present carillonneur. He says he feels privileged to play such a unique instrument. He is one of less than a dozen carillonneurs currently playing professionally in Canada.
Martindale has been playing the carillon at Metropolitan United since 1997. He plays before every Sunday service and on holidays. This year he has also played 10 weddings, he says.
He was first inspired to learn the carillon after hearing James Slater play. Martindale took lessons for five years before becoming the church’s carillonneur. He calls the instrument “the joy of my life.”
It was this same church carillon that inspired Slater when he was a young boy, he says.
“I was riveted by the notion that I could make music for all those people on the ground to listen to,” Slater says.
When Slater was seven years old, his father began taking him up the church’s bell tower to listen while he played. Slater says he remembers sitting beside his dad on the bench and sneaking a few notes of his own into the program.
By the time he was a teenager, Slater was occasionally filling in for his father during church services. He was also playing viola, organ, clarinet and bassoon and doing some conducting.
He attended the University of Toronto for music education and studied the bassoon.
He came just shy of receiving his degree though, because he couldn’t get through first year music history. During his studies, Slater regularly played three carillons in Toronto – at the Metropolitan United Church, the Soldiers’ Tower at the University of Toronto, and the Exhibition Place.
Slater has been playing the Peace Tower carillon for 30 years. He practices each day on a dummy keyboard in his office, then goes up the bell tower every day at noon for a concert. He chooses a different program each day and often plays songs he has arranged himself.
“One of the things that is interesting abut the carillon is the fact that it has been pretty much part of daily life on the hill since 1927,” says Monahan. “In many ways it’s an integral part of the day-to-day routine of life on Parliament Hill.”
There have been only four Dominion Carillonneurs to play on Parliament Hill since the construction of the Peace Tower carillon. The only one to surpass Slater’s 30 years of service was Robert Donnell, who played from 1940 to 1975.
In a small room just behind the tower, Slater has only the keyboard, a few chairs and an electronic monitor.
The monitor regulates microphones that are set up amongst the bells. The sound from the microphones is channelled back into the playing room so Slater has a chance to hear what the bells sound like.
Before sitting down to play, Slater “regulates” his instrument. He must check each connecting wire and shorten or lengthen it to ensure the range of motion between the key and the clapper is just right. He wants to have the best possible control of the bells in order to have the greatest range in volume.
After the regulating is done, Slater sets out several yellowed sheets of music, takes off his rings, watch and plaid jacket, and puts on his gloves.
“The music looks like piano music sort of, but instead of right hand, left hand, it’s both hands both feet,” he says.
The carillon’s keyboard is actually a long row of wooden handles. The musician plays by making a fist and punching down on each of the keys. Slater wears gardening gloves with the fingers cut out so his hands don’t slide on the keys.
Combined with the keyboard is a footboard. The pedals are connected to the lower octave bells, which are played by stepping down on the pedals.
When Slater combines punching arms with stomping feet in more complex pieces of music, his small frame bursts into motion and he begins to look like a frantic marionette. The bench suspends him above the floor, so when his feet aren’t engaged in playing, they dangle several inches above the ground.
Slater says he loves to know that his music washes down over everyone within hearing distance whether they want to listen or not.
He plays for 15 minutes every day beginning at noon. In the summer, the height of tourist season, he plays for one hour each day, from 2 to 3 p.m.
Slater ends his concert precisely at 12:15 and remarks: “There you have it. Thank you Mr. Mozart.”