USA
The Tillman Hall at Clemson University in South Carolina, home to a set of beautiful carillon, was named after the ardent racist and lynch law advocate “Pitchfork” Benjamin Tillman. Earlier this year, the name of the historic tower became the subject of a series of controversies when some among the student population demanded that its name be changed. The discussion heated up considerably after the Charleston church shooting. I have some insight of the inner workings of a university. In situations such as this, the administration invariably defers the responsibility to a task force. Task force is just what its name suggests: the surplus energies of institutional logic. The individual is reduced to a bundle of functions. The process is object-oriented, outcome-focused, strategic, instrumental. (Task force as a terminology was first introduced by the US Navy to describe improvised military manoeuvres.)
And Clemson was once a military college. The original Tillman bell signaled military changes throughout the day. The original bell had since been moved across the street, and the new set of 47-piece carillon is now heard at every quarter hour. Professor Linda Dzuris, the university’s first carillonneur, gave me a tour of the instrument. Carillons are performed by smashing one’s bunched-up fist onto long wood pegs. A single bell can weigh up to thousands of pounds, so a considerable force is required to swing the instrument as there is no electrical assistance. Traditionally, the largest of the bell is tolled on the occasion of the death of a Clemson community member, with each sounding of the bell marking a year lived. The week prior to my visit, the bell tolled for a student who lived to 23. Linda agreed to re-stage it for the recording. She played with a downward stroke that resembled the banging of the fist on a table – it befits the mourning of young, untimely death.
I was to make 2 stops in the US. The first of the two stops was less successful: I intended to record the Korean peace bell at the Angel Gates Park in San Pedro in L.A., which is supposed to ring on Constitution Day. Upon arrival I was informed that the bell will not ring this year, for of the lack of a community partner. I spent a couple of days making sound sketches at the park instead. A small group of frustrated Korean tourists, who learned of the disappointing news upon arrival, vocalized the sound of the bell instead.
To listen to the other recordings from this stop, please visit: soundcloud.com/samsonyoung/sets/for-whom-the-bell-tolls-la-clemson-usa
