the future of the Our Savior Lutheran church

Years, ago, when I used to live in Port Jefferson, N.Y., there were a few times I've gone to this church in Centereach ny, for a Sunday Worship, but the  public busses didn't run on Sundays, so my mom had driven me. It's a very nice church, and the room of worship is very peaceful and holy. I especially loved the hanging lanterns from the ceiling as they gave off a pleasant glow. So I've come across the church's website and checked it out for lost memories, and have discovered their future plans for their church.  Their model shows that the church buildings will probably expand and get all modern, but what really got me upset is that it looks like they may take down their decorative bell that's on their roof. It's a very memorable bell, as that's where their church bell music was heard whenever it rang. I've discovered that their electronic carillon system was a Scotia bell electronic carillon system, as the photo of the system I saw on the internet, is what I remember seeing on a visit I made there once. The bells sadly no longer play, as an article in the Town Crier of Port Jefferson station ny, once had an article about the bells of this church being silenced, as people had called the  church to complain that the bells were loud and disturbing and needed to be turned off immediately. As a kid, I remember that whenever my dad drove us in the car past that church, he called it the talking bell, as when my sister and I talked to it from the car, the bell would ring it's song. We actually thought that the  bell was talking to us. Anyway, I guess it's just my opinion, and that the church as it is now is very historic and memorable, to lots of people. So why tear it all down, to build up a new church with modern buildings and such when it was perfectly fine the way it is now. Sure they've added on a building for the gymnasium, but do we really need that much more, and maybe they should have the church bells ringing again, but maybe not play them soo loud, but at a softer volume, so it won't disturb anyone in the community.

animation I created of what it was like to ring the 100 year old churchbell

Since the excitement of a church I went to that I got permission to ring their church bell, I created a piece of animation of what ringing that church bell was like, with even a audio recording of what that bell sounded like when it was rung. Enjoy.

A song often heard from The Old redeemer Lutheran Church's bell system

I've managed to play the song that was often heard from the Old Redeemer Lutheran Church's megaphones that are mounted onto the church's roof top, which is still there but the bells are no longer played as it's now a Yale Korean Church. Well anyway, this song was played on a Windows 8 free program that offers a virtual instrument of Tubular Bells, which sounded very close to actual church bells. I'm not much of a musician, so enjoy the song that I remembered, but don't know the name of the song. If anyone remembers this song and knows the name of it, please email me.

the Quadrabell tape driven carillon video

I saw a video on the internet that was about the Quadrabell tape driven carillon. I would've done anything to find something like this out, as I was once very curious on how those bells were rung to play those songs on such a tiny steeple. Chances are the guy that made this video worked at this church, as you heard the beautiful bell songs played on the carillon as he walked toward the side of the church. The church seems to be a Zion church as it said on the sign at the church. The guy went to the side of the church, into some doors to get inside and up a flight of stairs. As he goes upstairs, you hear the bell music getting louder and louder, until he reached the top of the steps and you saw the Quadrabell  tape deck carillon in full operation. I have to say that although it's a tape driven carillon, the bell music sounds really good and memorable. It was really neat to see this video, as I now know that churches have those type of carillons to play their songs, but I would've loved to see their device and where it was placed. Most times I got  yelled at by someone who worked at the church when I asked about their bells. Were they trying to keep it a big secret, or was this something that they were only supposed to know? There is nothing wrong with asking about something you want to know about, since I was very interested in their bell songs and I wanted to say how much I appreciated them. I figured that if I knew what electronic carillon system the church had, I could look it up on the internet and find out more info on it, and maybe get some song samples. I'm sure I wasn't the only one curious about the church bells and how they were rung.

Space Needle carillon at the 1963 seatlle world's fair

On late night tv,  I came across a documented tv special on the 1963 Seatlle World's fair, and it was before my time but it sounded like a really fun place to go, although the NY world's fair would've been closer. Anyway, with all the fun, action, and exhibits and activities as well as a look into the high tech world of tommorrow, a series of electronic bells were heard playing at the top of the Space Needle tower. It was a Schulmerich Americana Carillon electronic playing device, which the songs were played by Mr. John Klein. He was up inside the top of the tower playing a variety of songs on this electroinc carillon, and it was heard all throughout the park. The songs sounded really beautiful as heard duing the special, and I would've loved to get a copy of those songs. A LP record called HiFi bells was released in 1963 featuring a few songs played on the Schulmerich carillon for about $20. Sadly I don't have a record player anymore, and I've attempted to contact the original record company Americana Records online to see if a digital download of the record is available to purchase. Hopefully a digital version will be available. They also had a carillion performance at the Coca Cola exhibition building during another world's fair. It might've been in NY.

The Schulmerich lost memory carillon is finally found

Back in the 1990's when I moved to my new apartment, a church in the area, known as the Old Redeemer Lutheran Church had played harmonious electronc carillon music from a Schulmerich Carillon Campanile Bell Instrument Model 36-1321-100. The songs were piped to the megaphones that were mounted ontop of the roof, and could be heard for miles around, as they usually played everyday at 11:45 a.m.  The church also had a food program to help feed the needy and hungry, as the doors would open up when the bells rang. It was a  great church as my stepdad's mom Mrs. Mildred C Bruck had sung in the choir, as well as rang in their handbell choir. I've attended their church service, but mostly during the holidays as I  remember the candle lit ceramony as everyone sang Christmas carols.
                    In later years, Mrs. Bruck had passed away in July of 2004, and because of the decline in people coming to worship in that church, the decision was made to close the doors of that church. But it was then that the church had been bought out and now it's Yale Korean, and the electronic  churchbells that once played at this church had been silenced. I've gone there once a year whenever they have their annual Bazzar during May or June or July? They didn't have much to offer, other than booths of vegetables, foods that they cooked on a grill, and homemade freshly blended fruit smoothies. Other than that, they have booths selling clothing, jewerly, kids toys and games and craft items. Mostly, I've gone there to bring back the memories of the church and find out info about their carillon. The people there were very freindly and helpful, but they speak in a differnt language and use their own characters as words, however they do speak English as well, but mostly their worship is done in their language, and I was told by their pastor that he's starting an English service.
I've been to their website, and couldn't read their characters, but maybe I can understand the word Chicken in their characters, and maybe if I stare long enough I just may figure out what it says. The church had changed dramaticly,and from they told me , the last people that were there took everything with them, and that Yale Koreans don't utilize bells in their service. So that explains why the churchbell songs aren't heard from the megaphones anymore.
           So with the help of Pastor Stephanie, and Pastor Hank, The carillon that once was at the OId Redemmer Lutheran Church is now housed at the Parkway Community Church. I was extremely excited to hear the news, and get the info I needed from Pastor Hank about the carillon. I had been searching for  this info for many, many, long years. During that time, I found out info on electronic carillons and the companies that made them. Some of them provided song samples, which had been helpful in bringing back the memories of the churches in my old neighboorhood that used to play their bells. So now, Pastor Hank had sent me photos of the carillon that I've spent years in searching, and I'm going to share it wit you. enjoy. It seems that this electronic carillon was dedicated in the loving memory of Wally Karlson. He might've been a pastor in the Old Redemmer Lutheran Church, or maybe he worked there. It sounds great that this guy was kept in God's memory with this electronic carillon dedicated to his memory. Thank you Pastor Hank and Pastor Stephanie for all your assistance. And God bless your both.

A Great Book I've read about the history of bells

There's an old book at our local library withn the children's section that has a book on the history of bells. It's called Bells and their Music by Wendell Wescott. Mr. Wescott is a professional when it comes to playing bell music, and had traveled the world to find info on the history of this wonderous instrument. It shows photos of Bell Foundries and how the bells are made, as well as breathtaking views of various carillons and churches that have their bells on display. The book even has an old record that contains Mr. Wescott's recordings of the bell's music from his world travels. It's very nostalgic and informative.

the lost carillon had finally been discovered

After many, many long years of searching for an electronic carillon that used to be at the Old Redeemer Lutheran Church In Plainview Ny, I finally got the info I needed. My search had  come to an end as the Parkway Community Church now housed the Schulmerich Carillon Campanile Bell Instrument Model 36-1321-100. This was all thanks to Mr. Pastor Hill, who provided me with this valuable info. This carillon had played such beautiful music at the Old Redeemer, as I first heard it playing back in the late 1990s, when I first moved to the area. It was something about the type of tone of the bell played that made it unique in the way it sounded, but the songs it played were very memorable, but I don't know the name of the songs it played. But one of the songs I remember hearing it play was shown on one of my other blogs as a Windows Live Movie Maker video. It tells the story of the Old Redeemer Lutheran Church and informs about the harmonious bells that used to play, and then got turned off when the  church went through tough financial times and then got changed to Yale Korean. Since then the bells had been silenced, as now I know the last people that worked there took the carillon to the Parkway Community Church. I am soo happy that I may be able to have my memories revived of this harmonic carillon music.

Plainview Chruchbells may now have been finally found!

It's been many long years, since the churchbells had been silenced from the Old Redeemer Lutheran Chruch (The Plainview Church, which is now Yale Korean) But during a fun Chinese New Year celebration at the St Stephens Lutheran Church.  I got the info that may be exactly what I need. I had asked Pastor Stephanie what church this is, as I had made a print out of the church and showed her. She told me that it was the Old Redeemer Lutheran Church. Well with that info and asking on what carillion it had, she told me of a woman sitting at the table behind me.
She had worked in that church and told me lots of info that was extremely helpful, as the carillon was now taken to the Parkway Community Church. With all that excitement, I wrote the info down, and contacted the church by e-mail. The great news came when I got a reply telling me that thanks to my love of that carillon, they will soon be playing it once again, as they haven't used it in 4 years. As for the name of the carillon, they will e-mail me on the info on that carillon when he gets back to the church. I can't believe that those bells will be playing once again, and my search had come to a success.  I was really nervous at first, as alot of times in the past, as whenever I asked a person working in the church about their bells and why they weren't playing. They usually told me "You not supposed to ask that!"  I really do love  those churchbells, as their songs do remind us to think of our lord Jesus Christ and to be faithful and kind and loving to one another and get along and be at peace. In a way, the bells are a way of worship our lord and thanking him for all he's done for us.
                  Yeah, I know that lots of people have often complained about the churchbells being loud and disturbing, but to me a church isn't the same without it's churchbells, even if it's digitized. It's a harmonious thing and enjoyed by millions.

how I made my churchbell ringing dream come true

I've always wanted to ring a churchbell, as It sounded like alot of  fun of pulling on a rope to ring the bell. But as the story starts, back then, alot of  chuches had their churchbells digitized by an electronic carillon system that automatically played a simulated churchbell sound. Pretty good though. Within my years of searching, I found that there were some rare churches that still rang their churchbell manually,but I never got to go to their churches, but I do remember seeing their giant churchbell in their tower and got excited the few times I saw it being rung. Another piece of inspiration was from the Davey and Goliath episode "The Bell Ringer" when Davey gets to help Mr. Op the church custodian to help ring the churchbell. He also got to ring the churchbell at the end of the "New Year" special and got assistance as his younger sister Sally got to hold onto the rope to help ring the big churchbell to bring in the new year.
        In later years, when I moved to my new home, the area seemed old fashioned and there were still some churches that still ring their churchbell. I remember going to one church and discovered that their churchbell is still rung, but this time the rope stretched across as pulled the clapper to ring the bell hanging outside and on the roof of the church. There was an incident of a few times I went to the church, where one of the ministers of the  church had yelled at me very harshly upon me asking if I could help to ring the churchbell. he yelled at me saying "NO! NO! NO! NO! DON'T ASK ME AGAIN! DON'T ASK ME AGAIN!!!!" Now I didn't go and ask him every single day, as I didn't come to that church every Sunday, I had gotten upset and nervous since the minister yelled at me harshly. I thought that nobody should ever get yelled at in God's house. I had attempted to speak to the person in charge of the church and informed her of the minister who yelled at me. She understood and would speak to him, but I never went back to that church as I feared that the minister would see me and yell at me even harsher.  I've read about various churches in the United Kingdom and such that still have their churchbells to be rung by pulling a rope, is rung by other people, and they are not ministers.  They pull on the ropes to ring the bells in a  certain order to learn change ringing and  various othe ringing songs and skills.
           I had found a free program that allowed me to do just that and it was very amazing, but the biggest acomplishment was yet to come. I had gome to another church on Sundays, where they ring their bell to announce the start of worship. The Pastor was very nice, and I had asked her one day if I could ring their  churchbell. She said yes, and arranged the special moment with the ushers. I was excited that I was going to finally achieve my ultimate goal of ringing a churchbell. I got their early, and told the ushers and they took me to be seated to wait for the moment. My heart was pounding in excitement, then one of the ushers  came and guided me to a room where we all said a prayer. A few moments later, the big moment came. The usher guided me and I held onto the rope and pulled it when it was time to ring the churchbell.
BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG,was heard as I successfully rang their churchbell as I rang it 10 times. It was one of the most special feelings I had. So in my mind, I proved the minister who yelled at me in that church wrong. So I won't be gonig back to that first church anytime soon, as it was wrong for the minister to yell at me like that. Maybe there was a little kid that wanted to ring that bell and  constantly asked him day after day, and that's what got him mad. Interesting enough that one of our neighboors works in that church and I  feel uneasy when I see them, as they knew what I had done, and I guess I feel ashamed to talk to them.  Chances are they've written down the incident and have me down on their record, since I did attend their church at times for worship and just sat down in the pew and not ask if I  could ring the bell. Most other times I went upstairs to sit in the balcony as sometimes they performed a handbell choir during Easter and Christmas, which was great to hear.
      So with my acomplishment, I felt proud and happy and that maybe just because one person says you can't do it or you're not allowed, there just might be a way to acomplish it, and all I had to do was ask.

last attempt to find lost churchbell music at Plainview ny church

the church that's located on the boarderline of Hicksville and Plainview, is now the Yale Korean church. It's on the boarder line of where Hicksville ends and Plainview begins.I had gone there receintly last Sunday to attend their annual summer Bazzar. It's not much, as they mostly sell jewelry, toys, some crafts, and alot of imported foods.
I would've taken the bus, as it was a hot day, but I missed the bus and had to walk there. It wasn't far as it was only a 25 minute walk.
       The way it was is that in the mid-late 1990's, I heard this beautiful churchbell music coming from the large gray megaphones mounted ontop of the roof of the church. It was soo beautiful, that I had decided to go there and record the bells as they played at 11:45 a.m. It was great and sounded unlike any other natural churchbell music, as whenever a certain song rang, I stated to think of this cave ontop of a huge snow mountain, and on the inside the sunlight shone through revealing two deer living in there mother and son.  I could tell that some of the music was rung on various mini chime bars and amplified along with the other sythesized bells to the megaphones. It was perfect. I've gone to that church for a Sunday worship service, as my stepdad's mom had sung in their choir, and they had a nice candle lit Christmas service.  In the early 2000's, the church had fell through some rough financial times, and had to sell the property and church. The church had been bought out and changed to Yale Korean. All the original things from the church were taken down, and the churchbells were silenced which made me feel sad.
The only few things I remember, was that the churchbell system was located in a booth, as I saw it next to where I was sitting. the device

This is all I remember seeing upon looking at this device. I'm not sure if it's even a Sanyo. The only thing left behind was a Yamaha digital organ. I do remember seeing a plaque hanging on the wall commemerating the guy who donated this carillon to the church, but that was taken down as well. The only thing is that maybe there is someone who used to work at this church, before being changed to Yale Korean that may be able to clue me in on what the electronic churchbell playing device was. Then I can search for it on the internet and get some sound samples to download.

Further knowledge of the memory of Plainview Churchbells

After all these years of searching for the name of the churchbell system that was at the Plainview ny church, I just started to remember a few things. Within the main lobby, there was a framed plaque haning on the wall commemerating the donation of their new electronic churchbell system. I did manage to look at it before the church had been transformed to Yale Korean. It said something like "John-Dave as the name of the donator, and something like electronic or carillontronic magnabell or electrobell. I haven't been able to go back there, unless they have their Bazzarr during the summer.
The other thing I remember was I saw the device itself on one of the shelves of the booth I was sitting next to.  The devive was a long rectangular shape and had two pitograph symbols of ringing bells on the far bottom left. On the bottom right, it had the name of the company written on it. It was either Samsung, Sanyo, or Yamaha.
The bells were probably part of a sythesizer the emulated the bells, as  they sounded like they were struck by a mallot on a chime bar, and it was amplified, along with the other emulated bell sounds to play their music. Since then, they moved the devive upstairs and I haven't been able to go to the main lobby where the plaque is. That would explain it all, unless they took it down.  The only other possibility is having a closer look at the megaphones that are still mounted on the rooftop of the church. Maybe the company name is imprinted on the front somewhere, but it would  be difficult to see as the megaphones had been moved and point upwards instead of in all four directions.  Chances are the staff might get suspictious if I look around, but last time they allowed me, and I assumed the device was downstairs in a room. But after exploring their dark downstairs basement, I only saw their old electronic midi keyboard and sythesizer board that had the controlls to raise and lower the sound and tones, but it wasn't hooked up to anything. So maybe I'll have better luck after going to their next bizzare.

My long life dream has come true in ringing a churchbell

For many long years, I've always wanted to ring a churchbell, as it's sweet melodies and songs have brought me joy and comfort  and peace of mind. Well,  that dream had finally come true. Thanks to a church I went to. When she called me on the phone, I had asked the Pastor  for her permission to ring the churchbell, and had gotten her ok to do it. So as nervous as I was, I went to the church on Sunday morning right before their 9 a.m. service. Then I had asked for one of their ushers, who was a very nice gentleman,. I had informed him that the pastor had given me the ok to ring the churchbell to call for worship. After discussing it, he had showed me where their churchbell was. Their chuchbell is 100 years old and is still rung the traditional way of pulling the rope.  I had also asked for the Usher to take my picture of me ringing the bell as a momentous memory for me. The time came, I grab hold of the rope, and began pulling it. The Churchbell began ringing it sweet melody sound "Bong, Bong" It was a dream come true.. The usher instructed me to ring the chuchbell 10 times or 10 bongs. Which was plenty for me. And overall the whole thing was a dream that finally came true, and it was a wonderous experience to last a lifetime.

got the cds from Larry Woodlee

I had received the Cd copies of the record Lew Charles in Chimes at Dusk. Since the record is out of print, what Mr. Woodlee had done was transferred the record onto Cd. These days who has a record player? Well I'm sure we do in the basement somewhere, but I'm too lazy to get it. Anyway, surprisingly the Cd's themselves didn't play onto my pc. I guess that my pc was just picky and didn't play that particular brand Sony Cd-R. I did however manage to play it on my DVD/VCR recorder and it sounded just beautiful. I believe that those chimes are Mass Chimes, but they sound just like amplified old church chimes. Either way, I've very happy about it. Oh yeah, I had then decided to make a digital recording of the music as It played onto a portable digital recorder, so I can transfer it to my Ipod and play it. Cd's are good, but they easily get scratched and ruined. So now I have a digital copy of Lew Charles Chimes at Dusk

Churchbells on Radio

I was listening to Family Radio and at about 11:00 pm, I started to hear this harmonious sound of churchbell music that really woke me up. Was I dreaming, had I died and gone to heaven, it was that beautiful. I just had to know more info about it. So I had decided to call up Family Radio and ask about it. Normally I would get nervous as whenever I had asked a  church about their bells, they would angrily turn me down and or tell me "Your not supposed to ask that!" Anyway, I was lucky, as I was transferred to the programming department for assistance.  The lady was very nice, and managed to play back some of the churchbell music I heard. Well, I then asked her if she knew the name of the song and record that was from, figuring that I can get it on CD. She then tells me that it's from an out of print record made in the 1950's called "Word" and the title of the record is "Chimes At Dusk" By Lew Charles.
       I had thanked her and went on a massive search on the internet for the record. So far, I found 1 copy of the lp record version sold on Amazon. Most other record websites that sold the out of print and hard to find records had the record itself for $5.99 or something. But It's alot of work as I wanted to get it onto CD. So I found one company called Vinyl Therapy that sold out of print records and I had e-mailed them to see if they had it.  I got a reply from a guy named Mr. Larry Woodlee who told me that he had the record and can make a copy of it onto CD for a small fee of about $12 and I wanted 2 copies. It had costed me $25 to get 2 copies of the cd of the record sent to me, but I haven't gotten it yet. But I'm very excited about it. Just from what I remember hearing on the radio, would  really make me happy in hearing all the other bell songs as well. Amazing what you can do with a little info and searching for what you want. You never know what you  can find. You can contact Mr. Larry for further info on this record at vinylrehab@mindspring.com.

Emile Berliner's 1899 record of Cantebury Chimes

On a search on Youtube, I came across a video that plays a record from 1899 of Emile Berliner's recordings of the Cantebury Chimes. It sounds so beautiful and nostalgic, as it brings about alot of memories for me. At times I felt sad upon listening to the music, as it made me think of the old churchbells that had once rang at noon, and had gone silenced, or maybe some personal strifes and struggles that I had gone through. I do love the music and sound of chimes, and bells. Maybe John would play those songs on his chimes as heard from the record, since the original recording is over 100 years old.  Wow the chimes really do ring out.

What happened to the churchbells

It's a big loss to me when churches no longer ring their bells or they have been silenced. I always looked forward to hearing those bells in the afternoon, as their songs had brought about a feeling of hope, peace and joy from a hectic and harsh day. Sure  most churches now have devices and systems that play those pre-recorded churchbell music, or it's automatically rung, but no matter how they get rung, it's great to hear their sweet melodies. But, allot of things have changed within our neighboorhoods. Well, because of tough financial times, various churches had problems paying their rent and or morgages, and coudn't keep up with their costs of running their churches. So the best thing they decided to do was to sell their church and property in an attempt to make some money. As a result, the people who bought those churches had been Yale Korean people, and had transformed those churches to a Yale Korean place of worship. Now that is a change, but as a result, the Yale Koreans don't use bells within their worship services, and thusly if the church had once played churchbells, they become silenced or turned off permanently. Mostly they would still have the large megaphones mounted on the rooftops of the church, but the bells will no longer be heard.
Some people might feel relieved as they consider the bells to be disturbing, loud, and disruptive.
                It's really not so bad , as they would only play once a day just before noon and go on for about 10-15 minutes. Sure other places that have more churches probably play their bells more often, but that's another story. Anywy, other reasons, I discovered about the bells being silenced is that their churchbell system is worn out or broken after being played for all those years, and the church lacked the funds ot repair it or to buy an updated and newer system. Personally, I enjoy all kinds of churchbell music, even if it's canned or electronic, sythesized. it all sounds  grand to me. Howerver since most of the bells had been silenced, out community had gotten a little nore uneasy, and difficult to live in. If we only took time out to listen and enjoy the churchbells when they are rung, and think about Jesus and his teachings, then things might not be so rough in our lives, as we now need Jesus more than ever. What's next in line, if you silence the bells, then the churches will be closed down? Hopefully not. I've kept up my love of bells, even when they've been silenced by various church bell recordings I found on the internet that sounded just like the churches that played them. So although I found a bunch, there's still  more that I need to find, as it's the certain tone of sound of the  bell that is important to me. It brings about joyous memories of when I had gone to that church to worship, before it was transferred to Yale Korean.
      I have nothing against Yale Korean, but it will be a problem one day to find a church that's right for me to worship in, as I don't speak or read and write within their language. Of course one Yale Korean church usually has a bazzar during the summer. I go there, just to try and bring about the pleasant memories of what the church used to have. So far, I've seen lots of changes within the interrior, and maybe I can read their characters, but finding the old churchbell system is tough. I probably is located within a sound system within a small booth that's upstairs. I remember seeing it and writing it down years ago, but I forgot the name of the system. Someithing like Sanyo, and after contacting the company, and asking if ther system plays chuchbells, they said yes, but they don't make recordings of that for people. I did manage to find and learn the names of the churchbell systems like Schulmerich, Novabell and discovered their websites and company info. As they had provided sample and demo mp3 files of their bell music. It's great to learn about things like that.
But their sysyems can cost hunderds to thousands of dollars, and I don't have that kind of money, let alone the place to put it in within my basement apartment.
      So that's my blog and my thought. Sad to no longer hear the churchbells or having them diminish from our communities.  But my hope and faith will always be kept alive, as even if I hear a very faint sounding chuchbell in the distance, the bell's legacy and songs and stories will be kept alive.

A doorbell that has gone to extreme

I love the sound of doorbells, with it's soothing ding dong sound. But as for the fancy ones, you get rod chimes ringing the Westminster chimes, or at least pat of the song. But I came across a video on youtube,where someone had built a doorbell that had gone to extremes. They had purchased a 1940's Cathedrial  chime unit and incorporated computer technology to play the chimes automatically, and bingo, you get a Cathedrial chime doorbell. Image  that when someone comes to your home, and rings your doorbell, your will hear the Cathedrial Chimes play it's programmed full song, to let you know that someone is at your door. It's a beautiful thing, and wonderous things that had been made. I love it.

Dirty Jobs- churchbell maintenance and repair

I remember one episode of this show, which was about churchbells, and how they are taken care of. Indeed it's a dirty job. They've shown the tour of the local foundry, where they make the bells, and clean and repair them. Believe it or not, the start of making ga huge church bell starts off with horse poop. The poop you can say is used to create the mold and is used when pouring the hot melted metals into the mold. It hold the shape of the bell together, as it goes through a cooling process and sets to harden. Amazingly when they show the process to repair and restore old churchbells going over 100 years, you take on a strong appreciation of such a musical device. But that's not all, the guy had joined the team in a job of going into a church, and climbing up to the belfry to do some maintence work on their bells. They had to scrunch down really low and crawl under the bell to clean and lubracate the genetator and parts, which automatically ring the bells. At times the poor guy had accidentally hit the bell as he took out the clapper and he had almost gone deaf. Not to mention whem the bells had begun to play the Angel's praise or something when the church bells ring 13 times. The poor guy was inside the bell as it rung. It was a grand experience as I wondered what the inside of a belfry looked like. But it was no picnic, as the inside was covered in pigeon poop, and dead pigeons as they had somehow flown into the belfry and never got out.  After a long time, the job was done, they went back downstairs,  and the owner had flipped the switch to test out the bells. And they had rang out beautifully. What a job, but it's necessary to have those bells to ring to call everyone to worship

Bells and their Music By Wendell Wescott

I found a cool book in our library within the children's section called "Bells and their Music" By Wendell Wescott. I found the book to be very informative and facinating, as it had photos, illustratoins that explained the history of bells, and how their music had influenced our community.  What I found interesting was a photo of a church that their bells hanging from a rope or something and being exposed under the roof right above the entrance way. They also show the process of  making those chruchbells within a foundry. The book also contains a floppy record containing various bell recordings from 1970. Very nice bell music.  As within somne carillons, there are clock towers that ring  those bells automatically, and it works just like a giant music box. There's a giant wheel with tons holes to place metal  pegs inside. As the whell turns, the peg presses onto a lever, which pulls the cord and rings the bell. And each of the pegs are placed within a certain hole, as each peg will ring a different bell to play it'ssong. Not to mention of some of the  carillons of the world where you see how high up it is and all the bells that are seen. True that the chimer, must climb to the top of the carillon  by stairs to play the bells, but the mechanical version makes it convenient, but occasional matinence is needed for proper function. I never got tired of reading that book, and I think that the book is  available to read online, but alas, they don't have the recording of the bells. But our library in Hicksville Ny has a copy of the book with the record inside.