UW Bells

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
CHANGE RINGING
The Gordon Stuart Peek Foundation Memorial Bells
(installed 2008 in Gerberding Hall)

CONTACTS:
Tower Captain: Rebecca Woodgate
woodgate@uw.edu Tel: 206-221-3268
or rebeccawoodgate@yahoo.com

Vice Captain: Lizzie Wratten wratten.lizzie@gmail.com
Teaching Masters: Rachel Pusey, Alexander Holroyd & Melissa Cheng
Tower Secretary: Tj Marchello
Steeple Keeper: Patrick Ma, Matt Bayley

** Re the UW Carillon (the bells on the top of Kane Hall) - see here

Are you interested in potentially becoming a UW ringer? - email Rebecca (woodgate@uw.edu) to find out more.

** UW Graduation and 17th Anniversary Ringing Weekend- June 13th-16th 2025 - visiting ringers, please see HERE for more information **

Ringing Events
- Ringing times
- Practice times
- How to find us
- Ringing Calendar

The UW Bells
- Details of our bells (from Dove)
- Ringing records
- Photo album
- UK trip
- Ringing Resources
- Notes from Theory Discussions

What is Change Ringing?
- History and theory of change ringing
- North American Guild of Change Ringers
- Ringing links

Want to know more?
- Learning to ring
- Video of the Dedication
(by International Artists Cresendo!)
- Ringing Links

      In early summer 2008, the first set of change ringing bells on the west coast of the USA were installed on the University of Washington's Seattle campus. The installation is a gift of the Gordon Stuart Peek Foundation. The set of 8 bells, cast by Royal Eisjbouts Bell Foundry in the Netherlands, tenor weight 6 cwt, tenor note B, are hung for full-circle "change" ringing in the tower of Gerberding Hall, on the UW's Red Square. Change ringing - in which a trained team of ringers (the "band") ring the bells in continuously varying patterns (not tunes) - originated in the UK in the 17th century. There are now over 5000 ringing towers in the UK, but only about 40 in the USA (and 8 in Canada), with our nearest ringing neighbours being Vancouver and Victoria in Canada, and Chicago and Abilene (TX) in the USA.
      The UW bells will be rung (see here for dates and times) to celebrate university, state and national events by a band of volunteer ringers from the UW and the Seattle area. Ringers who are visiting (or have moved to) Seattle are always welcome. If you are ringer, but want to learn to ring, read on and contact us.
   'Open Ringing' - what does that mean? Change-ringing bells are designed to be heard from close to the tower to up to a fair distance (~a mile or so). While away from Red Square, the Change Ringing bells make a nice background sound, within Red Square they dominate the soundscape. Thus, given how close we are to UW libraries and classrooms, we respect that hearing the bells can also be disruptive. Thus, we have installed a simulator system with the bells. When we use this, the bells will not be heard outside the tower when we ring them. [Tech note: We tie the clappers of the bells so they don't hit the bell, and use a light sensor to measure when the bell would sound, and get a computer to generate that sound only inside the tower.] We use this a lot for practicing. But at times of celebration, people outside the tower do want to hear the bells - for those times, we remove the simulator system and the bells will be heard in their full glory outside the tower. These times are what we call 'Open Ringing'.   During these times, if we are just generally ringing, you will hear the bells ring for 5-10min periods, with short (a few minute) breaks in between, as we change out ringers. Note the bells always start by ringing a descending scale, and usually each burst of ringing will also end with the bells returning again to that descending scale. If we are ringing a peal or a quarter peal, there should be no breaks in the ringing, and the bells should ring continuously for ~3hrs, or ~45min respectively. But again each bit of ringing should start and end with the descending scale. (If we are ringing on 6 bells or less, you likely also get that descending scale somewhere during the ringing.).
      UW's THREE sets of bells - the Denny Bell, the Change Ringing bells and the Carillon - what's the difference? Most of this page concerns the Change Ringing Bells in Gerberding Hall - a set of 8 rather large bells (from about 250-700lbs), which sound in changing patterns, and are usually rung in a team with one person per bell. But UW also has another more recent set of bells, on Kane Hall - the Carillon, 47 bells (~30-1500lbs). These do not swing, and one person uses them to play tunes. See here for more about the carillon. And of course there is also UW's oldest bell, the Denny Bell, in Denny Hall, a single bell (~400lbs), also hung fixed, and rung mechanically. See here for more about the Denny Bell.

RINGING EVENTS

Ringing Times
Generally, the bells may be heard on Friday evenings between 8:30 - 9pm. Out of term, the bells may also ring on Monday evenings between 8:30 -9pm.

Also, check the calendar, as we sometimes ring quarter peals on Saturdays or Sundays, usually between 10am and 1pm.

Upcoming Open** Ringing & Ringing Events
For UW Graduation and our 17th Anniversary:
Friday 13th June - 8:30-9pm
Saturday 14th June
- 10-11am & after the ceremony
(i.e., likely from sometime after 3:30pm)
Sunday 15th - June 12-1pm

What is meant by 'OPEN' ringing? See here.
For our regular practices, see calendar.
We also ring for special events. Upcoming events will be listed here and on the calendar.

Red Square is an excellent location from which to hear the bells. Throughout the year, the bells will be rung to celebrate university, state, and national events. To request ringing for an event, please contact the Tower Captain.

Practice Times
Our usual practice times are:
Mondays and Fridays 7-9 pm
Most of that practice is using a simulator system and is not audible outside the tower, but typically on Friday evenings (and on some Monday evenings out of term), we ring the bells open from 8:30-9pm.

If you are already a ringer, you are very welcome to ring with us - please contact the tower captain in advance (at both email addresses above). Sometimes extra practices can be arranged.

Except in special circumstances, unfortunately practices are not generally open to non-ringing visitors, but if you are interested in learning to ring, see below.

Finding us
Gerberding Hall is on the south side of UW's Red Square in the central UW campus, just next to Suzzallo Library.
See here for map.

We meet at the southeast corner of Red Square before practices. Visiting ringers, please note the building is locked, so please contact us before hand so we don't miss you.

Travel to UW: UW is well served by local METRO buses to NE Campus Parkway, the HUB, and Montlake, and the Link Light Rail from Capitol Hill, Downtown and Sea-Tac. (Google maps is a good way of finding out about transportation options). Click here for walking routes from the bus stops to the tower. If you drive, Pay-parking is available from UW, or on meters on local streets (free in some areas after certain times - read the notices carefully). For more details about getting to the tower, see here.

WANT TO KNOW MORE OR TO LEARN TO RING?

Learning to Ring
Ringing requires about as much coordination as riding a bike, and a similar amount of effort as learning a musical instrument. It is a team activity, producing a musical performance, and a fun and stimulating mental and physical exercise. It is practised worldwide (here's a list of all change ringing towers in the world) by an eclectic group of volunteers of all ages. See, for example, the North American Guild of Change Ringers.
The tradition dates from ~ 1600 in England, where ringing was/is very much part of the culture. (For a popular example, read the murder-mystery The Nine Tailors, by Dorothy Sayers.)
Physical requirements are mostly an ability to climb steep ladders, exert some force with your arms above your head, and some degree of rhythm.

If you are interested in learning to ring, contact us, and we'll explain more. We teach ringing when we have the opportunity. (Teaching is one-to-one and all our teachers are volunteers). UW persons are particularly encouraged.
(If you have contacted us already and not had any reply, it is likely due to a spam filter - please try again!).

Contacts
(please contact the tower captain for attendance)
All enquiries about the Bells should be addressed to the Tower Captain:
    Rebecca Woodgate
    Email: woodgate@apl.washington.edu
    2nd Email: rebeccawoodgate@yahoo.com
    Tel: 206-221-3268

Ringing Links
To find out more about ringing, visit
www.ringing.info for an extensive set of ringing links.

Here are some Seattle related links:

- UW news (10th March 2022) - Gordon Stuart Peek, UW alumnus who donated Gerberding and Kane bells

- Lego bell ringing machine - plain hunt on eight

- Tower Bells at the University of Washington by internationalartists

- UW's UWeek (22nd May 2008) about the upcoming dedication

- UW's UWeek ( 8th May 2008) about the UK bell hanger installing the bells, Bob Smith, of Taylors Eayre and Smith

- UW's UWeek (1st May 2008) with slides of the bells being lifted in to the tower

- UW's UWeek (February 2008) announcing the installation

** BUT WHAT ARE THE BELLS ON KANE HALL? In March 2018 (a decade after the change-ringing bell installation), the Gordon Stuart Peek Foundation installed a second set of bells at UW - a 47-bell Eisjbouts carillon, placed on a tower on Kane Hall. The lightest bell is only 28lbs, but the heaviest is 1523lbs. Like the change-ringing bells, the carillon is rung by a human person(s), not by a machine. Unlike the change ringing bells, the carillon is rung by one person (the carillonneur) - the change ringing bells are rung by a team of people (see above). Another key difference is that the carillon plays melodies typically with harmony, while the change ringing bells ring patterns, with each bell sounding separately. For more about carillons, see The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. For technical information about the UW carillon, see here.

Starting in late January 2019 (although postponed during Covid), the carillon will be performed regularly from:
11:20-11:30am on Mondays during term.
and you may sometimes hear the carillonneur practicing, typically on Saturdays between 12:30 and 1pm.
For further information, check out the carillon's schedule here, or contact the carillon coordinator, Rebecca Woodgate (woodgate@uw.edu)

March 2022 - in memory of our donor, Gordon Stuart Peek
Gordon Peek, Spring 2008 (Photo by Sara Voogt, UW)	March 2022: We are sad to note the passing of our donor and friend, Gordon Stuart Peek, on the 2nd March 2022. His inspiration and donations - funding handbells, tower bells (in Gerberding Tower) and a carillon (on Kane Hall) - have transformed the soundscape of the UW campus and forged national and international relationships. We will miss his friendship, wisdom, drive, determination, and dry humor. We hope the bells will ring in his memory for many many decades to come. In the nearer term, we plan memorial ringing (half muffled) on the change ringing bells (see below), and a bell celebration sometime toward the end of the summer. (UW news announcement) Left: Bob Smith(left), bell hanger, supervising Gordon chiming his bell during the bell installation. Right: Completed bell installation, Spring 2008. (Photos by Sara Voogt, UW)	The Gordon Stuart Peek Foundation Memorial Bells, on the steps of Red Square prior to installation, Spring 2008. (Photo by Sara Voogt, UW)