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The bells of Christ Church

Carilloneur calls them "incense for the ears"

 

Doug Gefvert goes unnoticed as he hurries past the bleary-eyed denizens and dogs of Old City in Philadelphia. No one suspects that this slight man is about to perform the carillon concert that rings through the neighborhood every Sunday morning. 

Carillon is French for bell-ringing, an art that Gefvert has practiced at Christ Church since 1977, when he discovered that the church needed someone to ring its bells. One of a tiny cadre of professional carillonneurs, Gevert was just what the pastor ordered. 

Gefvert studied organ music and music history at Temple University, then was devoted to advertising design for 15 years. "But everything else was in preparation for my work as a bell musician," he says. The Radnor native now divides his time religiously between playing the carillon and working for Verdin, the world's largest supplier of civic bells and clocks. 

In the bell-tower of a colonial church, height is no asset. Gefvert ducks his head, passing through the door and up the narrow stairs to the clavier, a console much like a piano that operates the bells. When a baton is depressed, the clavier pulls a wire and sounds the corresponding bell. 

Surrounded by hymnals and sheet music, Gefvert removes his watch, rolls up his sleeves and sits attentively, tapping his loafer-clad feet. He pauses upon hearing the organ's final chord then starts to pound the clavier. The artistic relationship resembles an inverted marionette, with the player below connected to the bells above by wires that jangle and jerk like fishing lines on a good day. 

Wire wear is a real technical threat to bellringers; once a wire snaps, you can't use the bell. "They always seem to break while you're playing a service, too," Gefvert says. "The only thing you can do is improvise with the remaining bells, and fix the wire later." 

Few ready-made arrangements are available for this sort of carillon, so Gevert ad libs every recital, reflecting the day's sermon, the hymns, the organ music, the weather, the season, the holiday. "You come in, it's raining, there's a lesson being read that sets the tone for the day," he says. "You want to work with that." 

With two decades of his life devoted to the bells at Christ Church, Gefvert has no doubts about his true calling. "Carillon is the passion," he says. "It's incense for the ears." 
 

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