Man plays rare instrument from top of bell tower for 3 decades
- ️Tue Mar 18 2025
A massive and rare instrument with 49 enormous bells — some weighing 3,400 pounds — is tucked away in a grand bell tower in the city of Frederick, Maryland.
Every Sunday at 12:30 p.m., the city’s only carillonneur walks 50 steps to the top of the granite tower to give the public a rousing and free concert on the carillon — a finely tuned percussive instrument that’s played with foot pedals and a keyboard.
The carillonneur, John Widmann, was not asked if he wanted the job. He did not audition for the job. He was just handed the keys.
That was 33 years ago, and Widmann has rarely missed a Sunday playing the Joseph Dill Baker Memorial Carillon. He has walked an estimated 171,000 stairs in service of the free concert over the years, and he is still enamored with the unusual instrument.
“There are a lot of big moving parts, and the sound reverberates for blocks and blocks,” said Widmann, 61.
A retired music teacher for Frederick County Public Schools, he said he first played the carillon in Frederick’s Baker Park in 1992. There, he met Galen Brooks, who at the time was the city’s carillonneur.
“He was pleased with my playing and asked if I’d care to play someday when he was out of town,” said Widmann, explaining he began playing the carillon after years of playing the organ.
“Not long after that, an envelope arrived with my name on it.”
Inside, Widmann found the key to the carillon tower. At first he didn’t know what the key was for.
“Then I saw [Brooks] had left a message on my answering machine that he was moving to Baltimore,” Widmann said.
He called Brooks on the phone.
“He said, ‘The job’s yours,’ Widmann recalled. “I was told that I should play the carillon every Sunday and bill the city monthly.”
Widmann said he has looked forward to climbing the 70-foot tower every Sunday since.
“I love that people getting out of church can hear [the carillon], and people who are casually walking by can hear it,” he said, noting that the city pays him $1,718 a month for his services. “It’s rewarding to know that the music has a big impact.”
Widmann is one of few people who knows how to play the instrument, which is programmed to chime every 15 minutes in Baker Park.
In addition to playing on Sundays, Widmann plays special occasions such as New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July. His vacations are planned around finding another carillonneur to fill in on Sundays.
That’s not always an easy task.
There are fewer than 200 carillonneurs in the United States, said Widmann, explaining that the instrument is popular in the Netherlands, Belgium and France.
“With 49 bells, you can play some beautiful music,” he said.
Widmann begins his weekly concerts by climbing the winding steps, positioning himself in front of a keyboard, then using his fists and feet to play a hymn. After that, he’ll launch into about 30 minutes of classics, Broadway hits and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which was written by Francis Scott Key, who was once a prominent lawyer in Frederick.
“I always end with that, every Sunday at 1,” he said. “People know they can count on it.”
The carillon’s bells can be heard for about a mile’s distance, including at his own house on a quiet day.
“It’s a neat performance venue, because you really can’t charge admission to a carillon concert,” he said.
Frederick mayor Michael C. O’Connor said the carillon bells are an important tradition in the historic city.
“John is providing a valuable service to our community with his world class abilities to play this rare instrument,” O’Connor said. “He’s committed and attentive to the music he plays and to the care and maintenance of our carillon.”
The Frederick Carillon was built with reinforced concrete and granite in 1941 in honor of Joseph Dill Baker, a civic leader who helped finance Baker Park, Widmann said.
The belfry originally held 14 bells; nine more were added in the 1960s, he said. Another 26 bells were installed for Frederick’s 250th birthday in 1995, along with a new keyboard and carillon frame.
Widmann uses his fists to play the wooden keys because more force is needed to move clappers into the larger bells. He said he welcomes visitors who want to make the steep climb up the tower for a personal look at one of his performances.
“I’ve been known to play ‘Happy Birthday’ for people, and sometimes there are special requests,” he said. “After Roberta Flack died, I played two pieces in her honor that were made popular by her.”
His busiest month is December, when he does performances in celebration of Frederick’s Kris Kringle Procession, the Festival of Lights, a candlelight tour of houses of worship and New Year’s Eve.
“I always know exactly what I’ll be doing at midnight on New Year’s Eve,” Widmann said. “But I really can’t imagine not doing it.”