Pick your own tune to be played by bells? How much fun is that! Nowhere else in the world does this possibility exist, only on the Campus Carillon of the University of Twente. The bell tower as a jukebox!

60 years ago, on September 14, 1964, the Technische Hogeschool Twente (THT) was officially opened by Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. On that day, the mayors of the municipalities of Twente / Oost-Gelderland presented a tower with a carillon as a gift to emphasize that everyone was extremely pleased with the arrival of the THT. It was the first park carillon in the Netherlands.

After all these years, the 49 bells of the Campus Carillon can still be heard regularly. Students, staff and alumni can receive carillon lessons from campus carillonists Esther Schopman (alumna TO) and Hylke Banning (alumnus EL). Both came into contact with the bells during their studies. Now they are respectively city carillonists of Enschede and Oldenzaal. Every Wednesday between 12.15 and 13.00 you can listen to their recital or that of their carillon students in the park surroundings of the campus.

Automatic playing

A carillon is usually played by a carillonist, but many carillons also have an automatic bell playing mechanism that plays a short melody with a certain regularity. The Campus Carillon has one as well.

The automatic bell playing mechanism of the Campus Carillon is provided with songs by Banning and Schopman. Between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., a short melody sounds just before the hour, followed by the hour strike. So that passers-by always know what time it is. But today's technology makes more possible!

Jukebox

Although hundreds of towers with automatic playing mechanisms exist all over the world, no one has ever come up with the idea of turning them into a jukebox. The University of Twente has a world first!

So how does a jukebox of bells work? You can choose a song at https://campusbeiaard.nl/jukebox/ and, after paying € 2.50, play it at a date and time of your choice.

Campus carillonist Esther Schopman came up with the idea to turn the automatic bell playing mechanism into a jukebox, but realization was only possible thanks to the many alumni who supported the idea with a donation following an appeal by the University of Twente Fund. Carillon students Johan Verzijden (UT student) and Willem Jaap Zwart (UT alumnus) and campus carillonist Hylke Banning then turned the idea into a working result.

Currently, the jukebox already contains 25 tunes with a playing time of about one minute, such as 'Over the Rainbow'. 'Yesterday', 'Oerend Hard', 'The Entertainer', and 'Onder moeders paraplu', as well as 'Gaudeamus Igitur' and the tune of 'Vakmanschap is Meesterschap', that is especially appreciated specifically in the Twente region.

On the bell tower you will find stickers with a QR code that lead you to the jukebox's website. In due course, an information board with QR code will also be placed near the tower. A tune can be requested every day between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. after payment via iDeal, PayPal or a VVV gift card. The requestor will receive an e-mail confirming the order and a second e-mail after the order has been fulfilled.

Official commissioning

The Campus Carillon Circle is proud to announce that Machteld Roos, vice president of the Executive Board, will officially inaugurate this unique type of jukebox on Wednesday, December 18, at 12:15 p.m. Everyone is cordially invited to attend.

Because of the dark days before Christmas, ten Christmas songs will be added to the jukebox in the coming week. Machteld Roos will be the first to choose a song from this category and make it play by the jukebox.