Kalamazoo College has something special: a bell tower.
You ring the bells by pulling on ropes, an act of art and athletics.
You can hear them Mondays and Fridays, and once a year for something called the Day of Gracious Living. Students call it DOGL — pronounced "doggle" — for short.
DOGL is one day each spring, the date known only to its organizers, when the College cancels classes and buses students to the beach.
It’s announced the night before by the ringing of the bells in Stetson Chapel.
"Everybody knew who we were right around DOGL time. Suddenly, let me tell you, we became very popular people," 2019 graduate Soren Kleppe said.
"Anytime I was walking up the hill, anytime I was walking anywhere near the chapel, they'd be like, 'So Soren, does that mean DOGL’s tomorrow?'"
What can you play on the bells?
Kleppe now co-teaches the bell-ringing physical education class at the College.
"So many of the questions I get are, 'Oh, well I have a niece who does bell choir in her church, and it's just so beautiful.' I’m like, well, those are not the same bells. It's not the same music."
Kleppe said this type of ringing, "change-ringing," is different.
Change-ringers can’t play “Happy Birthday,” or “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” or even “Carol of the Bells.”
The bells are too big and too heavy.
I spoke to Margaret Miller, the other co-instructor of the class. She's been ringing since 1977.
"We’ve got our largest bell," she explained. "Not quite half a ton. And if you're trying to make that bell ring even a second sooner than it did the last time, that's a lot of work. And you're not going to be very accurate at it."
That limitation, Miller said, leads to the rules of change-ringing.
"Every sequence has all the bells exactly once.
"The difference between one sequence and the other is: your bell can stay where it is, it can ring one position sooner, or it can ring one position later. But those are the only three options."
How the bells’ order changes from one sequence to the next is how change-ringing got its name.
Even within these constraints, Miller said, ringers can create music.
"So for instance, there's a famous change called Queens. And it's all the odd bells, followed by all the even bells. So, if you're ringing on six, that's 135, followed by 246."
Here's what that sounds like, from the online Changeringing Wiki:
"You hear that change in the middle of something, and we all look around and smile at each other," Miller said.
While I was there, I watched the group play through some simple compositions.
Change-ringing pieces are called "methods." They're notated with numbers, instead of musical notes.
This was during Ringing Weekend.
Hosted by the Kalamazoo College Guild of Change Ringers in April, it’s both a destination for out-of-town ringers and an opportunity for local Guild members to challenge themselves.
While I’m there, I witness six ringers complete a “quarter peal.” That’s about 45 minutes of non-stop playing.
Bell towers like this one are common in the UK, where the practice originated. But in the US and Canada, there are only about 50 active towers.
Instructor Soren Kleppe says, as a result, change-ringers are a close-knit group.
"[You] kind of have this niche skill that you can go other places and say, 'Hello, I am a change ringer,' and if someone knows what that is, you can go visit another tower, you can speak the same language, and just have this immediate connection with people."
I talked to some K students in the days after the change-ringing weekend.
Most told me they either didn’t notice the bells or were indifferent to them. A couple students took to social media to complain about the noise.
But I’m willing to bet the bells will have a different ring once DOGL comes around.