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Those melodic chimes that strike the hour on campus are Carol Lens’ handiwork.

Since January  2010, Lens has played the carillon, a large bell instrument under the golden dome of Williams Tower at the Ritchie Center – the echo of which can be heard across campus and throughout the surrounding community.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to play carillon at a university,” said Lens, DU’s official carillonneur.

The 65-bell carillon at DU, constructed in Williams Tower in 1999, is one of fewer than 200 in the country, with its largest bell weighing six tons. In 2003, massive murals were painted on the inside walls of the tower to represent the importance of communication at the DU campus.

“We’re so lucky to have this instrument here, and I just want everyone to know what the instrument is and that they can always expect it to play,” said Lens. Lens has studied choral music education and carillon performance at the University of Michigan and holds two diplomas, Practical and End, from the prestigious Netherlands Carillon School (Nederlandse Beiaardschool). She has also played the carillon abroad in The Netherlands, England, St. Petersburg and Seoul, South Korea. She is currently teaching three students to play the carillon at DU and has given piano lessons for 30 years.

Traditionally new freshman students have had the opportunity to play the carillon after their dinner with Chancellor Robert Coombe and his wife in Williams Tower.

“This hopefully lets people see the instrument, so when they hear the bells they’ll have an image with the sound and learn to support it,” said Lens. “It just adds to the overall atmosphere of the campus.”

Contrary to popular belief, Lens only plays the bells by hand between 11:45 and 12:15 during the day, at night for lessons or on special occasions. A computer rings the bells automatically every 15 minutes during the day.

“I’m very willing to start something like request Fridays where people give me sheet music and I can learn how to play a song for them,” said Lens.

Lens encourages communication via email (carol.lens@du.edu) regarding carillon lessons, tours of the tower or music requests. The 13th annual Christmas carillon recital is on Dec. 11 at 3 p.m.