(Listen to the Shepherd carillon play the old fight song)

One of the pleasures of working at Shepherd University, and in Shepherdstown is hearing the bells toll at the top of each hour. One particular bell caught my attention last year because it rang out the Westminster Chimes and struck the noon hour—then it played a pretty melody I didn’t recognize.

It took me a few weeks to realize the chimes, which were louder than the others in town, were coming from the roof of the Student Center. It turns out Shepherd has a carillon that was purchased in 1984, which Student Center Director Don Rohel gladly showed me one day.

Seeing the machine that plays the song is like stepping back into a time when we all listened to music on that newfangled, state-of-the-art technology, the eight track tape. There are probably a dozen eight tracks sitting on top of the machine with a variety of once popular songs on them. But the one that plays at noon, according to Don, is an old fight song.

Students are returning to campus this week to prepare for the start of the fall semester. I hope if they are walking outside around noon that they pause a few minutes to enjoy the beautiful melody sung by Shepherd’s carillon.