Renovated Netherlands Carillon

The Washington Post

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The Netherlands Carillon is back in action - The Washington Post

For musicians Edward Nassor and Frank Steijns, preparing to play their chosen instrument is a little more complicated than pulling a violin out of a case or sitting down at a piano. It involves more cardio, too. They are carillonneurs and the first part of any performance involves ascending a tall bell tower.

Both of them played last Thursday at the rededication of <a href="https://www.nps.gov/gwmp/learn/historyculture/netherlandscarillon.htm" target=_blank>the Netherlands Carillon</a> in Arlington. When I caught up with them, I was still a little winded from climbing the stairs to the top of the 127-foot tower.

“During the pandemic we were the only musicians who could perform,” said Frank, 51, who had come from Maastricht in the Netherlands to entertain an American audience. “We have so much distance to the audience. Especially in Holland, the carillon was suddenly an instrument for everybody. It was the only instrument people could go to concerts of because it was outdoors.”

The Netherlands Carillon stands between the Marine Corps War Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/ringing-in-the-years-it-took-a-while-for-the-netherlands-carillon-to-find-its-home/2020/05/13/7f2aa356-9530-11ea-9f5e-56d8239bf9ad_story.html" target="_blank">It was dedicated in 1960</a>, a gift from the Dutch people in gratitude for the United States’ help during World War II. It’s been silent the past few years while undergoing an extensive renovation. The tower’s 1,748 steel panels were removed. Close to 800 had to be replaced; the rest were refurbished and reinstalled.

Three <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/big-bell-theory-the-netherlands-carillon-is-getting-a-musical-upgrade/2020/05/04/943fc1ee-8e1a-11ea-a0bc-4e9ad4866d21_story.html" target="_blank">new bells were cast at Dutch bell foundry Royal Eijsbouts</a>, where the 50 old bells were given a tuneup.

“This instrument was my first love, my first carillon job,” said Edward, 64. “Now it’s a brand new instrument. We will find the appropriate repertoire for it, and I can’t wait.”

How does someone become a carillonneur? For Edward, the story started in music school at Virginia Commonwealth University. He decided he wanted to study all of the keyboard instruments: piano, organ, harpsichord, synthesizer … carillon. Carillon? Edward wasn’t sure what that last one was.

“My adviser said it was some kind of keyboard instrument,” said Edward, who lives in Fairfax County and also teaches music at Merritt Academy. “As soon as I heard the sound, I realized it was unique and different. And how many keyboards do you get to play with your fists?”

The carillon isn’t just a workout for the legs. Coaxing sound from it looks like playing whack-a-mole. Large wooden keys stick out from the carillon’s keyboard. They’re attached to wires and pulleys that set in motion the hammers that strike the bronze bells. Depressing those keys requires a fair amount of oomph. The palms on Edward’s and Frank’s hands are covered in calluses.

“It’s not without danger, as you can see,” said Frank, showing me a tiny cut on a little finger. “My father was a carillonneur. He used to wear little leather things on his little fingers to prevent him from hurting himself. I like to do the real thing.”

Frank was 10 when his father took him into the carillon tower at Maastricht’s city hall.

“I was looking down at all these people and I thought, ‘I could do this,’ ” said Frank. “The only thing I changed was the repertoire.”

Father and son played atop a building dating to 1664. Frank’s late father, Mathieu, favored music that fit the ancient tower: baroque.

“But no one was looking up,” said Frank. “I thought, ‘When I’m going to be the carillonneur, I’m going to change the repertoire so the people are going to look up.’ ”

A carillon is made from tons of bronze and steel, Frank reasoned.

“If that’s not heavy metal, what is it?” he said. “I play everything — including Metallica.”

Metallica was not on the program at the rededication, but who knows what may ring out from the bells in the future.

And now to another D.C.-area landmark that’s undergone a renovation: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple in Kensington. That’s the gleaming white “Surrender Dorothy” building visible from the Beltway.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/04/19/maryland-mormons-lds-temple-preview/" target=_blank>Until June 11, the temple is open to non-Mormon visitors</a>, the first time since 1974. Forty-eight years ago, Louise Plumb and some of her friends organized a visit to the recently opened temple. Wrote her husband, Robert: “Louise requested an early date for the visit since she was expecting to deliver our first child in early October. The date set was for Sept. 17.”

Louise completed the tour of the temple. The next morning she gave birth to a daughter.

“The doctor who delivered our daughter Sarah at Georgetown Hospital credited the early delivery to the visit to the temple that involved climbing numerous steps,” Robert wrote.

Louise and Robert live in Potomac, while Sarah Plumb DiGioia lives in Burke with husband Lou and son Jack. On May 6, the mother and daughter pair returned to the temple for a tour. This time, Sarah had to walk on her own.

I’m taking some time off. Look for me back in this space on May 23.

John Kelly writes John Kelly's Washington, a daily look at Washington's less-famous side. Born in Washington, John started at The Post in 1989 as deputy editor in the Weekend section.

John Kelly

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The Netherlands Carillon is back in action

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Hark, hear the bells? The Netherlands Carillon is back in action.

Kit Farwell

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Argus C3 film camera was a great way to learn photography - The Washington Post

Roy Deppa spent the summers of 1969 and 1970 backpacking across Europe. Accompanying Roy was his trusty Argus C3, the film camera he had used as a yearbook photographer at Gaithersburg High School.

“One day I left my backpack by my bunk in a youth hostel, and when I came back, I realized that someone had rifled through my things,” wrote Roy, who lives in Brookeville. “It was obvious that they took the camera out, looked it over, and put it back! After that, I really treasured that camera! If it had been a more modern model, I would have lost not only my camera, but a couple of dozen irreplaceable photos.”

Now there’s a marketing slogan. The Argus C3: Not good enough to steal.

I’m sorry. That’s a harsh assessment. After <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/05/01/unreasonable-antipathy/" target=_blank>including the C3 last week in my list of unreasonable antipathies</a>, I heard from many fans who begged to differ. The C3, a range-finder camera made in various versions from 1939 to 1966, is known as the Brick for its rectilinear lines.

“Why oh why the irritation with the humble, sturdy C3?” wondered Jim Witkin of Takoma Park. “That’s the camera I learned on, back in the 1960s. It was the first 35mm camera given to me by my father, an engineer (naturally), who was attracted to its gears, clean lines and logical layout … And it was indestructible, which was good for a 12-year-old.”

Jim said the Argus is what set him on his photographic path, adding: “I’d think twice before trying to drive over one. Your tire might lose out.”

John Miller from Manassas is another member of the Arguscenti who was irritated by my column on irritations. “I grew up in Luster’s Gate, Va., where my dad ran a country store,” he wrote. “He gave me an Argus C3 when I was in seventh grade and I was thrilled.”

John built a darkroom and started taking pictures. Working with a basic camera like the Argus teaches a person the intricacies of exposure and shutter speed. John used the C3 to shoot events at Blacksburg High School and became photography editor of the school’s yearbook.

“Of course, I have to admit that was 65 years ago,” he wrote. “You can see I have a sentimental attachment to the old Argus.”

Sandy Farwell

Silver Spring’s Tom Otwell wrote: “Think of how many budding photogs cut their film teeth by owning one. They were clunky, brick-like, functional and industrial-looking — reflecting their times maybe — but they certainly must have taught a generation of camera buffs how to figure out f-stops and shutter speeds.”

There are two cameras that Kit Farwell of Burke especially treasures. One is his grandfather’s Leica IIIc, made by the German company that has become synonymous with high-end cameras. The other is the Argus C3 that Kit bought in 1965 at Pipkin Cameras in Oklahoma City when he was 14.

“The Leica, of course, is a classic but so is the Argus,” Kit wrote. “With manual shutter and f-stop, it was a real camera with which to learn and could take great photos. The Argus was built like a tank. I saw one that had a big dent in the corner after being dropped on a concrete driveway and still took perfect photos.”

It was probably the driveway that needed repair.

Lawrence Tagrin of Montgomery Village thinks mastering a simple camera like the C3 can make a person a better photographer.

“I hate the way digital imaging has degraded the art of photography,” he wrote. “A lot of serious photographers got their start with a basic box camera — Argus C3, Kodak Brownie, etc. — and went on to produce great imagery later in life. The combination of a box camera and a small home darkroom leads to a lot more knowledge than a cellphone camera and editing software. It also forces the photographer to think a lot more about the final image they are hoping to get.”

The District’s Debra McDonald said her husband, Herb, was miffed at my dismissal of the Argus C3. He had one in Korea in 1953 and he adored it.

“He still has some beautiful portraits that he took,” Debra wrote. “It was stolen many, many years later, and he wasn’t using it but was still so upset.”

That does prove that the C3 is not theftproof.

Argus C3 film camera was a great way to learn photography

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The bricklike Argus C3 camera launched countless photographers

Mourning dove

Mourning doves aren't as pathetic as you might think - The Washington Post

What is the mourning dove so sad about? I hope it’s not the comments I made about it in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/05/01/unreasonable-antipathy/" target=_blank>my column last week on unreasonable antipathies</a>. I described the mourning dove as “stupid,” “fearful” and “chubby.”

John Kelly

Washington, D.C.

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