By Kassondra Granata

Around the same time everyday, throughout the whole year, our campus booms with harps and bells coming from the Davidson Hall tower.

Everyone has heard it, whether it has brought them complete joy or has annoyed them as they walk through campus to class.

It can be assumed that up in the tower, a series of bells in collide with one another creating the famous melodies such as the “Nutcracker Suite” or “Brahm’s Lullaby,” but that is not the case.

“The Singing Tower,” made by the Verdin Company, has been on campus for more than 20 years with two different versions being purchased.

This electronic device can be found in an ordinary, locked closet in Davidson Hall and with just a push of a button, music is sent up to “horn-type” speakers that are located in the tower above.

Scott McKenna, director of Operational Logistics and Event Management has been overseeing the system for some time, operating the music box and updating it when needed.

“It’s really, really simple,” said McKenna next to the electronic device. “It’s simply a digital recording device that you program and it sends up to a speaker that is in the tower. You are just hearing a harp and bell combination.”

McKenna keeps an updated schedule of class times for the semester to determine just when he wants to set off the device. McKenna is able to do that by just a click of his mouse in his office.

“It adds a sense of ambiance to the campus,” said McKenna.

Although it may sound like the same songs are played every day, McKenna said that they are not. In his office, McKenna has a book full of hundreds of songs selected  by the music department and other committees on campus.

“It plays songs seasonally,” said McKenna. “However, out of the blue the “Nutcracker Suite” will start playing in the summer as well as a lullaby during finals, it’s all in good fun. It may seem like the same songs are played everyday, but they are different each day with the device going through the long list of songs.”

Aside from its daily schedule, McKenna will toll the bell for major events, in which he simply overrides the system by pressing a button.

McKenna also commented on how realistic the bells sound, even though it is just an electronic system.

“The quality of the sound is great,” said McKenna. “I haven’t changed it or updated it because of its fine quality.”

“The fact that it is just a bell is just odd, I thought that it would be a bell,” said Adam Goldstein, a senior. “To hear that it is a musical box kind of cheapens it for me. If I had a few more years here I’d even volunteer to ring the bells myself. I figured it would be easier to have regular bells, but maybe not.”

James McGowan, also a senior, said that he accepted that it is an electronic device due to how digitalized everything is in current society.

“The way that technology is now and how advanced it has become, it is probably a lot easier that it is computerized so it can be easier to manage it,” said McGowan. “It makes more sense now to have this box rather than a rusty old clock tower. The only weird thing is that Davidson is an old building and you would expect there to be bells.”