Carillons, musical instruments of bells in the percussion family, are found throughout the United States. Several institutions register and count them. Some registries specialize in counting specific types of carillons. For example, the War Memorial and Peace Carillons registry counts instruments that serve as war memorials or were built in the name of promoting world peace.[1] TowerBells counts carillons played via a baton keyboard as "traditional carillons" and those with computerized or electronic mechanisms as "non-traditional carillons", among other bell instruments. It also publishes maps, technical specifications, and summary statistics.[2] As the World Carillon Federation does not consider non-traditional carillons to be carillons, it counts only those played via a baton keyboard and without computerized or electronic mechanisms.[3] According to TowerBells and the World Carillon Federation, there are about 170 existing traditional carillons in the United States.
According to the World Carillon Federation, the carillons in the United States account for 25 percent of the world's total[3] and is consequently considered one of the "great carillon countries" along with the Netherlands and Belgium.[4]
- ^ "World map of peace carillons". Network of War Memorial and Peace Carillons. Archived from the original on December 19, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
- ^ "More About Carillons and Other Tower Bell Instruments". TowerBells.org. Archived from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
- ^ a b "Carillons". World Carillon Federation. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
- ^ Rombouts, Luc (2014). Singing Bronze: A History of Carillon Music. Translated by Communicationwise. Leuven University Press. p. 309. ISBN 978-90-5867-956-7.
... and the three 'great' carillon countries – the Netherlands, the United States and Belgium – are responsible for almost 70% of all carillons worldwide.