For nearly a century, the Mayo Clinic carillon has been making music in downtown Rochester, Minnesota.
Rochester is a city of character. The proof is in its architecture.
The Plummer Building at the Mayo Clinic may be the biggest character of them all; its style is classic, and so is its carillon.
“I always call it a piano that has bells instead of strings,” said Austin Ferguson.
For 98.5 years, this instrument has sat at the very top of Plummer. Like clockwork, twice a day, Ferguson becomes the man behind the music. He sits alone, 19 stories above the streets, yet his songs can reach thousands of people at any given time.
“I always joke that if you ever ask somebody how they got into the carillon, their response will be that it was a complete accident. I was in the right place at the right time,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson first laid hands on the instrument in high school and then again in college. Nine years ago, he became the fourth full-time carillonneur in Mayo Clinic history.
“But the idea from the outset for actually having a carillon was to be a war memorial,” said Ferguson. “For the soldiers who had fallen and given up their lives for the country.”
Brothers Charles and William Mayo thought of that after serving in the medical corps during World War I.
The carillon has 56 bells, and the Mayo Clinic said that makes it one of the largest instruments in the world and the largest instrument in Minnesota.
But the bells never move. When Ferguson pushes down on a key, a wire causes the clapper to hit the side of the bell. The melody is entirely mechanical.
“It takes a little bit of getting used to that you use your fists instead of your fingers,” he said.
His biggest fans can be found on street level.
“It’s kind of like you know you’re home when you hear the music going,” said Jessica Johnston. “I do enjoy it. It’s part of Mayo Clinic.”
It’s a place where medicine and music work together. Ferguson said the biggest compliment he can receive is when a patient goes out of their way to thank him.
“‘You played a song that my grandmother used to sing me to sleep when I was homesick from school. That really means something,'” said Ferguson. “What better feeling could possibly you have? What better validation could you have in terms of what you are doing? It’s just wonderful.”
The Mayo Clinic carillon is played twice a day, Monday through Friday. You can watch the performances via livestream on the Mayo Clinic website.
