Tom Anderson

At first, Tom Anderson was a chimer.

Then came the extra bells.

Now he's a carillonneur.

But, to most people near the University of Texas campus, he's known simply as the guy who rings the bells up in the tower.

Tom Anderson
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Tom Anderson began ringing the tower bells while attending the University of Texas at Austin as an undergraduate and graduate student in 1952.He still does it today, gracing the walk through the UT campus with his concert of bells.

When he started, the tower only had 17 bells.

Now there are 56.

Anderson, a retired assistant director at the university's International Office, learned to chime while a music undergraduate student.He was handed the honor when his brother, the incumbent graduated.Anderson played through his graduate-school days.

But in the mid-60's, the bells were silenced.
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Shortly after honors day, the ringing of the tower bells became a ritual once again, and Anderson has played ever since.

When Anderson resumed ringing the bells, he controlled them with the first console constructed for the planned thirty-nine bells.

"I hope that one day [someone] will pay for it to be restored to be put in a museum," said Anderson."It is only one of two remaining."An electric console later replaced the first one until 1987, when Hedwig Thusnelda Kniker left money for the university to complete the carillon.

To play the carillon, Anderson sits at the consul and plays with his hands and feet.He can often be heard playing favorites like "The Eyes of Texas," requests, and even weather appropriate melodies such as, "Raindrops keep falling."

Anderson can be heard playing the carillon Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 12:50- 1:00 pm.
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Anderson enjoys playing a longer bell concert from 4:50-5:20 the first Friday of every month."I call it my going home concert," he said.

By request, Anderson plays Tuesdays at 12:30 for the students who miss the usual ten-minute concert.It is also customary to hear the bells at graduation, Honors Day, the University of Texas Memorial Ceremony and Gone to Texas, a fall event to welcome new freshmen.
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Anderson reaches the carillon by taking the elevator to the twenty-seventh floor and climbing almost one hundred stairs.

"I like to say that I have the highest office at the University," said Anderson.He has a point.No one is higher in the University of Texas tower.