High above the ground, you can see suspended from the roof of Sather Tower the sixty-one bells that constitute the Berkeley Carillon. Inside the Tower at the top are the office and practice instrument of the Department of Music’s University Carillonist Jeff Davis, and on the bottom floors a carillon archive and additional practice instrument.
Designed by John Galen Howard in 1911, initially with a chime of twelve bells played for the first time in 1917, the set became a full concert carillon when the Class of 1928 presented thirty-six more bells for its 50th anniversary gift to the campus. It was topped off at the capacity of the tower in 1983 with an additional thirteen bells donated by Evelyn and Jerry Chambers. The keyboard from which the bells are sounded can be seen in the glass-in cabinet at the top.