Ronald Montague Barnes (June 11, 1927 – November 3, 1997) was an American carillonist, composer, and musicologist. He first began playing the carillon as a teenager at his hometown's church. In 1952, at 24 years old, he was appointed to play the carillon at the University of Kansas, where he developed as a musician. He was later the carillonist for the Washington National Cathedral from 1963 to 1975 and the University of California, Berkeley, from 1982 until his retirement in 1995. He was an involved member of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, having served as its president, vice president, and several other roles.
Barnes produced 56 original compositions and hundreds of arrangements. He was a major force in establishing an American approach to writing music for and playing the carillon. Much of his music is considered the standard repertoire for carillon students and professionals. He published editions of early carillon manuscripts and sought to develop standards for carillon performance, repertoire, and design and construction.
The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America maintains a memorial scholarship fund in his name to advance research of the carillon in North America.
Biography
Early life, military career, and education
Ronald Montague Barnes was born on June 11, 1927, and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1931, at about the age of four, Barnes and his parents attended the dedication of the new carillon at First Plymouth Congregational Church in his hometown. As a teenager, Barnes took organ lessons at the church. When the current carillonneur was moving away, his teacher recommended he learn to play the carillon as well. The church's carillon was in a bad condition and about half of the bells were unable to be rung. He and his older brother cleaned the instrument and lubricated the moving parts to the best of their ability. Having no carillon music to use, Barnes began playing scales on the instrument. The local churchgoers were surprised that their church's carillon had twice as many bells as they originally thought. Barnes studied at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1950.
During the occupation of Japan after World War II, Barnes served in the United States Navy as a specialist working with navigational instruments and as a helmsman of a destroyer. After his service as a soldier, he used the G.I. Bill to earn a Master of Arts in musicology from Stanford University in 1961. While studying there, he played the university's carillon in Hoover Tower. For his thesis, he studied the carillon preludes of Matthias Vanden Gheyn.
In 1948, Barnes attended the annual congress of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) at the University of Michigan. There, he joined the organization, played an advancement recital to become recognized as a professional carillonneur, and met other professional players for the first time. Following the congress, Barnes traveled to Ottawa, Canada, to study the carillon at the Peace Tower with Robert Donnell for one summer; this was his only formal education on the carillon.
Career
In 1951, Barnes accepted an appointment at the University of Kansas to play its carillon, teach harpsichord, and care for the university's instrument collection. The administration expected brief daily concerts at noon and longer evening recitals twice per week. Barnes' music library was small and consisted of pieces of "questionable artistic significance", but fortunately the university was largely ignorant with respect to performance standards. Through this carillon, Barnes was first exposed to the sound of heavy, English-made bells, which influenced his ideas regarding the carillon's timbre. Barnes encouraged both Kansas faculty and students to compose for carillon. For example, John Pozdro, a teacher of music theory and composition, produced his first work for carillon in 1953 called Landscape. Roy Hamlin Johnson, a piano teacher, produced his first work, Summer Fanfares, in 1956. Gary White, a student and later graduate assistant, produced his first work, Toccata and Fugue, in 1962.
Barnes moved to Washington, D.C., in 1963 to become the first carillonneur for the Washington National Cathedral. Workplace politics made it difficult for him to focus on writing new music. In 1975, a financial emergency at the cathedral led to his full-time job being abolished the following year. He began a self-supporting career of drawing, publishing, and selling whimsical sketches featuring fictional carillons and organs interspersed with animals and people. These images were highly coveted by his peers.