Shelmerdine Memorial Carillon

*Location:

   First United Methodist Church
     of Germantown
   6001 Germantown Avenue,
     at East High Street
   Germantown,
     Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
   LL: N 40.03964, W 75.17781

Site locator map

*Carillonist:

   Janet Tebbel,   (C)
     Carillonneur and Assistant Organist
   431 West Walnut Lane
   Philadelphia, PA  19144-3714
   H: 215-848-3915
   E: jtebbel97@gmail.com

   19??-?? W.Lawrence Curry
   19??-?? Robert Kleinschmidt
   1950s  Jim Angell
   19??-75 Fran Rogers

*Contact:

   First United Methodist Church
     of Germantown
   6001 Germantown Avenue
   Philadelphia, PA  19144-2192
   T: 215-438-3677   F: 215-438-3077
   E: office@fumcog.org

*Schedule:

   For Sunday services;
   summer guest series 1930 Mondays

*Remarks:

   1990 renovation removed 15 duplicate
   trebles, which had been disconnected
   since before 1948.  8-note taut-rope
   chiming rack (long since disconnected)
   on stair landing just above balcony
   level.  Practice and playing consoles
   stand back-to-back in same room.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 50 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is A# in the bass octave
   Transposition is nil (concert pitch)
   Keyboard range:     A#C   /    A#C 26
   There is one missing bass semitone
   The presence or absence of a practice console is unknown
   The instrument was enlarged in 1990
     with bells made by Petit & Fritsen 
   Prior history:
     In 1927, the instrument was begun with 48 bells
       by Taylor      
       Transposition was down 2 semitone(s)
       Keyboard range was:     C C   /    C C 24
   Auxiliary mechanisms: nL    
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 1991

The church Website mentions the carillon on the Facilities page and the Music page; the latter can be reached from either the Worship page or the Facilities page.  But there appears to be no photo of the building or the bell tower.

Church photos (from "Philadelphia Architects and Buildings" - subscription required to view large versions of the two images)

This is one of only eight carillons which were originally equipped with Taylor's doubled trebles.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Taylor bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Petit & Fritsen bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all North American traditional carillons by weight.
Ranking among all North American traditional carillons by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all North American concert class carillons by year of completion.

Other concert carillons with similar keyboard ranges.

Index to all traditional carillons in PA.

Index to all tower bell instruments in PA.

   This page was built from the database on  4-Nov-23
   based on textual data last updated on 2014/08/07
   and on technical data last updated on 1994/01/11