One of the first things cadets noticed when they arrived for the year was the sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Wednesday afternoons, while footsteps and formations echoed across Summerall Field, melodies drifted from the bell tower above Summerall Chapel. What many people didn\u2019t realize was that the music was not always automated. Sometimes, it was coming from Cadet Paul Cozart, \u201927.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A longtime musician who began playing piano at age 4, Cozart discovered the chapel carillon during his knob year after being invited to tour the tower through a chapel music program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t really know the bells were a thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, Cozart serves as one of the campus carillonneurs, practicing regularly with Summerall Chapel Organist and Carillonneur Michael Varnadore and performing during special weekends and campus events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although both involve keyboards, Cozart said playing the carillon is very different from playing the piano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you play a key on the piano, the hammer strikes the string and then stops the note,\u201d he explained. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t happen with bells. You hit the tab that sounds a bell, and it rings for as long as it wants to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Success depends less on force than precision and control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople also assume all the songs they hear are just a computerized program,\u201d Cozart said. \u201cThe reaction I get when I tell people I play the bells is, \u2018People play those?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An intelligence and security studies major with a minor in Chinese, Cozart hopes to pursue a career in the intelligence community after graduation. But for now, he enjoys the unique perspective the bell tower provides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
High above campus, with Charleston\u2019s church steeples visible in the distance, he has found a place to practice his craft and a way to contribute something memorable to campus life at The Citadel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the first things cadets noticed when they arrived for the year was the sound. On Wednesday afternoons, while footsteps and formations echoed across Summerall Field, melodies drifted from the bell tower above Summerall Chapel. What many people didn\u2019t realize was that the music was not always automated. Sometimes, it was coming from Cadet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":694,"featured_media":412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other"],"yoast_head":"\n