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TRAVERSE CITY RECORD-EAGLE Friday, December 2, 2004
Church towers Christmas concert returns to Manistee
By Vincent Hancock
Special to the Record-Eagle
As the month of December opens, an unusual Christmas event returns to Manistee — the Towering Trombones and Bell Concert, scheduled for Friday, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m.— part of Manistee’s annual “Old Christmas Weekend.” For a second consecutive year, musicians located in the towers of two Manistee churches will perform modern and traditional carols. Over a dozen trombone players will be stationed inside First Congregational Church, located at 412 Fourth Street.
A block and a half away and across Maple Street sits Guardian Angels church, at 371 Fifth Street. There, several teams of musicians will play the 94-year old bells housed inside. As the two groups of musicians take turns performing, an open line between cell phones connects the two towers, so that each group can clearly cue the other.
High above the streets, those brief digital transmissions cross paths with the resonant music, linking the churches’ contributions together. But the two halves spring from separate, long-dormant traditions. Guardian Angels’ set of 12 bells, called a chime, was manufactured in 1910. Local lumber baroness Carrie Filer purchased the chime and offered it to her own church, Holy Trinity. But Guardian Angels Music Director Kelly Niles says that Holy Trinity refused the gift because of the renovations required to situate the bells.
When Guardian Angels expressed interest, Filer, an Episcopalian, responded by presenting them with the chime. In a time when denominations didn’t mingle, such a gift exchange was exceedingly rare. “She crossed the religious barriers,” said Niles. “Her church couldn’t accommodate it, so she gave it to the Catholics.”
The chime enjoyed a long history of regular use, including performances every Sunday. The parish musician for 60 years and chief chime operator, Julia Jaitner passed away in 1973. The bells went silent. An electrical system was eventually installed to play the bells at Mass and on the hour, but the mechanism couldn’t replace Jaitner’s personal artistry.
New life for the chime came with the arrival of Kelly Niles two year ago. He moved to Manistee after directing music in Detroit area parishes for 23 years. “The bells are the reason I took this job,” he said. After assembling interested musicians from his choirs at Guardian Angels, Niles staged the first modern bell concert during last year’s Port City Festival in Manistee.
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