Byrl Cinnamond plays carillon at Cathedral of St. John

By Molly Ertel

Byrl Cinnamon, carillonneur at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist on Spokane's lower South Hill, plays the complex, unique instrument called a carillon in the cathedral's Bishop Cross Tower on Sunday mornings.

The carillon originated in the Low Countries (Netherlands, Belgium and northern France) in the 16th century. There are 200 or so in North America but few in the Pacific Northwest. These keyboard instruments are connected to anywhere from 24 to 77 bells through a series of wires and steel rods. Because they are massive, carillons are generally located in church, government or university towers.

St. John's carillon has 49 bells, covering four full octaves from low C to high C. "Big John" is the largest bell with the lowest tone and is called a bourdon. It weighs approximately 5,000 pounds, Byrl said.

Seated at the keyboard, the carillonneur depresses the keys, called batons, with the side of his or her fists.

"It's not a tightly closed fist. It's halfway closed," Byrl explained.

He also stressed that the bells don't move. The system of wires and bars causes the clapper to strike the rim of the bell and produces the ringing sound.

Byrl came to be the carillonneur at St. John's Cathedral in a roundabout way. Born in northern Oklahoma, he was the middle of three brothers.

"Our mother was musical and majored in voice in college. She taught music in high school and elementary school and started me on piano. We also sang in church choirs as children," he said.

 "I don't know how my parents came up with my name, but life would have been much simpler had they spelled it B-u-r-l," Byrl said.

"My last name is from my great-great-grandfather, who came from Ireland in the mid 1800s," he added. "He came to Canada, spent a year or two there, and then he settled in north central Illinois. When he came, there was a 'D' at the end of it, Cinnamond, and that was dropped. It would be more realistic and historical to have that 'D.'"

His family relocated to the Phoenix area when Byrl was 13. His father, a soil conservationist, took a job with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Byrl attended college at Arizona State University where he received a bachelor's degree in church music and a master's degree in organ performance.

"I'm not a fan of the desert," Byrl said with a laugh. Post-education, he moved to Pasadena, Calif. "I had wanted to make my living as a church musician, but that never came to be. At some point, I decided that I needed to find something where I could make a decent living. That's why I went to the Bryan College of court reporting in Los Angeles."

It takes two to three years to get up to speed as a court reporter. Once Byrl became proficient, he accepted a job in Coeur d'Alene in 1990 with Heston and Associates Reporting. He continued in this line of work for companies in Coeur d'Alene, Portland and Lewiston for more than five years. He then worked for a traveling judge, whose territory encompassed Shoshone, Benewah and Kootenai counties.

Church was always central to Byrl's life. He was born and raised Methodist and attended the United Methodist Church in Coeur d'Alene. After some time, he became dissatisfied.

"I was looking for a church that had the kind of music that I appreciated, so I came to the cathedral in 2004 and have been here ever since," he said.

Byrl first participated in the music program at St. John's by singing in the choir. Over the next two years, his involvement would increase more than he could have imagined. The carillonneur at that time was Andrea McCrady, a physician. She had wanted to play the carillon since undergraduate school, and that desire led her to study in the Netherlands and later in a degree program at the University of Denver.

With Andrea's intermittent absences from St. John's while she studied, music director Janet Ahrend asked Byrl to fill in because he had a background in organ. He agreed and received basic instruction from Andrea in five or six lessons before she left.

Andrea left St. John's when she was hired as a full-time carillonneur at the parliament building in Ottawa. That left St. John's without a permanent carillonneur. The music director again approached Byrl, this time about becoming the permanent carillonneur, and he accepted.

"That's how I fell into it," he said.

St. John's carillon is one of the more difficult ones to reach and is not open to the public.

"To access it," Byrl explained, "I go up the special little elevator that takes me halfway up, then go outside of the building twice and through a half door and around and through another half door." The trek upwards also includes a steel ship's ladder and three "brick chimney ladders," enclosed in narrow spaces as the name indicates.

Once in the cabin that houses the carillon, Byrl is alone when he plays. Over the years, that fact has given rise to some tricky situations. One Sunday morning, Byrl, in making his ascent, could not open the first half door. He was to play for 15 minutes before the service, but the door would not budge. "There was ice buildup that did not allow that door to open. I worked at it and worked at it. It just wouldn't open. I simply did not play that morning."

The next day he contacted the church administrator about having the maintenance person see what he could do about the iced-over door. A few days later Byrl found out the maintenance person had been sick and the dean of the cathedral, Bill Ellis, had gone up and spent an hour or so on it. Despite his efforts, he was unable to get the door open.

"I was embarrassed by the fact that the dean came up," Byrl recounted.

On another occasion, the cathedral held a Lessons and Carols service for which Byrl had played the carillon. He was on his way back down and remembered that it was dark and cold and the elevator wouldn't work. Byrl called the maintenance person who "rigged something" to get it to work. Thankful not to be stranded all night, Byrl said of the maintenance man, "He saved my skin on that occasion."

Rather than talk about his finest moment playing or a favorite piece of music, Byrl referred instead to the services that held the most meaning for him.

One was on Sept. 11, 2011, in honor of those who died in the attack on the Twin Towers 10 years prior. Several dignitaries attended including the then-mayor of Spokane, Mary Verner.

"Other than that, I would play on Christmas Eve. We have three services. I play for half an hour preceding each one," he said.

In response to a question about what he would recommend to anyone who aspires to be a carillonneur, Byrl said: "It's a skill required in very few places in the U.S. and each carillon is different. They can have a different number of bells and a different feel."

He added, "Getting up to the tower is not easy to do."

Byrl also wants potential carillonneurs to appreciate that, "It's different from playing a piano in a recital or even the organ. You're up there all by yourself."

While unable to realize his dream of making his living as a church musician, Byrl considers it an honor to be the carillonneur of St. John's Cathedral for close to two decades. In addition, he still sings in the choir and also plays in the handbell choir.

He said that his faith journey has been through music, and it sustains him to this day.

Worshipers in the sanctuary and neighbors in the area of the cathedral can hear Byrl play on Sunday mornings from 10:15 to 10:30. He said that outdoors on the lawn is the best place to listen to the carillon bells.

The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist is located at 127 E. 12th Ave.

For information, call 838-4277 or visit stjohns-cathedral.org