For carillon plus fixed media. Digital Sibelius file included for transposing carillons.

Both Thoreau and R. Murray Schafer have written poetically about the radius of a bell's sound as aurally defining the boundaries of a community (historically, and in the West). Emanating from a single point in space and decaying from a specific point in time, the sound of a bell begins with an explosion of noise that quickly resolves into a sustained collection of overtones.

Our perception of bells depends on a more conscious parsing of signal and noise, music and meaning. Is the bell a signal that requires attention? A warning perhaps, a celebration, a call to gather, a simple declamation of time? Do we appreciate this ringing as music, or on its own sonic terms? Or is it something to be tuned out or ignored, due to repetition, irrelevance, or familiarity.

The radio transmitter, also usually located in a tower, vastly extends this radius of communication, whether used for information, entertainment, or influence. Like bells, radio also balances these aspects of signal and noise, with stronger short-wave signals reaching around the globe in a literal sea of static, for listeners to hear or ignore.

Beacon/Belfry brings together the seemingly disparate soundworlds of bells and radio. The optional layers of radio sounds reach the audience through speakers in their cell phones, which are in turn linked to the web in the latest iteration of a communication network. Audience members are encouraged to adjust the volume and position of their phone in order to balance signal and noise in their own experience of the piece.

—Nathan Davis