If you have ever walked by the campanile around noon and heard the music playing, you have attended a carillon concert by Tin-Shi Tam.

Tam is an associate professor of music, and Iowa State’s carillonneur. She teaches many non-major classes, but most of her duties involve the carillon — including daily concerts and tours, said Sue Haug, professor and chair of the music department.

Tam started playing the carillon when she was a graduate student at the University of Michigan. “I saw a concert and I liked the sound and music,” Tam said.

Tam said she also plays the organ and piano, which made the carillon easier to learn. Unlike the piano, she said, the large wooden keys, which look like broomsticks, must be played by using a fist.

“It still takes time to be a decent musician,” Tam said.

Tam began her career at Iowa State in 1994. She plays a concert every day around noon, as well as for special occasions such as homecoming and VEISHEA, Tam said.

The program for each week is up on the music department’s Web site, www.music.iastate.edu, and she takes requests on Fridays.

She has had requests for songs such as “Over the Rainbow,” “Chopsticks,” and music from “Chicago.”

Tam said she often has to make arrangements of pieces because the carillon only has a range of 50 notes.

“I can’t do all requests because of the limitations of the instrument,” Tam said.

Jeffrey Prater, professor in music, has composed pieces for carillon and has worked with Tam often. He said arrangements can be difficult because the carillon cannot play fast notes and often can sound thick if too many notes near one another are played.

“[Tam] knows the instrument very well and is a good arranger,” he said.

Tam also teaches a class in which any ISU student can learn to play the carillon. She has about six students a semester, she said. “A musical background helps, but it will only take more time if [a student] does not,” Tam said.

“She is a versatile person,” Haug said. “She always has ideas for promoting the carillon. [The campanile] is such a symbol of ISU and there is so much people don’t know about.”

Prater is also amazed at Tam’s versatility. “She is always game for something new,” he said. “She is constantly pushing herself, learning new things.”

Iowa State is not unique in its carillon, Prater said, even though “they are expensive and not easy to build.”

Tam said there are about 170 carillons in the United States and most are on campuses or churches.

Iowa State’s campanile is quite typical with 50 bells, Prater said. All of these bells are original and were cleaned when the campanile was renovated between 1992 and 1994, Tam said.

Iowa State has a history of long-term carillonneurs, said Haug.

“It is a small circle of players,” she said, “and she is a wonderful player.”

Tam said she doesn’t mind that she doesn’t know if she even has an audience outside. “I don’t think of it that way,” she said. Prater said it takes courage to play the instrument.

“[You’re] all alone, and you don’t know whether anybody’s listening. [You also] make mistakes in public,” he said.

Prater said he believes Dr. Tam has the cool to play an instrument like that.

Tam said being the carillonneur for Iowa State has been the “most fun job.”

“I play music and everyone is able to hear it. I [am able to] share music with everyone else,” she said.