Thursday, February 16, 2023

Carillon Recital Shows Solidarity with Michigan State, Goes Viral


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Following the mass shooting at Michigan State University on Monday night (February 13), Duke Chapel carillonneur Mitchell Eithun played both the MSU alma mater and the MSU fight song as part of Tuesday's daily carillon recital from the Chapel tower. An MSU alumnus and current Duke Divinity School student, Eithun created his own arrangement for carillon of the MSU fight song while drawing on an existing arrangement of the alma mater.

The musical gesture of solidarity and comfort was noticed on campus and online via the livestream of the recital on Facebook. One clip of the recital shared on Twitter by an MSU alumnus has more than 250,000 views and hundreds of comments from people expressing thanks and deep emotions. The outpouring of mutual appreciation between the two schools, often rivals in basketball, prompted news articles at Duke and in Michigan (see Spartan Avenue, USA Today's Spartans Wire, and WZZM-TV).

The carillon recital was one of the efforts by the Chapel to support the Duke and MSU communities; other efforts included a prayer posted online, a video message from Chapel Dean Luke Powery, and assisting students in organizing a vigil next Tuesday on the Chapel steps.