Menu
Log in

Carillonneur Exam

The process for the Carillonneur examination is an annual event. The process requires approximately eight months, starting in October with application and concluding the following summer with the exam recital at the annual congress (usually in June).

2025 Examination Process (NEW as of January 1, 2024)

Information provided here is for prospective candidates who wish to take the exam with the goal of performing an advancement recital at the 2023 Congress. Requirements are subject to change. All such changes will be identified with revision dates. For more information, contact the Carillonneur Examination Committee Co-Chairs, Margaret Pan and Jeremy Chesman. Email them at exam@gcna.org

Required pieces for 2025

  • Technically Difficult (choose one from the following 9 options):
    • Gloria from Nativity Triptych by Ronald Barnes (available from ACME)
    • Dies irae from Gregorian Triptych by John Courter (available in hard copy or PDF format from GCNA)
    • Allegro from Concerto II for Violin (op. 7, RV 299) by Antonio Vivaldi, arranged by Karel Keldermans (available from ACME)
    • Sketch 1 (Moderato) from Three Sketches by Ronald Barnes (available from ACME) [NB: a list of errata in the published score is also available from ACME's webpage] [from the 2024 list of required pieces]
    • Sanctus from Mass of the Sacred Heart by John Hammond (available from ACME) [from the 2024 list of required pieces]
    • Dream for Carillon by Naoto Ohmasa (freely available from Koninklijke Beiaardschool) [Performance note for candidates preparing this piece: the tremolando on octave A's in measures 17-18 should be played as a single continuous tremolando seven beats long, with a smooth diminuendo over all seven beats (no need to articulate the beginning of the whole note in measure 18)] [from the 2024 list of required pieces]
    • Reflexies by Jacques Maassen (available from Donemus) [Performance note for candidates preparing this piece: the fourth 8th note in the lowest voice of measure 36 should be F natural, not F sharp (ie, there should be a natural sign in front of that note).] [from the 2023 list of required pieces]
    • Triskaphobia by Mitchell Stecker (available in hard copy or PDF format from GCNA) [from the 2023 list of required pieces]
    • Allegro from Fantasia I for solo violin (TWV 40:14) by Georg Philipp Telemann, arranged by Barnes (available in hard copy or PDF format from GCNA) [from the 2023 list of required pieces]
  • Expressive (choose one from the following 9 options):
    • Aria Hexafonica from Suite II by Henk Badings (Koninklijke Beiaardschool) : made available to us for exam purposes - download here
    • Land Beyond the Clouds from 14 Preludes on Appalachian White Spirituals by Ronald Barnes (available from ACME)
    • I wonder as I wander by John Niles, arranged by Milford Myhre (available from GCNA; published originally in the Bicentennial Book)
    • Notule no. 1 by Émilien Allard (available in hard copy or PDF format from GCNA) [from the 2024 list of required pieces]
    • Salut d'Amour by Edward Elgar, arr. by Geert D'hollander (freely available in PDF format) [from the 2024 list of required pieces]
    • Part 1 (Passacaglia) of Che si può fare by Barbara Strozzi, arr. by Jennifer Lory-Moran (available in hard copy or PDF format from GCNA) [from the 2024 list of required pieces]
    • Wondrous Love, Appalachian folk song arranged by Myhre (available in hard copy or PDF format from GCNA) [from the 2023 list of required pieces]
    • Invocation by Joey Brink (available from Sheet Music Plus) [from the 2023 list of required pieces]
    • Venetian Gondolier's Song (op. 19, no. 6; labeled op. 11, no. 6 in the GCNA score) by Felix Mendelssohn, arranged by Cook (available in hard copy or PDF format from GCNA) [from the 2023 list of required pieces]

Application Fee

Each applicant must be an Associate member of the GCNA in good standing with dues paid by October 16, 2024. Applicants who are not already Guild members must first apply for membership by completing this online form and paying dues by that date.

To pay the $40 (non-refundable) exam application fee, there are two options:

1) Send a check for $40 US (payable to "The GCNA") along with your Exam Application Form if you are mailing the form in.

2) Pay via PayPal using the button below. For this option, you first e-mail your application to the Carillonneur Examination Committee Co-Chairs at exam@gcna.org by October 16, 2024. The Co-Chairs will reply via e-mail and assign you a candidate number. Enter this number (not your name) in the space provided below and use the PayPal "Pay Now" button to make your payment. You must make your PayPal payment within two weeks of receiving your candidate number. 

Carillonneur Examination Fee for:
[enter your candidate number NOT YOUR NAME in this box] 

Special Needs

Candidates who have special needs may submit a written request to the GCNA Carillonneur Examination Committee Co-Chairs for special accommodations to be made. Such requests must be made by the October 16 deadline for the respective exam cycle each time a candidate applies for an examination. The President and the Carillonneur Examination Committee Co-Chairs will consider each case individually.

2024 examination process

Information provided here is for prospective candidates who wish to take the exam with the goal of performing an advancement recital at the 2024 Congress. Requirements are subject to change. All such changes will be identified with revision dates. For more information, contact the Carillonneur Examination Committee Co-Chairs, Margaret Pan and Jeremy Chesman. Email them at exam@gcna.org

Required pieces for 2024

  • Technically Difficult:
    • Sketch 1 (Moderato) from Three Sketches by Ronald Barnes (available from ACME) [NB: a list of errata in the published score is also available from ACME's webpage]
    • Sanctus from Mass of the Sacred Heart by John Hammond (available from ACME)
    • Dream for Carillon by Naoto Ohmasa (freely available from Koninklijke Beiaardschool) [Performance note for candidates preparing this piece: the tremolando on octave A's in measures 17-18 should be played as a single continuous tremolando seven beats long, with a smooth diminuendo over all seven beats (no need to articulate the beginning of the whole note in measure 18)]
  • Expressive:
    • Notule no. 1 by Émilien Allard (available in hard copy or PDF format from GCNA)
    • Salut d'Amour by Edward Elgar, arr. by Geert D'hollander (freely available in PDF format)
    • Part 1 (Passacaglia) of Che si può fare by Barbara Strozzi, arr. by Jennifer Lory-Moran (available in hard copy or PDF format from GCNA)

Special needs

Candidates who have special needs may submit a written request to the GCNA Carillonneur Examination Committee Co-Chairs for special accommodations to be made. Such requests must be made by the October 16 deadline for the respective exam cycle each time a candidate applies for an examination. The President and the Carillonneur Examination Committee Co-Chairs will consider each case individually.

2024 jury

Carolyn Bolden, from Denver Colorado, began studying piano as a child, and she started accompanying for Sunday School singing while still in elementary school. When she was in high school, a family donated a new pipe organ to the church her family attended, and she began organ lessons. She studied Music Education at the University of Minnesota where her major instrument was the organ. After teaching vocal music for two years in Upsala, Minnesota, Carolyn moved to Denver where she has been actively involved in various church music programs in the Denver area, as organist, director of music, and participant. Her primary source of employment for more than 30 years was in the Information Technology department at the University of Denver. During her time in Minneapolis, Carolyn was introduced to the carillon in Rochester, Minnesota, by a high school friend. Years later (when she and her husband became "empty nesters"), she began studying carillon in 2010 at the University of Denver with Carol Jickling Lens, the University Carillonneur. She passed the Associate Carillonneur Exam in 2013 and in June 2014 achieved GCNA carillonneur status. She has played recitals in Denver, and also in Minnesota, Missouri, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Carolyn retired from her IT position at the University of Denver in 2019, and now spends a good deal of time with her 1-year-old puppy and her 1-year-old granddaughter. She continues to play as often as she can. (Bolden serves as an alternate juror for the 2024 examination.)


Keiran Cantilina hails from Cleveland, Ohio. He was introduced to bell instruments during his university years, where he was a player of Cornell University's historic twenty-one-bell chime. During his graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, Keiran began studying the carillon with Dave Johnson at the House of Hope carillon in St. Paul. In 2018–2019, he studied carillon in Belgium with Koen Van Assche on a scholarship from the Belgian American Education Foundation. He graduated from the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen and was a finalist in the Queen Fabiola International Carillon Competition held in 2019. Keiran is a Carillonneur Member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America and he serves as a member of the board of directors of the Friends of the McGaffin Carillon in Cleveland. He is also the assistant carillonist at Church of the Covenant. When not playing carillon, Keiran works as a principal research engineer at the Cleveland Clinic. (Cantilina serves as an alternate juror for the 2024 examination.)


Since 1983, David Hunsberger has been one of the assistant carilloneurs at the University of California, Berkeley, and during the 1999–2000 academic year was Acting University Carilloneur. He studied carillon at the Riverside Church in New York City with James R. Lawson, and at the Rees Carillon in Springfield, Illinois, with Raymond Keldermans. He holds the Berkeley Medal for distinguished service to the carillon. Mr. Hunsberger joined the GCNA in early 1974 and has not missed a congress since. He advanced in 1976 at Trinity UCC, Holland, Pennsylvania. He was Treasurer during 1976–78 and 1996–2019, Recording Secretary during 1978–96, sat on the Board of Directors during 1979–94 and 2010–18, and has been chair of its legal committee since 1992. He has worked on many of its other committees, including Nominations, Examinations, Brochure, Scholarship, and World Federation. He enjoys traveling abroad and cross-country drives. He walks several miles each day along San Francisco Bay with his husband Neil. He does lots of sudoku. He is now owner of his third convertible. He's not much of a cook but likes people who are.


Jim Fackenthal began carillon studies at The University of Rochester with David Caldwell in the mid 1980s, then passed the carillonneur's exam in Ottawa in 1986. He played the two carillons in Bloomington, Indiana, for seven years, then moved to Chicago in 1993, where he became the assistant/associate carillonneur at the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. He is now a cancer researcher and Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Benedictine University, performs carillon recitals throughout the United States, serves as Carillonneur at St. Chrysostom's Church in Chicago, and is on the carillon performance team for the Naperville Park District. As a member of the GCNA, Fackenthal has served in several capacities, including examination juror, board member, and co-editor of the newsletter Carillon News.


Helen Hofmeister received her carillon instruction at the University of Kansas as a student of Albert Gerken. She is a carillonneur member of the GCNA and is a past member of the GCNA Board and the Barnes Scholarship Committee. She has performed carillon recitals in sixteen states, as well as Belgium and the Netherlands, including international festivals in Springfield, Illinois, and at the Bok Tower in Lake Wales, Florida. She represented the GCNA with a recital at the World Carillon Congress at St. Rombouts in Mechelen, Belgium, and has played GCNA Congress recitals at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, and at Clemson University in South Carolina. Helen holds both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in organ performance from the University of Kansas and has done post-graduate study in Cologne, Germany as a recipient of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) scholarship awarded through the Fulbright Committee. She currently serves as Staff Accompanist at Shawnee Mission North High School in Overland Park, Kansas, and Interim Music Associate at Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas.


Carol Jickling Lens began her carillon studies in 8th grade at Christ Church Cranbrook. She continued at the University of Michigan and The Netherlands Carillon School in Amersfoort, where she studied with Leen 't Hart, and earned both the Practical and End Diplomas. Lens is a Carillonneur member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA), is a judge and was chair of the Exam Committee for many years, sat on the Board from 1996–99 and 2017–20, was head of the Nominations Committee and is a new member of the Barnes Fund committee. Lens and her family have lived in England, Ghana, New Orleans, Houston and Libya. She has played carillon recitals all over the US, in England and the Netherlands. Lens has played informal recitals in St. Petersburg, Russia, and outside of Seoul, South Korea. She held the position of Carillonneur at St. John the Divine Episcopal Church and The Bell Tower Center in Houston, TX. She was appointed University Carillonneur at The University of Denver January 5, 2010, and retired August of 2022.


Patrick Macoska lived in Michigan until recently, where he had careers in architecture and church music. He studied carillon at the University of Michigan and played his GCNA advancement recital in 1997 at the University of Kansas. Patrick has been active in the Guild, serving two terms on the Board of Directors and serving as Chairperson of the Examinations Committee. He has given carillon concerts throughout the U.S. and Canada. Until his recent move back to his hometown of Cleveland, he played weekly recitals on the two carillons at the University of Michigan as well as on the 51-bell Paccard carillon at St. Mary's of Redford Church in Detroit where he served as director of music. He currently serves as chapel organist at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland and is a frequent guest carillonneur at the Church of the Covenant. Patrick also serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the McGaffin Carillon in University Circle.


List of prior required exam pieces

The purpose of the list of prior required exam pieces is to inform the general GCNA membership and prospective candidates alike about carillon music that has been chosen by the Carillonneur Exam Committee as required pieces in past years. The list also reflects the committee's musical expectation level needed to achieve Carillonneur membership.


Contact us: info@gcna.org

Copyright © . All rights reserved.

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software