For more than a century, the same family is the clocks of the Sint-Jan in Den Bosch. The Van Balkoms are already three generations of city carillons: the musicians who play high in the tower on the keyboard and thus make the whole city hear music. Nowadays it is Joost who continues that family tradition. “It’s a fairly simple instrument, but it has something magical,” says Joost.
After a big climb in the tower of Sint-Jan, Joost van Balkom is at a keyboard. On top of the instrument are pictures of his grandfather and father, both carilloneur in the same tower. “This is the keyboard that my grandfather once built and used,” says Joost. It is a kind of piano with wooden keys with which you can play the carillon, or the tower bells. “We no longer use it for the real clocks, but to study music pieces without the whole city hearing it.”
His grandfather Toon started as a carillonder at the age of 14 in 1915 and in the 1950s his father Sjef took over the trade. “As a little boy, I ran to Sint-Jan after school to hear my father playing. Clocks have something magical for me. That’s how I got the big wish: I want to be able to do that one day.”
“It seems like an honorary job to play the clocks of Sint-Jan.”
In the 1980s, Joost followed the carillone player and in 1988 he was allowed to take over the carillon gardens from his father. “I was very proud of that,” he says. Since then he plays the 56 clocks of Sint-Jan every week, some more than 400 years old. “Even though people don’t see me, I am actually a street musician.”
For more than a century, the three generations of Balkom have been playing the clocks of the Bossche church tower every week. Although Joost already knows that he is the last generation, because his two children do not want to follow him. “I think that’s a shame, but also understandable. There are plenty of other fun things to do,” says the carillonneer. Yet he does not let the tradition be lost. He teaches young people and tries to make them enthusiastic about the profession. “It seems like a kind of honor to be able to play the clocks of Sint-Jan, but it is for everyone.”
“Most think everything is going electronically.”
To keep the profession of carillone alive, Joost wrote a book about the carillon in Den Bosch and his family history. “This year seemed like a perfect moment,” he says. “It is 600 years ago that for the first time a carillon in the Sint-Jan was mentioned, and my family is in the business for exactly 125 years this year.”
Joost based the book on stories from his family and thousands of documents from his parents. “When I put everything in order, I actually saw a diary of how my grandfather and father did the profession, from 1900 to now.”
The book is called Fists and feet And refers to how Joost plays the instrument: with fists on the heavy keys and bare feet on the pedals. “It is not a difficult instrument, but you have to press the heavy sticks well and exactly at the right time. Playing does not work quickly, because the clocks continue to reverberate and then you get a soup of sounds.”
Joost has been playing for more than 37 years, from classical music to modern doll on the carillon. “Few people know that I am at the top of the tower and play the clocks. Most think, especially in this digital age, that everything goes electronically. I want to change that.”