Ringing the Way
Original Music Competition
UCLA students participated in Ringing the Way by submitting original music in any style to the competition.
A committee selected three winning pieces to be performed on the bells. Each winner will receive a $500 prize and have their music published as an open-source score in the UCLA Music Library's Contemporary Score Edition in conjunction with the Library's Centennial Celebration initiative, OpenUCLA. Below meet each winner, hear their music, and read the inspiration behind each submitted piece:
Jami Pinter '21 - What Lies Ahead
Kian Ravaei '22 - Hymn to the Hills of Westwood
Jonathan Tsai '23 - A World of My Own
RINGING THE WAY - Music by Bruins on the Powell Library Bells
In celebration of the UCLA Centennial, the UCLA Library is programming the carillon to play original works by Bruin musicians.
Currently ringing out at noon and 5 p.m. each day is "My Heart Will Go On," composed by James Horner (MA '76). This Oscar-winning ballad was performed by Celine Dion and featured on the "Titanic" soundtrack. "Titanic" remains the best-selling orchestral soundtrack of all time. Horner taught music theory at UCLA and went on to score more than 100 films. Last year, the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and Horner's family created an endowed scholarship in his name.
Previously featured, "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles' ('03). This 2009 hit single isn't really about love, but about finding her voice and saying what she wanted to say. Now famous as a singer, songwriter, and Broadway composer and performer, we were honored to highlight her music with "Ringing the Way"
Ringing the Way debuted in September with Randy Newman's "You've Got a Friend in Me." A Los Angeles native, Newman attended UCLA in the 1960's. "You've Got a Friend in Me" was chosen to welcome first-year students to campus at the start of the academic year. The live-stream of our Ringing the Way launch event, held Sept. 26 on the steps of Powell Library, can be viewed on Facebook.
New music will be added throughout the centennial year to highlight the incredible music contributions Bruins have made. The project will culminate with a competition for new music written by current UCLA students. The winning music will be performed on the carillon and will be published as an open-access music score in the UCLA Music Library's Contemporary Score Edition in conjunction with the Library's Centennial initiative, OpenUCLA.
This project began when the sheet music for “Chimes of Westwood” appeared on UCLA Music Librarian, Matthew Vest’s desk. The anonymous gift prompted us to think about the ringing of the Powell Bells as a campus tradition. Ringing 
the Way was envisioned and developed by Music Inquiry and Research Librarian Matthew Vest. The music is arranged by current UCLA music graduate student Nick Carlozzi ('16, MA '20) and Vest, and performed by Carlozzi.
About the Powell Bells and UCLA Carillon 
Bells have been integral to the UCLA campus since 1939 when they first rang out from the East Tower of Royce Hall. They were a gift from Countess Harriet and Count Frederick Thorne-Rider. In 1945, Frank and Alger Soule wrote and published the song "Chimes of Westwood." The song tells the story of lovers parting and hoping to reunite in Westwood - the bells will ring to bring them back together. The cover for the sheet music features Jeanne A'Dair, then the carillonneur at UCLA.
In 1955 an electronic carillon was installed in Powell, with the controls installed in Schoenberg Music Building in 1956. Previous carillonneurs at UCLA include Jeanne A'Dair, Laura Brown, Mary Crawford, and Peggy Sheffield. The UCLA carillon was used for "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Christmas at Ground Zero" on the 1986 album Polka Party!.
