Jervis McMechan, in Christ Church Cranbrook: A History of the Parish to Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Consecration of the Church, 1928-1978, explains that a carillon,

“...is a set of bells, tuned to the notes of a chromatic scale, on which music may be played in two or more parts. The bells of a carillon are stationary; only the clapper moves, when actuated by an intricate system of wires connected to a keyborad, called a “claviar,” with pedals and manuals similar to an organ. At Christ Church the clavier is in a room in the tower below the bells. There the carilloneur plays by striking the keys with closed fists and applying pressure with his feet on the foot pedals.” (p. 60).

Installed in 1927, the original Christ Church carillon was a gift from local resident Harold L. Wallace and his family. He paid the John Taylor & Sons Foundry in Loughborough, England nearly $28,000 to cast and then deliver the bells to the newly constructed Christ Church. Wallace worked closely with the foundry and the architect of the church, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue Associates, in determining the physical space requirements and the number of octaves and bells to be employed.

World-renowned carilloneur Anton Brees of Antwerp played the carillon at its Christ Church dedication on September 30, 1928. Brees became the carillonneur for Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania and later the Bok Tower in Lake Wales, Florida. Through the assistance of the Wallace family, Brees returned to Cranbrook every summer until 1941, playing concerts on Wednesdays and Sundays to crowds that averaged in size of 1500 and 4500, respectively.

George and Ellen Booth’s personal nurse, Nellie Beveridge, was the church’s official carillonneur in the 1940’s. Beverly Buchanan played the bells at Cranbrook from 1964 until 1988, when she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to become the carilloneur at Belmont College, and later at Carillon Beach in Panama City, Florida. In addition to regular carillonneurs, Christ Church has had many guest and visiting carillonneurs, and has often shared carillonneurs with other area towers, including Kirk-in-the-Hills Presbyterian Church in Bloomfield Hills and the Burton Memorial Tower at The University of Michigan.

Originally installed with forty-six bells, two more were added in 1929 to give the carillon four chromatic octaves. In 1975, the family of Grace Booth Wallace provided funds for the recasting of thirty-five of the top-range bells by improved methods. The new bells were installed in Christ Church in May 1978 and a recital on October 8, 1978 celebrated the recast bells and the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the original carillon.