The Royal Carillon School “Jef Denyn” (Dutch: Koninklijke Beiaardschool “Jef Denyn”) in Mechelen, Belgium, is the first and largest carillon school in the world. The Belgian government defines it as an “International Higher Institute for the Carillon Arts under the High Protection of Her Majesty Queen Fabiola.”
The Royal Carillon School “Jef Denyn” is a state-subsidized educational institute, and its several courses of study fall under the aegis of “part-time arts education” (Dutch: deeltijds kunstonderwijs) in Flanders and Mechelen. The full curriculum covers nine or ten years depending on age at entry, but carillonneurs with prior training may graduate as quickly as within one year. Carillon performance, carillon history and campanology, improvisation, theory, harmony, composition, arranging, part-singing, handbell choir, and keyboard instruction comprise the curriculum. To graduate, each student must pass a written campanology/history exam; write and present a thesis on some aspect of carillon culture, e.g. history, campanology, technology, composition, playing technique; and perform an exam recital on the Mechelen city carillon in St. Rumbold’s tower that includes baroque, romantic, and contemporary repertoire as well as works of their own (improvisation, arrangement, transcription, and/or composition).
The school also organizes occasional lectures, symposia, and masterclasses, often in conjunction with the Flemish Carillon Society and/or the Koninklijke Vereniging voor Toren en Beiaard. There is an annual school field trip to visit different carillons in Belgium, the Netherlands, or northern France. Additional student carillon trips in Belgium and the Netherlands and to international carillon congresses are organized by the student association Campana, which publishes a newsletter, ‘t Schipke.
The school maintains connections with higher institutes of art in Belgium, the Carillon Instituut Nederland and Bourdon Hogeschool voor Muziek in the Netherlands, and Missouri State University in the United States. The school also maintains an exchange program with the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs and relations with the State Conservatory of Saratov in Russia.
Tuition fees amount to about 350 € per year.