This Central New York Professor Gave Flight 93 A Voice

As we pause to remember September 11th, 2001, one Central New York connection continues to echo across the hills of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The Flight 93 National Memorial is home to the Tower of Voices, a 93-foot-tall structure that holds forty massive chimes, each one representing a life lost when United Flight 93 went down. The tower is more than steel and stone. It sings.

When the wind moves through its open walls, each chime produces a note, giving voice to those brave passengers and crew members who fought back against the hijackers that day:

“The intent is to create a set of forty tones (voices) that can connote through consonance the serenity and nobility of the site while also through dissonance recalling the event that consecrated the site”

Behind that powerful design is a name familiar to many in Clinton. The chimes were tuned by former Hamilton College Professor of Music Sam Pellman. Pellman’s rare blend of acoustics expertise and creative composition made him the perfect person for the job. Selected by Paul Murdoch Architects, he worked alongside acousticians, engineers, and the National Park Service to ensure the chimes carried both harmony and weight.

“Sam was the perfect choice for this project,” recalled Hamilton’s Professor Heather Buchman. “I know this project was personally meaningful to him. And I can’t wait to hear the Tower of Voices, as it will also have embedded in it Sam’s musical voice.”

Sadly, Pellman passed away not long after completing his work, leaving the Tower of Voices as one of his final gifts. The pitches are based on a C Lydian mode and are C, D, E, F#, G, and B. The applied music theory produces musically compatible tones with slight variations in tuning frequencies, creating a set of forty tones (voices) that connote, through consonance, the serenity and nobility of the site.

For the families of Flight 93, the tower is more than a symbol, it’s deeply personal. Clinton native Gordon Felt, who lost his brother Edward on that flight, has spoken about the memorial and the courage of the passengers. Edward was seated directly in front of two of the hijackers. His family’s leadership has helped ensure their voices will never be forgotten.

The Tower of Voices was officially dedicated on September 9, 2018, and continues to serve as a living memorial. Every gust of wind that sweeps through Shanksville carries with it a reminder of forty individual lives, forty distinct voices, and the local professor whose music made their memory eternal.