Melodies of The Singing Clock
Each morning, students at Hudson Valley pass by the clock tower, but chances are they really don’t know why it is so symbolic.
The clock at the forefront of the campus chimes every hour and half hour. If students were ever running late to class, they’ve probably idled at the fact that the clock lets them know to move a bit faster.
With roughly 13,000 students attending Hudson Valley each semester, a considerable amount of students have probably passed by the clock and wondered why it was playing a melodic tune.
At around 11:53 a.m. on any day of the week, the clock tower does not chime, but rather plays a melody. At the end of December 2010, the clock began playing the Alma Mater of Hudson Valley from its speakers.
The clock tower was originally constructed in 2007 and was built to be able to play several different programmed tunes.
The original music system was not recovered from the company that built the clock, and therefore, Hudson Valley uses MP3 music instead.
During the wintertime, visitors and students alike can listen to the sounds of the holidays. Of course, music for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day and Memorial Day can be heard as well.
Hudson Valley made the decision to play their Alma Mater from the clock because it is not well known by many of the students on campus.
At graduation, it became apparent to faculty and staff that students did not know the college’s Alma Mater, which emphasizes its strong history and connection to the Hudson River Valley and the Capital Region.
These discoveries lead to the implementation of the “singing” clock. The mystery voice of the clock is that of Roseanne Raneri, a theatre professor at Hudson Valley.
The Clock Tower was dedicated to Dr. Frank J. Morgan Jr. in Sept. 2007.
Morgan was a professor and dean at Hudson Valley for 16 years and worked for students to be able to transfer out of Hudson Valley to four year institutions.
A medal plaque near the bottom of the Clock Tower states that it was named in honor of Dr. Frank J. Morgan Jr., “In appreciation for [his] contributions to Hudson Valley Community College over five decades, and for his untiring commitment to student achievement across all academic disciplines.”