When Maggie Fries graduated last spring from the University of Colorado, she was not only taking part in the ceremony — she was playing the soundtrack heard by thousands.

As “Pomp and Circumstance,” hymns and the school song rang across the CU campus, Fries was playing her final notes on the school’s carillon — a set of bells played by a keyboard — from a room in Macky Auditorium. She then rushed down to the commencement ceremony, where she earned her degree from the College of Music.

The songs that echo from Macky Auditorium’s bell tower have a harmonic history, a tradition that CU music students are informally responsible for keeping alive.

And now Fries is looking for a successor to be the guardian of the long-standing bell tradition that connects CU students over the decades.

“It’s fun to be part of such a huge tradition,” said Fries, who leaves in October to study contemporary music in London.

Top piano students in the College of Music are picked to play live music during the holiday music festival and graduation ceremony, and they can choose the songs they want the entire campus to hear. The carillon, Fries said, plays at a slower tempo and has smaller keys than a piano.

The carillon now has recorded songs, and the automated chimes play every five minutes before the hour from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., said Angela Venturo, assistant director of Macky. The songs it holds are diverse — ranging from Christmas carols such as “Deck the Halls” to folk songs such as “Go Tell it on the Mountain,” she said.

“It’s something unique to our campus,” Venturo said. “You can hear it anywhere you are on the campus, and it’s a nice, pleasant reminder of what time it is.”

The first university bell was hung in the belfry of Old Main in 1878, according to CU historians. It signaled class changes until 1926, when a large crack appeared during a celebratory ring to mark a football victory over the Colorado School of Mines.

Graduates of the Class of 1953 gave the carillon as a gift to future students. It was originally located in the University Memorial Center but moved to Macky.

The electronic carillon is named in honor of Everett Jay Hilty, who joined CU’s music faculty in 1940. He was named head of the division of organ and church music in 1951, a position he held until he retired as a professor emeritus in 1978.

Hymnals such as CU’s alma mater are left behind in a cabinet from a 1930s music fraternity.

Nicole London, a voice performance major who graduated in May, played the carillon for last year’s holiday festival.

“It’s a symbol, a campus tradition,” she said. “It’s kind of a comforting sound.”