In 1931, at about the age of four, Barnes and his parents attended the dedication of the new carillon at First Plymouth Congregational Church in his hometown.

[2] During the occupation of Japan after World War II, Barnes served in the United States Navy as a specialist working with navigational instruments and as a helmsman of a destroyer.

[3] In 1948, Barnes attended the annual congress of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) at the University of Michigan.

Barnes's music library was small and consisted of pieces of "questionable artistic significance", but fortunately the university was largely ignorant with respect to performance standards.

[1] For example, John Pozdro, a teacher of music theory and composition, produced his first work for carillon in 1953 called Landscape.

[1] He began a self-supporting career of drawing, publishing, and selling whimsical sketches featuring fictional carillons and organs interspersed with animals and people.

[3] In 1982, the University of California, Berkeley, contacted Barnes to solicit an opinion on who should be appointed to play their Class of 1928 Carillon and hired him when they discovered that he was available for the position.

[5] Within the GCNA, Barnes was the editor of music publications, the organization's archivist, and an adjudicator for its annual membership examinations.

[3] Barnes's failing eyesight forced him to stop performing and composing in 1994, and by 1995, he had retired from his position at Berkeley.

[2][6] In 1998, the GCNA established a memorial scholarship fund in his name to support the future of the carillon art in North America.

[7] As president of the GCNA and editor of its journal The Bulletin, Barnes worked to set new standards for performance quality, selection of music, and sophistication in the design and construction of carillons.

He argued that it is gender inclusive, easier to pronounce and spell, and in line with the naming conventions of other types of instrumentalists.

[8] He was responsible for introducing the carillon to several important composers, including Johan Franco, John Pozdro, Roy Hamlin Johnson, and Gary White.

He was especially influenced by the carillon at the University of Kansas, manufactured by John Taylor & Co. Barnes wrote music that took the strong overtones of bells into account and depended on this characteristic.