Upwood Fete success thanks to Hunts Post

Posted on June 23, 2009
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Repost from the Hunts Post

Link to full story: http://www.huntspost.co.uk/content/hunts/postbag/story.aspx?brand=HPTOnline&category=Postbag&tBrand=HertsCambsOnline&tCategory=PostbagHPT&itemid=WEED19%20Jun%202009%2010%3A26%3A23%3A403

Comment: Lets put this one in the “Not Helping” catagory.

ON behalf of the Upwood & The Raveleys Fete Committee and our gallant band of volunteers, all the garden owners and all the garage owners, I wish to say a resounding and heartfelt thank you for your piece in The Hunts Post (June 3), referring to our open day. The people manning the village hall asked visitors how they knew of it and all but a few replied: “We saw it in The Hunts Post.”

The result was astounding. In spite of the atrocious weather in the morning, over the day we had many more visitors than previously, requiring no fewer than three reprints of the village map.

Our treasurer has not yet done the number-crunching, but it is obvious that the event has been successful beyond our greatest expectations.

May I mention our forthcoming village fete on Saturday June 20, run by the same hard-working group, augmented, we hope, by some hardy annuals who rally round to help with marquee erection and the like.

This, our main fundraiser of the year, to be opened at 1.30pm by Lord Mawhinney, will have a wide variety of stalls and exhibits and will include a folk-dancing group, an open pet show, a handbell-ringing demonstration and other attractions, plus a refreshment tent. It’s in the Cross Keys paddock, so those who like something stronger than tea will be well catered for.

Birthday bash honors Ben

Posted on June 23, 2009
Filed Under Concerts, Events | Leave a Comment

Repost from: The Harold-Mail

Link to full story: http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=225201&format=html

Pennsylvania institute holds symposium to honor Franklin County’s namesake

By CHRIS COPLEY
June 18, 2009
chrisc@herald-mail.com

With guns, games, books and concerts, the Conococheague Institute will celebrate one of the United States’ greatest founding fathers — Benjamin Franklin.

Conococheague Institute will host a full day of activities on Saturday, with re-enactors, Franklin scholars and two concerts featuring Franklin’s compositions and the instrument he invented.

Walter Powell, Conococheague director, said the celebration is connected to the 225th anniversary of the founding of Franklin County, Pa., named after Ben Franklin.

The theme of the celebration is “Do You Know Ben Like I Know Ben?,” according to Powell, and it will cover different aspects of Franklin’s life and work.

“He was into everything. And talented in everything,” Powell said. “Author Jim Srodes called him ‘The essential founding father.’”

Musician and composer

Franklin is remembered as an inventor. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals and the Franklin stove, a home-heating innovation.

He also invented a musical instrument, the glass armonica. Dean Shostak said the concept is similar to making sound by rubbing the rim of a crystal glass. In Franklin’s time, musicians created music by setting up a number of crystal glasses with varying amounts of water. The sound was ethereal, Shostak said.

But performers could play one note with each hand. Franklin’s innovation was to nest the cups together horizontally on a spindle and spin the contraption with a foot pedal. Touch the rims and tones result.

“It’s similar to playing wine glasses, but, with the armonica, you can play more notes,” Shostak said. “I can play chords with my left hand and pick out a melody with my right.”

Shostak will perform music by Franklin, Mozart and other composers on his glass armonica. He also plans to play other unusual instruments — a glass violin, glass handbells and two 18th-century violins. Shostak’s Saturday concert is free and open to the public; parking is $5 per car.

Many sides to Franklin

For Powell, the celebration’s main events are the scholars’ talks on Franklin.

“We’re a museum that promotes the history and culture of this region and the 18th century — from the French and Indian War through the Revolution,” Powell said. “It seemed appropriate for us to assemble a panel of scholars to talk about him.”

Five Franklin scholars will speak about different aspects of Franklin, who cut a wide swath across Colonial America.

British historian Joan Reid and her husband restored the house in London in which Franklin lived while he was a diplomat from the Colony of Pennsylvania. The house is the only one of Franklin’s homes still standing and has exhibits about Franklin. Reid will speak about his 17 years as diplomat in London.

Jim Srodes wrote a book about Franklin’s political life.

“Srodes said he was an intellectual with political skills,” Powell said. “He could get along with a great variety of people, even people who didn’t get along with each other.”

Helen Westra, a professor of English at Grand Valley State University, will speak about Franklin’s writing. Westra describes him as one of the best writers of the 18th century.

Cumberland County, Pa., historian Jeff Wood will speak about Franklin’s connections to South Central Pennsylvania. And Roy Goodman, head of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, which Franklin founded, will speak about the view of Franklin in popular culture.

Powell said the speakers will each present their perspective on Franklin, then all five scholars will participate in a Saturday afternoon panel discussion.

If you go …

WHAT: Benjamin Franklin Symposium, with speakers, vendors, re-enactors and family activities

WHEN: Friday, June 19, and Saturday, June 20

WHERE: Conococheague Institute, 12995 Bain Road, Mercersburg, Pa.

COST: Bus tour tickets cost $45; tickets for the dinner and concert cost $20. No admission fee for Saturday events; parking costs $5 per vehicle.

CONTACT: Call 717-328-3467 or go to Conococheague.org.

Handbell rules

Posted on June 23, 2009
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

From: PL Ringers Blog

Link: http://plmgsshandbellchoir.blogspot.com/2009/06/hey-all-some-reminders-for-things-to.html
1. Punctuality is Important

- All are to arrive 10 mins before hand
- Please inform someone (in handbells) if you will be late or will not be going
- Fining starts when practice starts (3mins = $0.50, 30mins = $5)
- $2 will be fined to the person with invalid/no excuse
- have an MC or a parent’s letter ready
- it is to be given to joann or amanda
- ringers with no excuse letter will have to run 3 rounds round the parade square (don’t try us, cos we will do it)

2. Handphones are not allowed to be used to or switched on during practice at all.

- if the phones are needed to be used, please seek permission from whoever’s in charge
- $3 will be fined to the person who uses a phone without permission
- After 3 times of fining, the phone which is used will be confiscated for the rest of practice

3.Food issues

- No food and sweet drinks (aside from water) are allowed in the room
- Food/drinks will be confiscated if anyone is caught eating or drinking unless it is medication
- $2 will be fined to anyone who eats or drinks sweet drinks in the room
- clean up after yourself if you happen to drop or spill food/drinks

4. No clashing of bells (each clash is $0.50)

- if the bells are clashed more than 3 times by one person in one practice, the person must polish one big and dirty bell inside and out

5. No dropping of bells (each drop is $3)

- this goes for chimes as well ($3.50)
- If bells are dropped more than 5 times by one person, the person must polish one octave of bells, inside and out

6. Gloves and Scores

- If gloves and/or scores are not brought, fine $0.50 each for both scores and gloves

7. Please respect youre seniors!

- don’t be rude or oppose the decisions made
- we have a reason for everything and everything can be negotiated
- Know how to draw the line between teasing & disrespecting

8. Housekeeping matters

- No touching the piano unless during breaks, before and after practice unless it is for CCA
- No playing with the trolleys
- No drawing inappropriate things on the whiteboard
- No touching the angklongs or any of Ms Tessa Tan’s things
- Standardised aircon temperature: 23 degrees C on high fan
- No leaning on against the tables or lying on cushions
- No sitting down when not playing anything (unless valid medical reasons)

Handbells as a CCA or a MEP

Posted on June 16, 2009
Filed Under Ringer Information | Leave a Comment

Repost from: D’ Music Makers Blog

Link to article: http://cca.velocemusic.com/?p=38

Learning the fundamentals of music thought the Handbell / Hand Chimes programs.

Hand Bells & Hand Chimes

Watch the video and listen to the combination of the Hand Chimes and Hand Bells.

Around Town: Ring a (quite large) bell for peace at this Mt. Lebanon church

Posted on June 16, 2009
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Excerpt from: Post-Gazette NOW

Link to full article: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09160/975981-155.stm

There is something very right about being on Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon early on a Sunday afternoon, when the massive tower bells of Southminster Presbyterian Church are pealing.

The sound is bold yet comforting, taking you back to a place and time you’ve probably never been, as this is the only change-ringing tower in Western Pennsylvania and among fewer than 50 in North America.

I was allowed to climb into the “Peace Tower” a couple of Sundays back to see the bell ringers practice the ancient art. Five were there that noon hour, each pulling hard on a rope and grabbing it again as it bounced up. Don Morrison, the ringing master, called the orders like a coxswain:

“Three to two! … Two to four! … Seven to two! … Two to treble!”

Change ringing is said to be a place where music, mathematics and sport meet. The sound is in no way melodic, but a proper peal, with the sound of each bell lapping over its echoing predecessor, is the sabbath challenge.

“It’s like trying to play the drums by throwing baseballs at ‘em from across the room,” Mr. Morrison said.

Southminster dedicated its eight English bells, which rise steadily in size from 494 to 917 pounds, less than seven years ago, more than 75 years after the tower was constructed.

I had neither heard them nor heard of them until a few weeks ago when I wrote a column about an errant, one-ton, 300-year-old English bell that has spent more than 15 years sitting unceremoniously in a Downtown parking garage. A reader read that and tipped me to its Southminster cousins.

Lulu, Royal Opera House, London One Evening, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London Mitridate, Sadler’s Wells, London

Posted on June 16, 2009
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Excerpt from: The Independant

Link to full story: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/lulu-royal-opera-house-londonbrone-evening-queen-elizabeth-hall-londonbrmitridate-sadlers-wells-london-1698490.html

<snip>

Here, the unlamented corpse of Beckett’s poem becomes that of Schubert’s narrator. With spoken verse insinuated between the songs and into the fabric of their cadences, and the three performers busy with chamois leathers, door latches and sandpaper, Mitchell creates a pervasive soundscape of trudging footsteps, shuddering breaths, frigid fingers clumsily pawing at tobacco tin and cigarette paper or scraping at the ice-bound earth. Spring, remembered or imagined, is brought to the foreground in a soundtrack of rippling water, hissing leaves and distant sheep. Sunlight is the sharp whine of a violin bow drawn across the rim of a hand-bell.

Some songs are spoken or omitted. Half-howled, half-crooned into a microphone, those that remain achieve a lunar, distracted quality exemplified by Padmore’s “Wasserflut” and echoed in Dillane’s rasped intonations. Having puzzled over Simon Keenlyside’s danced Winterreise in 2003, I was surprised by how much I wanted to hear One Evening again, preferably with West’s playing higher in the mix. Not as a replacement for conventional recitals of Winterreise, but as a complement to them.

<snip>

Bong Bong Bong Bong Bong Bong Bong Part 2

Posted on June 16, 2009
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Repost from The Opulent Opossum Blog

Link to blog post: http://opulentopossum.blogspot.com/2009/06/bong-bong-bong-bong-bong-bong-bong-part.html

<snip>

At times it seems endless; just when one hymn ends, and you think the ordeal is over, another one whirrs into gear.

Here’s where I have problems with it: they do songs that would never have been played on normal (manually operated) bells, because they’re hymn tunes (not traditional bell chime tunes) with chords and diatonic and even chromatic tones or accidentals, and the songs involve many notes and chords in succession. To play these on traditional bells, you’d need dozens of differently keyed bells (like a handbell choir—and don’t get me started on them). And perhaps worst, with the sustain of the chime notes, the various tones run together and create dissonance. To my ear, anyway.

Imagine if a piano player kept the sustain pedal depressed through a whole song: Tonal mush.
<snip>