Handbell ringers are passionate about their music
Posted on May 19, 2009
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Repost from: Toledo Blade
Link to full article: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090516/NEWS10/905160330
Choirs thriving in Toledo area
When it comes to being in a musical group, handbell choirs are “the ultimate team sport,” according to Jenny Cauhorn.
“It’s a very physical activity and you have to rely on the people on either side of you to achieve that fantastic musical result,” said Ms. Cauhorn, executive director of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers.
The nonprofit AGEHR, based in Dayton, represents more than 100,000 handbell ringers in the United States and Canada and seeks to promote handbell ringing through education, community, and communication.
Ms. Cauhorn said the majority of the guild members are from churches, but the percentage has declined in recent years.
“As churches move away from traditional worship and toward more contemporary worship, it’s harder for them to fit bells into their worship music,” she said. “But ringers have a passion for ringing and if their church doesn’t have a choir they will find ways to take the music into their community.”
In the Toledo area, however, handbell choirs appear to be thriving in many churches.
In fact, some directors say this is a boom time for bell ringers.
“I think handbells are catching on a lot more than they were when I started,” said Pat Finnegan, who has been music director at Reformation Lutheran Church for 30 years.
“And the selection of music is getting much, much better these days,” he said.
The West Toledo church has two handbell choirs and will host a handbell concert tomorrow night featuring its own Alle Bells and Providence Spirit, the handbell choir from Providence Lutheran Church.
The free concert, which will be staged in a “cabaret setting” with audience members seated at tables, starts at 7 p.m. at Reformation, 4543 Douglas Rd.
Bev Blasiman, who directs three handbell choirs at First Presbyterian Church of Maumee, agreed that there is a much greater variety of music to choose from today than when she started directing in 1981.
“The whole handbell music scene has expanded so much since that time. There’s so much more that you can do,” she said.
Carol Miller of Olivet Lutheran Church said arrangers seem to be making better use of the full range of bells for her five-octave choir.
“There are some arrangers whose songs leave half the people kind of twiddling their thumbs,” she said. “But there are some excellent arrangers today who keep everybody busy.”
Musical handbells were first made in the late 17th century and gained popularity through choir competitions in the 19th century in northern England. The art of handbell ringing went into a decline until the latter part of the 20th century, according to Whitechapel Bell Foundry, a renowned British handbell manufacturer that also forged the Liberty Bell and Big Ben.
Margaret Shurcliff of Boston is credited with bringing musical handbells to the United States in 1902. She founded the New England Guild of English Handbell Ringers in 1937 and was the first president of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers when it was founded in 1954.
The bells come in a wide variety of packages. Whitechapel makes a 12-bell beginner set that sells for $4,300, while some multi-octave sets can cost $50,000. Whitechapel’s largest bass bell, a 22C, is priced at $6,289 plus tax.
People who play in handbell choirs say they are passionate about the music and that they enjoy the camaraderie. Many stick with the group for decades, the directors said.
“It is a passion. You just really get into it,” said Ms. Blasiman of First Presbyterian Maumee. “And it takes teamwork to sound like one instrument that moves nice and smooth, like fingers running up and down a keyboard.”
Most ringers are assigned two bells, each one a specific pitch, plus any sharps or flats.
The high notes are rung on smaller and lighter bells, and some skilled players can play “four in hand,” cradling four at a time.
The bass notes are played on larger bells, weighing as much as 25 pounds. It takes a strong arm to swing such a hefty instrument and some players wear elbow braces. A common problem among bell ringers is tennis elbow.
Ms. Blasiman said her handbell choirs use a custom-made table that holds the larger bells upside down so that the ringer can swing the clapper against the side of the bell. That doesn’t require physical strength as much as it does confidence in one’s abilities, she said.
Players usually wear gloves to protect the finish on the bronze bells, which can get tarnished or even pitted from contact with oils produced by human skin.
It is generally considered helpful, but not required, for bell ringers to be musically trained and able to read sheet music. Some sheet music is color-coded to help those who don’t read music, and the director can help by circling the notes for newcomers.
But timing is crucial for bell choirs and it is a distinct advantage if players know the difference between a whole note and a half note.
“We take people who don’t read music and isolate them to a couple of bells and once they get used to those, then we’ll change them to other bells,” Mr. Finnegan said. “It’s really a learning process.”
Ms. Cauhorn of the AGEHR, who has a degree in music, said “handbells are accessible to everybody but still can be very challenging to an advanced musician.”
There are all styles of handbell groups, she said, from large school choirs to jazz duets.
Ms. Blasiman said some of the best bell players can play songs entirely by themselves, ringing several octaves of bells set up on a table.
She also likes to mix things up sometimes by having piano, flute, saxophones, or other instruments accompany the bell choirs.
“There’s really no limit to what you can do,” she said.
At Olivet’s recent spring concert, the handbell choirs played “The Hallelujah Chorus” and Ms. Miller invited audience members who knew Handel’s classic composition to sing along.
“I like to make the concerts fun and get the audience involved,” she said.
Like any live music situation, things don’t always go as planned.
Ms. Miller recalled a time when Olivet’s handbell choir was playing in the church’s balcony and the bells were set on a table. One of the bells did an impromptu solo act when it slipped off the table and rolled down the balcony steps – “and kept rolling and rolling and rolling.”
Another time the head of a mallet came loose and flew off, striking the balcony railing. “It almost went over the balcony and onto some heads below,” she said.
One of the joys of being in a church handbell choir is the sense of camaraderie and teamwork. The choir members get to know one another very well through the weekly rehearsals and frequent concerts.
“There’s a tremendous support system for each other. The friendships created within the group are really quite wonderful,” Ms. Miller said.
The choirs sometimes take their shows on the road. Mr. Finnegan led his Reformation choirs on a nine-day concert tour of England, and Olivet’s choirs earned standing ovations when they played at Colonial Williamsburg about six years ago.
Ms. Blasiman said her choirs not only play at churches but go “handbell caroling” at Christmastime and enjoy playing for shut-ins or at nursing homes.
There are thousands of songs available for choirs today, from hymns like “Blessed Assurance” to tunes by the modern classical-rock group Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Ms. Miller is always searching for the right songs for her Olivet choirs, which perform two major concerts a year, one in the spring and one at Christmas.
She is already looking for handbell songs for the December concert.
“I’ll sit by the pool all summer long listening to Christmas music,” she said.
Contact David Yonke at:
dyonke@theblade.com
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