the american guild of english handbell ringers • California • Hawaii • Nevada • Guam

W h a t i s t r u e o f p a i n t i n g i s e q u a l l y t r u e o f m u s i c . M u s i c “ s a y s” t h i n g s a b o u t t h e w o r l d , b u t i n s p e c i f i c a l l y m u s i c a l t e r m s . A n y a t t e m p t t o r e p r o d u c e t h e s e m u s i c a l s t a t e m e n t s “ i n o u r o w n w o r d s” i s n e c e s s a r i l y d o o m e d t o f a i l u r e . W e c a n n o t i s o l a t e t h e t r u t h c o n t a i n e d i n a p i e c e o f m u s i c ; f o r i t i s a b e a u t y - t r u t h a n d i n s e p a r a b l e f r o m i t s p a r t n e r . T h e b e s t w e c a n d o i s t o i n d i c a t e i n t h e m o s t g e n e r a l t e r m s t h e n a t u r e o f t h e m u s i c a l b e a u t y - t r u t h u n d e r c o n s i d e r a t i o n a n d t o r e f e r t h e c u r i o u s t r u t h - s e e k e r s t o t h e o r i g i n a l . A l d o u s H u x l e y ( 1 8 94 - 1 9 6 3 )A

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theTWELFTH TONE

Enter the blog-o-sphere August 13, 2006 Larry Sue, Addict at Large

We’re starting a bell choir from scratch at St. Francis High in Mountain View, California. SFHS is a Catholic school about a mile from where I live, and my

son JC will be a sophomore this fall. We’ve decided to start a handbell program there because we’d like to have an additional way to satisfy our mutual addic-tion, and we’d like to make it possible for others to become addi... uh, enjoy the art too.

We have one of the Area XII loaner sets for the 2006-2007 year. It’s a cool deal because there’s no rental charges, except that you have to arrange for the set to get to the next loanees, and write an article for the Twelfth Tone about what you accomplished with the bells you borrowed. I’ve decided to write something more extensive than a year-end summary because I suspect that I’ll see a lot of really interesting things over the next twelve months that might apply to your own situation. Call it a blog if you wish.

The loaners are three octaves of Schullies, and include eight dark blue pads. They’re dedicated to the memory of Erma Bassett, who was a director in Laguna Beach in the 1960s. People like Erma are the reason many of us are here today!

Cliff brought them to the Belmont conference, and Stacey helped me get them back to Mountain View. They didn’t have mallets, so I asked, and my church

was willing to donate our old mallets (35 years old, but in nearly pristine condition), so now we have every-thing we need.

I already have some gloves with plastic dots. I think they’re mostly small and medium sizes, which ought to be perfect because so far mostly girls have signed up. JC and I already have baseball gloves. I’ll suggest that the ringers can get their own (as Henry Ford said, “any color as long as it’s black” - do they have tie-dyed baseball gloves?) if they like.

I still need to find out what sort of budget the music department is willing to allow me to spend. I’ll be willing to contribute whatever is beyond that. I have permission to borrow bell music from church, and I’m planning to write a few pieces for us to play. Ms. Mitchell, our band director, is excited about my idea to arrange the St. Francis fight song for bells, and I’ll arrange several versions of varying levels of difficulty so the music can grow with us.

Other administrative details abound... I finally sent Karen Curry the application to borrow the bells a week ago; it was delayed because we didn’t start chasing down the proof-of-insurance information until we were well past the end of the school year... and a lot of important people were on well-deserved vacations. Lesson: For a school group, get started on this one early!

(Continued on p. 17 )

Volume XVIII Number 5

Oct/Nov 2006

�The Twelfth Tone

theTWELFTH TONE

Enter the blog-o-sphere 1

A Word from the Chair 3

William Bryan Kyle, Chair

Ringing Down Under 4

Photos by Dave Ruder

Getting (less of) a Grip 6

On Circles

Reflections 8

In My Opinion 11

Dave Ruder, Past Chair

Regional Updates 12

Calendar pull-out

October/November 2006 Vol. XVIII No. 5

To submit articles or for advertising information, please contact:

Gretchen Rauch, EDITOR 2682 Cowper Street • Palo Alto, CA 94306 12@areaxii.org • (650) 328-5092

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O p i n i o n s e x p r e s s e d a r e t h o s e o f t h e a u t h o r s , a n d d o n o t n e c e s s a r i l y r e f l e c t t h e p o l i c i e s o r o p i n i o n s o f AG E H R .

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Word fro

m

th

eChair

W i l l i a m B r y a n Ky l e , A r e a X I I C h a i r, i s t h e d i r e c t o r o f B a y B e l l s , a B a y A r e a co m m u n i t y h a n d b e l l e n s e m b l e , a n d t h e F o o t h i l l s Co n g r e g a t i o n a l C h u r c h b e l l c h o i r. H e i s a co m p o s e r, a r ra n g e r a n d f r e q u e n t c l i n i c i a n a t h a n d b e l l e v e n t s , s p e c i a l i z i n g i n t e a c h i n g a p p l i e d t e c h n i q u e a n d co n d u c t i n g . W h e n n o t c r e a t i n g m u s i c , W i l l i a m d i v i d e s h i s p r o f e s s i o n a l t i m e b e t w e e n h i s r e ta i l s o a p b u s i n e s s a n d a co n t ra c t d e s i g n f i r m .

It is with great excitement and anticipation that I assume the venerable position of Chair of Area XII. I have taken the last two years as Chair-Elect to under-stand the needs of this dynamic organization as well as the needs of you, its members. I have sought to cultivate relationships with board members to help

develop a strong set of progressive leaders. I f ind comfort in knowing that this task is a team effort and I’m not alone.

The biggest challenge I face in the short run is f inding my individual niche. If I were a politician, I might consider this my platform; a teacher, my thesis. I suppose this job requires some of both. What do I aim to accomplish during my tenure? How can I be an effective and successful leader?

An interesting benchmark of current and future success is whether our members perceive value for their membership. Many of you experienced a high sense of value at our last conference. That was the board, and, more specif ically, the Conference Committee listening to the membership to provide value. We have been sponsoring more local and creative events. There’s probably a Spring Ring near you available for a very low fee.

If all of this is already happening, where do I f it in? Do I help maintain the status quo? Push existing programs? Tag on to what has been done before? Absolutely! At the same time, I want to extend the value of all of these things. But how?

I have a plan.

Think about how you communicate with your friends and family. Do you use the telephone? Sure. Email? Most likely. Most of you have access to the Internet. There are some of you who don’t even read a newspaper since the advent of blogs. Maybe that’s going too far (and I don’t see an Area XII blog in the immediate future), but just for a minute, consider the way you communicate with this organization and the way we communicate with you.

There has been talk about improving your regional e-news. Most of you receive a monthly email from your Regional Coordinator. You are more connected with them than you have ever been. You can contact them very easily and it’s much easier to disseminate information about events and services.

We’d like to make the Twelfth Tone, our illustrious bi-monthly newsletter, more web-friendly. Maybe we can even save some trees and some stamps if some of you decide to go completely electronic.

All in all, we can continue to improve our methods of communication. Yes, this may require some change not only on our part in the way we do things, but also on your part in being open to these differences. In the end, we hope to increase the value of your membership. And just to get things started, email me any of your thoughts: chair@areaxii.org

A@@

� OCTOBER NOVEMBER 2006

Ph o t o s co u r t e s y o f D a ve R u d e r a n d W i l l i a m Wa g g e n e r

�The Twelfth Tone

was among those traveling to Australia for the International Symposium and more. I rang with Lee & Bill Waggener’s Carilloneers, Claremont United Church of Christ, Claremont, CA. We landed in Sydney very early one morning having lost a complete day en

route. Determined to get on Australian time we visited Sydney, took a ferry to Manley Island, walked Sydney and began to learn the local bus system. For three days we enjoyed visiting the Sydney Opera House, Sydney’s Botanical Gardens and enjoyed Sydney hospitality. Next we picked up the vans our group had rented and began traveling on the opposite side of the road to that at home and headed toward Dubbo and concerts—one evening at the Baptist Church and the next day at the Christian School. That morning we visited the Western Plains Zoo and were treated to a tour led by two Dubbo residents who volunteer at the zoo. We began get-ting nearly the zillion photo’s of koalas, kangaroos and emus we were to gather in our visit to Australia. On the way to Narrabri and our next concert at St. Cyprian’s Anglican Church we visited Warrenbungle National Park and saw our kangaroos up close right along the path. We had a tough time finding the koalas in the trees though we were assured they were there. We stayed for two nights in the homes of fami-lies in Wee Waa ~ what a treasure it was to spend time with local families.

Our next concerts were at the beautiful St. Peters College, a boarding school, in Brisbane. While in Brisbane we visited Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and would love to have stayed longer—it was beautiful! We learned about the Koala’s retirement home and some of us even got to hold one.

The Symposium began on August 1st and concluded with a concert rung by 600 ringers on the 5th. We were privileged to ring under the baton of directors

from Austalia, the US, Japan, Canada, Korea and Great Britain. Deborah Rice and William Griffin were our directors representing the US. Our group rang between a group from Australia and one from Hong Kong. They were delightful neighbors. Over 100 youth participated in the Symposium.

After Brisbane our group flew to Cairns and then to Darwin. We were tourists in these beautiful places for our last week in Australia. Some of us visited

an Aboriginal art exhibit in Sydney and we all saw more Aboriginal art in both Cairns and Darwin. We heard didjeridu players on the streets in Sydney and at the symposium. We visited national parks and dined with our local hosts at each concert site. How small the world gets when we visit and get acquainted with peoples in other lands—what a marvel-

ous way toward greater peace getting acquainted with each other and getting to experience our differences and similarities.

I so enjoyed this opportunity to ring with the Carilloneers and visit Australia.

Micki Mennet-Martin

THE CARILLONEERS, the touring handbell choir from the handbell program of the Claremont United Church of Christ under the direction of Lee and Bill Waggen-er, spent twenty-one days in Australia while attending the Twelfth International Handbell Symposium in Brisbane this summer.

International Handbell SymposiumBrisbane, Australia August 1-5, 2006

In all, thirteen ringers, one director, and three tagalongs participated in the trip. Besides the Waggeners, Area XII Board members Micki Mennet-Martin and Shirley Heckman were among the ringers in the group. Additionally, Dian and now Past Chair David Ruder and Clair Blackwell were among the delegates representing Area XII.

The first stop was Sydney, where the group decompressed for several days after a thirteen-hour flight from LAX that began at 2:30 am on July 22. They then picked up four 8-pas-senger vans to transport all the bodies and luggage and left Sydney to begin their tour. Their first two concerts were in Dubbo, a cotton farming community that began when the Australian government invited central California cotton farmers to emigrate down under to establish a cotton industry some 40 years ago. The first concert was in the Dubbo Baptist Church which was filled to capacity. As far as we know, no handbell choir has ever appeared in Dubbo, and the audience was most enthusiastic. The following afternoon, they presented an assembly for the children of the Dubbo Christian School. They were also given a fabulous docent’s tour of the Dubbo Zoo, which is an internationally known institution.

Their third concert was in the Anglican Church in Narrabri with a two-day farm stay in Wee Waa about 30 km away. This con-cert was equally well received—with several children bouncing along with the music on the front row.

The final two concerts were presented at the St. Peter’s Lutheran College in Brisbane, where some mem-bers of the group had played twelve years ago in an earlier tour to participate in the Sixth International Symposium in Adelaide. One of the highlights of these concerts was the discovery that one member of the faculty at-tended that 1994 concert as a student!

The Twelfth International Symposium was ex-tremely well presented. The Handbell Society of Australasia has about 55 members—about 25 in New Zealand and the remainder scat-tered throughout the Australian continent. [In comparison, Area XII has about 530 active members in just three states!] Carmel Daveson and her tiny committee worked overtime to create a handbell miracle!

Ringers came from all over the world: Japan, Korea, England, Singapore, Canada, Hong-kong, New Zealand, the USA, Puerto Rico, and, of course, Australia. The two “Rally Rings” (solo concerts in our jargon) showed the wide variety of technique and music that exists around the world. The Carilloneers presented a Dixieland jazz style arrangement of Oh When The Saints that was made by their director for this trip. Susan Hitch, solo ringer, played Christine Anderson’s Yankee Doodle Variations.

After the Symposium, the whole group flew up to Cairns and Darwin for

some non-ringing vacation time before heading for home. In Cairns, the group took a day-trip out to the Great Barrier Reef

for a lengthy snorkling session among an amazing

collection of sea creatures. The following day, they took the tourist train up to Kuranda in the rain forest and spent time in the Butterfly Sanctuary and other fascinat-ing places. The day ended with an hour-long gondola ride back down the mountain while looking down several hundred feet to the for-est floor below. The time in Darwin included a trip out to the Kakadu National Park, where we saw many samples of ancient Aboriginal rock art and between ten and twelve salt-wa-ter crocodiles (depending on which side of the boat you were sitting).

The trip culminated in a Home Concert on August 20 presented to the friends and sup-porters of the CUCC Handbell Program.

Although this and our previous Symposium trips were marvelous just for the sightseeing experiences, they also have been taken for deeper reasons. The ringers who participated in the countless hours of extra rehearsal and then presented five full-length concerts have made a quantum leap in their technical skills, musicianship, and confidence—all of which translates directly to better music for our wor-ship services in the months ahead. The ages of

this particular group ranged from 13 to over 80 (for one of the tag-

alongs), yet everyone instinctively made allowances for the needs of others. The friendships and mutual support that develop on trips such as these are intangible

benefits for our handbell program that money can’t buy.

Although these 13 ringers represent only half of our normal “adult” handbell choir, the other 13 who were unable to join us on this trip still will benefit by the enhanced skills these ringers bring home. Most of our ringers have participated in other external events over the years and, therefore, recognize the value of doing so. Everyone knows there will be more opportunities in the future—whether for a weekend or for the Thirteenth International Symposium in Orlando, FL in 2008!

William L. Waggener

The Carilloneers

toured Australia and atteneded

the sympo-sium

I

FEATURE

� OCTOBER NOVEMBER 2006 �The Twelfth Tone

A slight pitch variation makes the sound richer. Think of the difference between the sound of a solo violin and an entire section of violins in an orchestra. The reason the sec-tion of many violins sounds fuller and richer is more than just raw volume - there also is an inevitable, very small pitch variation from instrument to instrument that our ears hear as a filling-out of the overall tone. Of course, the variation must be quite small, or else it’ll sound as if someone is out of tune!

While we can’t retune our bells at will, we can achieve this tiny pitch variation by turn-ing the Doppler effect to our advantage. For

those of you who aren’t familiar with the Doppler effect, it’s the sound-wave-

compression-and-stretching that makes an oncoming

police siren sound higher than its actual pitch as it

approaches you, and then lower than its actual

pitch as it recedes. So we can use a small variation or motion in the direction

of the listener to achieve this effect. A quick computa-tion shows that all that’s required is a speed of a couple of

inches per second.

The easiest way to achieve this with hand-bells is to make circles! If you’re making an average circle of one or two feet in diameter in one second (i.e. over the length of a me-dium-tempo quarter note), this translates to an “arc-velocity” of six feet per second, and a little trigonometry means that the speed variation that applies to the listener is a very comfortable five or six inches per second. Voilá!

So, after all this, it’s important to use the circle stroke to enrich your ringing sound. Of course, there now are some pieces where

by Larry Sue

ur directors teach us to make circles…big ones for long notes, little ones for short notes, and middle-sized ones for in-between

notes. Sometimes we make circles on rests, especially at the end of a piece, so that we look like part of the group on that big final chord. The question is: Why?

Perhaps a lot of this is the prevailing concept of what looks good in performance. It’s much more interesting to see arms and bells moving rather than not; the motion is a statement that we actually are playing some-thing! There, however, is another reason to keep our bells moving. It requires a slightly technical description of what’s happening, so persevere!

A bell’s sound emanates from the sides (not the mouth) of the casting. Sound is produced as a “pressure wave” - we sense it by a variation of pressure on our ear-drums. Whatever produces the sound must be oscillating along the line be-tween where it is and where we are, or else we can’t hear it.

A bell’s casting vibrates perpendicular to the han-dle. There are a number of places on the Web with excellent articles showing the vibration modes of the handbells (fascinating reading for you physicists out there!), but it’s enough to say that those pictures show that castings vibrate perpen-dicular to the axis of the handle (interesting thought: If this wasn’t so, then you’d feel the bell shaking your hand up and down when you hold it vertically after striking).

This means that the side of the casting must be facing the listener in order to transmit the sound most efficiently. If you’re so inclined, you can do a little trigonometry and numeri-cal integration to verify that you perceive the least amount of sound when the mouth of the bell is pointing directly toward or directly away from you (or you can do it the easy way by ringing a bell...).

O

TECHNIQUE

the score specifies in places that no circle strokes are to be used, but the vast majority of the repertoire makes no such stipulation. One more time: Circle strokes are important!

What about the “getting (less of) a grip” part? That’s where we get into the ergonom-ics of ringing. Traditionally, we’ve taught “full grip”, which means control of the circle stroke is dependent on keeping a firm hold of the handle as we bring the bell up. Doing this makes for a lot of forearm tension with each stroke, and the result is less than physi-ologically favorable because at the very least it results in earlier fatigue; this is especially true for bass ringers, who also run the risk of pulled muscles and other injuries.

Using the “sword grip” alleviates the tension by reducing forearm tension. The main trade off is that you have to get used to balancing the bell on the circle formed by your thumb and forefinger, but you’ll probably find it easy to master this. The idea of “control” is different because as long as you keep the handle in the thumb-and-forefinger circle, you don’t control the bell’s position so much as restrict its movement forward and back-ward: Your other fingers keep the handle from going too far forward, keeping the cast-ing from going too far backward. Your palm and the heel of your thumb keep the handle from going too far backward, and therefore are used to keep the casting from going too far forward.

An added bonus is how the sword grip makes the circle stroke work with bass bells. Rather than holding the bass bell directly in front of your shoulder to make your circle, you can put the bell a bit farther to the side and use your upper arm and shoulder to make the circle. To the audience, it looks pretty much the same - and you’ll be able to ring for longer.

Sword Grip: firm thumb and index finger for grip, loose/flexible middle, ring, and little fingers for control and power.

co n d u c t i n g i s s u e s

by William L. Waggener

Although earlier columns have dealt with elevating the tech-nical and musical competence of ringers (and directors), even the most technically skilled ringer may occasionally be faced with an assignment challenge that simply cannot

be rung smoothly and musically. Typical examples are fast chromatic runs, enharmonic changes, and the like.

Many (if not most) choirs currently use a basic assignment scheme in which each ringer is responsible for two diatonic pitches and any accidentals associated with those two pitches, beginning with C4D4 at the bottom and progressing upwards in diatonic pairs. For a vast majority of the current handbell literature, this plan works quite well. However, there are occasional instances in which this assignment plan fails, and this is where the director must assume the responsibil-ity for making an alternative assignment - if only for a measure or two - in order to guarantee that each note will be rung and damped in tempo, with the right dynamic level, and with the proper emphasis (appropriate to its function - melody or harmony).

Prior to passing the music out for the first reading, the director should at least mentally ring through each position in order to locate any potential problem spots. As each such spot is discovered, the director should study the rest of the score to determine the most ef-ficient reassignment solution to ameliorate the problem. Depending on the music, the solution could be as simple as having a neighboring ringer with a free hand reach over and ring one bell; in more complex circumstances, it may be necessary to reassign a bell to another ringer (or ringers, depending on whose hand is free when) for the entire piece.

The Closest Hand: In principle, the closest available hand should be the option of choice, if only to keep the moved bell close to its origi-nal position within the chromatic scale so that its sound still seems to come from the same general region on the tables. However, the only free hand may well be some distance away, in which case smooth and musical ringing supercedes the desire to have the bell rung close to its original placement.

That the reassignment of any problem bells should be done prior to the first reading of a piece is critical for several pragmatic reasons. First, it avoids the need to “take away” a bell from a ringer who perhaps has been struggling to work out the passage as it was original assigned in the default system, which tends to make the ringer feel somewhat incompetent in front of the rest of the choir. (No matter how smoothly you may make the reassignment, there is always the subtle implication that “...I’m taking this bell away from you because you aren’t good enough to play it,” even though that may not be the case at all.) Having the bell already moved in the initial assign-ment plan makes it clear that the problem bell never was part of that ringer’s assignment for this piece, which is a far more graceful way to make the move. Secondly, it conveys to the group an image of a

for the handbell director

director who has truly done his/her homework and is fully prepared to lead the rehearsals for teaching the piece.

No More Than Two Bells In A Row If At All Possible: Beyond the more obvious chromatic passages, other situations that lend themselves to reassignments are passages in which one ringer has three or more bells in (rapid) succession, and a neighboring ringer has a free hand to reach over and ring one of them. Although the original ringer may pos-sess the technical skills to pull the sequence off, the musical line will be much smoother if at least one of those bells can be reassigned. Frantic scrambling for quick bell changes detracts from the visual effect of a performance - most especially if the ringers on either side are clearly not very busy. Heroic ringing rarely contributes to the visual effectiveness of your group. Once again, preliminary score analysis to locate these reas-signment passages before the first reading will eliminate any awkward mid-rehearsal changes that might otherwise have to occur. The last thing you want is a ringer to insist that, “Oh, I can do it...” when you’ve just watched him/her fumble the passage repeatedly.

Training Your Ringers: Even if your ringers are inexperienced, if you have taken the time to make the bell assignments fit the music in every single measure from start to finish, it won’t take long for them to under-stand the musical need for occasional bell reassignments. However, the director must set the stage by demonstrating and teaching the process. One mark of a well-trained and musical ringer is the ability to see a more musical way to ring a passage that requires an additional hand and the willingness to work with his/her neighboring ringer(s) to make it happen. When you begin to see that behavior replacing the “...these are my bells...” mentality, you will know you’re on the way to a higher plane of handbell musicianship.

What you get in performance is a direct reflection of what you perfected in rehearsal.

G e t t i n G ( l e s s o f ) a   G r i p

O N #9 The Musical Importance of Bell Assignments

CONDUCTING

� OCTOBER NOVEMBER

R e f l e c t i o n s

As a director of an educational and music ministry-oriented ensemble, my philosophy in planning the tour was to expose my students to some of the fine European cathedrals as

significant contributors to the musical life of these awe-inspiring, historic structures.

My first step in creating an effective concert was choos-ing repertoire that would be most effective in cathedrals. I wanted first to respect the wishes of the cathedrals, which often forbid the performance of secular music. This created a challenge: How am I to program a handbell concert of 60-90 minutes of music without utilizing the light-hearted, “fun” arrangements often used in concerts to provide a sense of musical variety? Focusing on the resources at my disposal, I found that I had many great options.

At Lutheran High School of Orange County, the Hand-bell Ensemble is largely an offshoot of the band program, and I am fortunate to have some truly outstanding instrumental soloists in handbells. I often incorporate instruments with the handbells and, for this tour, do-ing so would be imperative to offering more variety to the sonic experience over the course of a concert. My repertoire search led me to several fine compositions for handbells and flute or oboe. I utilized my flute soloist, Rachel Mercier, on Capriccio (Ronald Kauffmann) and The Lord’s My Shepherd (Hart Morris); and I had my oboist, Natalie Gerling, perform Jesus, Lover of My Soul (Hart Morris) and Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (as Bach often did, I had the oboe double the cantus firmus).

The second ingredient in a concert of variety, and one which opened up a lot of doors for us, was to incorporate the majestic organs of our cathedrals in the concerts. In this area, we were most fortunate. An outstanding con-cert organist named Richard Gehrke (son of the famed Hugo Gehrke) happened to be a close family friend of one of my ringers. He also happened to live in Bielefeld, Germany and happened to be a most enthusiastic partic-ipant in the majority of our tour! Gehrke utilized many of his connections to book concerts at Johanniskirche in Bielefeld, Reinoldikirche in Dortmund, and Stadtkirche in Westerkappeln. He also was largely responsible for getting press attention, including significant concert re-

views from three different German newspapers, and even an official reception from the mayor of Westerkappeln!

As I worked with Herr Gehrke on the concert program, my first priority was to ensure that we were on the same page with the theme and scope of the music presented. We both discussed our goals for the concert and agreed that we would present a concert based on the biblical concept of the fruits of the spirit. Most of my handbell literature turned out to be hymn settings and I would tie each selec-tion to a “fruit of the spirit” by printing an excerpt of the hymn or a corresponding bible verse in the program. I specified that I wanted about 25 minutes of solo organ music in the concert to provide effective balance and variety. Having such an outstanding recitalist in the concert, I wanted him to perform significant recital literature near the beginning of the concert and near the end of the concert. Gehrke chose Mendelssohn’s Organ Sonata No. 1 and Duruflé’s Chorale Variations on the “Veni Creator”. These were perfect. After an opening handbell fanfare – Endless Fanfare (Lemmens / arr. Allen) – the organ would intone the four movement masterpiece by Mendelssohn (at a time when all the audience’s ears were fresh). The Duruflé would be the perfect climax and closing statement to tie all of the “fruits of the spirit” music together. Then, we incorporated the organ to fill some “holes” in the rest of the program.

Most of our repertoire fit very nicely with one of the Spiritual “fruits”, but I was having trouble coming up with the right handbell piece to depict the “fruit” of patience. Gehrke quickly had the perfect solution. We performed a Bach cantata move-ment on the chorale “What God Does is With Reason Done.” We altered the original scoring (strings, oboe, and chorus) into a version for organ, oboe, choirchimes, and voice or flutes. This arrangement was extremely satisfying on a musical level, and it was fun to do it two different ways – sometimes with two flutes playing the soprano and alto parts and sometimes with soprano soloist (Gehrke’s daughter, Katya). We opened our arrangement of this cantata movement by performing the chorale alone on handchimes, then brought in the oboe obligatto, organ, and flutes (or soprano). The pure tone of the handchimes was heav-enly as the piece was performed from the balcony in the rear of the cathedrals. This also happened to be the first time we would use the handchimes in the concert, so it offered the listeners a very fresh and attention-refocusing sound.

In the summer o f 2004 , the Lutheran High School o f Orange Count y Handbe l l Ensemble (Orange , C A) embarked on a nine - concer t per formance tour in Germany and Luxembourg.

Ph o t o s , c l o c k w i s e f r o m t h e t o p : T h e L u t h e r a n H i g h S c h o o l o f O r a n g e Co u n t y H a n d b e l l E n s e m b l e ; J e f f H e l d , d i r e c t o r ; U S Ce m e t e r y i n L u xe m b o u r g ; We s t e r k a p p e l n

10 OCTOBER NOVEMBER 2006 11The Twelfth Tone

This past year at several massed ring performances the entire group of ringers, including myself, were asked to take a bow at the conclusion of the concert. Various directors sought some kind of uniform bow by asking the entire ensemble to say in unison as they bowed, “I love handbells,” or count to three. In several cases ringers were given the “I love handbells” phrase in another language. It certainly was done in good fun, but I have become convinced that the group bow is really a rather curious stage habit and may not be a worthy activity. Here’s my opinion on the matter with some of my reasoning. These conclusions apply to other large musical groups as well such as vocal choirs, orchestras and bands.

1 It is not effective. The larger the group, the “sillier” the action looks. No matter how much the bow is practiced, and it is never enough, some folks are not

ready when the bow cue is given; some start the bow too soon; some are slower or faster with the motion than others; and the overall appearance, unless carefully rehearsed many times, is one of chaos. In fact, it can be humorous at times. No director wants to give up the amount of rehearsal time it would take to have a perfected bow. In fact, this group ges-ture has nothing to do with music making, bur rather with stage presence, and it’s often ragged appearance is at a most critical place in the concert—the end.

2 The role of the conductor is to speak for the entire ensemble. The conductor is responsible for all the deci-sions that relate to the performance of the music. It is

he/she who determines tempos, expressive interpretation and is responsible, in large measure, for all the decisions that gen-erate music for the performance. As the leader, the conductor should be the one to represent the group and acknowledge the applause of the audience.

Some will say that the entire group needs to be included in the bow because they are integral to the music making. True, but stage decorum and historic appropriateness overrule this point. Most conductors do acknowledge the ensemble’s accomplishments with a sweeping gesture that indicates their collective efforts. Often a conductor will acknowledge a superb performance by the ensemble with special gestures or pointing out individuals for solo accomplishments that were distinctive. This might include challenging bass bell parts, a solo as part of the ensemble, etc.

3Historically, the bow at the end of a concert is more than an acknowledgment of an audience’s apprecia-tion. Many years ago when performances were given

in court to a royal audience, the musicians received polite approval and acknowledged such with a bow which said, “I am your humble servant and not worthy of your praise.” Today’s bows have become more of a statement of politeness and good form rather than any statement of unworthiness.

4Handbell players are more akin to the world of the orchestra than the world of the traditional theater. A large portion of the theatrical per-formance is filled with movement, gesture, and stage blocking which

has as high or nearly as high a priority as the spoken line. Stage presence is most important in the theater. In the world of theater (opera, ballet, stage) each major cast member takes a solo bow. Members of ensembles bow in small groups. At the final curtain the entire cast bows together. A significant amount of rehearsal time is given over to the rehearsal of these bows. It is part of the stage presence. The more professional the theatrical ensemble, the more these bows become a part of the performer’s personal repertoire with individual adjustments made for various performances and venues.

On the other hand, orchestras do not take group bows. Their stage pres-ence, like the handbell ensembles, particularly in massed ringing, involves moving into position and staying there throughout the performance. Their principal task is playing their individual musical line as a part of a large ensemble. Individual players, especially in concertos, always take bows. As such that soloist is no longer part of the ensemble. He or she steps out from the group to do something individualistic. In the same way the conductor may point out individuals or ensembles within the body of the whole for special recognition.

When the entire ensemble bows, it changes them from a true ensemble to separate people, each taking their own applause for their individual contributions.

Conclusion: In my opinion, because it is such a ragged movement and totally unlike anything else the bell ensemble does while on stage; because it diminishes the role of the conductor as the representative of the entire ensemble; because it reduces the entire assemble to a group of individuals; because few professional choral and instrumental ensembles bow together; because the handbell ensemble is acknowledged by the conductor frequently through the concert as well as at the end, it would be better if the entire group stood with dignity and a smile at the conclusion of the concert rather than attempting a version of the “wave.”

Although this opinion was meant to apply to mass ringing, it might also ap-ply to smaller groups of 10 to 15 ringers. You be the judge!

In my opinion...Group Bows: Worthwhile or Ill Conceived?

DAvE RuDER, PAST CHAIR

Of course, moving all the musicians to the balcony created a new challenge. As is customary for many cathedral concerts in Europe, audiences were con-ditioned to applaud only at the end of the concert. I didn’t want applause breaking up the spiritual mood of the concert every 4 minutes anyway, so I programmed the concert to include only the most minimal transi-tions. Having 18 ringers in the group, I was able to keep the instrumental soloists out of pieces surround-ing their solos so we wouldn’t lose time waiting for the oboe reed to be ready. And having an organist, we were able to move the entire ensemble up to the balcony for the Bach piece as he played Chant de Paix by Langlais. While this worked conceiv-ably, I must admit we did not adequately anticipate the creaky floors and stairs of these 500-800 year old buildings during this extremely soft and often silent composition! After some distracting marches during the music at our early concerts, we later settled for some down time in concerts later in the tour! To get the musicians back to the front of the cathe-drals, we wanted to add even more musical variety by including a piece for organ, oboe, and flute. I was very pleased to be able to add a beautiful setting arranged for us by a local composer and organist (and Lutheran High alumnus!), Charles Raasch. No setting is more appropriate for this gorgeous piece than a huge cathedral which holds onto every note, almost as if it knows how precious each one is! And when the final note finally faded, the handbell ensemble was successfully back in place for the spirited mallet opening of Kevin McChesney’s arrangement of Praise to the Lord the Almighty.

The overall structure of the concert featured one or two selections per “fruit of the spirit.” We opened with a “prelude” section that included the handbell fanfare and organ sonata. The “fruits of the spirit” section concluded with the massive Duruflé chorale varia-tions, each movement interspersed with a solo chant, which I reluctantly agreed to sing. Of course, it turned out to be an awesome experience and a high privilege for me – how many people get to sing unaccompanied in such amazing acoustics, answered by the incredible cathedral organ!? After this climax, we added a “coda” to the concert by closing with Cynthia Dobrinski’s exuberant Rondo Passacaglia, followed by us finally

bringing the organ and handbells together in Valerie Stephenson’s arrangement of Doxology, which ended on a huge 6-octave chord supported by full organ, then a long reverberation, then silence, then some of the warmest, most heartfelt applause we have ever experienced! The concert length was approximately 80 minutes with no intermission, a challenging concert for even the most mentally disciplined musi-cians. The inclusion of organ music played an important role by giving our ringers several breaks and times to mentally recharge.

I am so thankful to have been able to provide my high school students with such an effectively educational “gift.” A performance tour to Germany and Luxembourg allowed us to play in cathedrals that have housed the Christian church since Char-lemagne. In Eisenach, we even performed in front of the very baptismal font where Bach was baptized. Outside of the music, we learned history by visiting castles and World War II monuments, experienced nature with hikes and a rainy canoe trip,

and experienced the German culture. Two of our days were spent in the tiny north German town of Alfstedt, where we all were hosted by townsfolk (the only hotel in town had only two rooms!). Being out of “cosmopolitan” Germany, we were forced to communicate with brotherly love more than words as we shared lives in two very different worlds.

In the end, our music had a most profound effect on our audiences. In my estimation, this was the first exposure to handbells for about 75% of our audience. After our concert in Dortmund, some parents who accompanied us on tour came rush-ing into the back room, telling us “You have to get back out there and protect the handbells!” When we got back out there, a crowd of about 75 people were hovering around the bells wanting to touch them and figure out how they work. A very unique 20 minutes transpired as I watched my ringers patiently try to explain the intricacies of handbell ringing (many through translators!) and teach the Germans how to ring a handbell. We were the first high school music group to perform for the concert series of the historic Reinodikirche in many years, if not in history, and our performance there will never be forgotten! We also played for schoolchildren, once in Luxembourg and once at a school for mentally-challenged German children.

We brought trinkets to distribute to the kids from America and I’ve never seen so many bright and happy faces when we played!

And none of us will ever forget the incredible cathedral acoustics! I was concerned that the bells would project enough in such large spaces, but that was never a problem. To my ears, handbells have never sounded so brilliant. The fundamentals and overtones produced were not absorbed by dead walls and floors, but stayed alive with every struck note. One of the most distinctive sounds was the fortissimo martellato at the end of Praise to the Lord the Almighty that produced a deep, pulsating six second reverberation. With no audience applause at the end of our pieces, every final note was truly spectacular. The loud chords could be held forever as climactic statements and the soft ones faded imperceptibly into silence.

The logistical challenges of an overseas tour were very manageable with a group of organized, task-oriented students. Each ringer was assigned a piece of equipment for the duration of the tour – a handbell or handchime case, pad bag, music bag, etc.. They were responsible to bring this to the airport and take it back to school after the tour. Assigning equipment like this made it easy to double-check that we

(continued on p.10)

12 OCTOBER NOVEMBER 2006 1�The Twelfth Tone

Regional UpdatesBay AreaCarol Smith, Regional CoordinatorNow that the 2006 summer hand-

bell conferences and festivals are wonderful memories, some choirs are already looking ahead to the summer of 2007. Canto Bello, a Clayton Community Handbell Ensemble, has started preparing for a ringing tour of England next summer. Preparing for an in-ternational tour can be quite an undertaking as Canto Bello can attest to. One of the mis-sions of Canto Bello is global outreach and during the summer of 2003 this choir made a life changing journey to Sarajevo, Bosnia as part of the Instruments of Peace Mission. There they worked with children at the Sa-rajevo Youth House introducing them to the joy of ringing. Their 2007 tour to England will take them to Brighton, Bath, York, and London where they will give concerts to ben-efit the Isubilo Community Resource Centre which was established in May 2000 as a response to the increasing needs of people affected with HIV/AIDS in Africa. A trip of this nature takes planning a year in advance. This time Canto Bello is working with a tour agency that specializes in performing arts tours. Tours of this kind are a wonderful way to share your music and to introduce many to the art of ringing. At the same time, it is satisfying to know you’ve helped a special cause and that you’ve touched and united lives through the medium of handbells.

The First Congregational Church of San Jose, 1980 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose is sponsoring a workshop on Sat. October 7 at 9:30 a.m. “Basics Revisited” and “Ringing in One Accord” are the topics of the workshop taught by Michèle Sharik. Cost is $10 per participant. Contact Kristin at http://www.firstccsj.org

Two outstanding handbell soloist will be giv-ing concerts in the Bay Area this fall. Ruben Mendoza will perform on Sunday September 17 at 2:00 p.m.at the John Knox Presbyterian Church, 7421 Amarillo Road, Dublin. Chris-tine Anderson will appear in concert Sunday October 22 at the First Presbyterian Church of Hayward, 2490 Grove Way, Castro Valley, CA. A freewill offering will be taken at both concerts. Mark your calendars now.

Several choirs are looking for experienced ringers. The SFSU Handbell Choir which re-hearses on Monday evenings from 6:15-8:00 p.m. at Temple United Methodist church, 65 Beverly Street, San Francisco invites interested ringers to contact their director Caroline Harnly at charnly@sfsu.edu The Walnut Creek UMC Ringing Belles, under the direction of Jane Patty, is looking for advanced ringers to join their choir which meets on Mondays from 4;30 p.m.- 6:30p.m. Contact Jane Patty at JaneEPatty@aol.com In addition Martin Morley, director of Bel-lissimo at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Lafayette has several openings. This 5 octave choir meets Tuesday evenings from 6 – 7:30 p.m. Contact Martin at martin@oslc.net

On Nov. 4, 2007 the 3rd Annual Method-ist Mass Ring will be held at Lake Merritt UMC in Oakland. Methodist choirs from the Golden Gate and Bayview Districts are invited to participate in this event which begins at 1 p.m. and culminates in a concert at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $10 per ringer. Mass conductor will be Dorothy Straks. For more information contact Bruce Pettit at goldengateUMC@sbcglobal.net

Central CaliforniaShirley Werner, Regional CoordinatorI haven’t heard from anyone in this area as to any type of bell

activities happening soon. I know choirs are coming back together after the summer vacation.

October 7th will be the Director’s & Interested Ringer’s Workshop to be held at Trinity Lutheran, Paso Robles, CA. Nancy Jessup will be the clinician and everyone is looking forward to working with and learning what she has to share.

Mel Tully will be leading a Reading Session and also a handbell mainte-nance review for those interested. WestCoast Handbell Supply will also be on hand to fill your shopping needs.

The reservation deadline is Sept. 30th, but if you think you can and want to come, give me a call and we’ll see what we can work out. Shir-ley Werner, (805)227-6412, or e-mail me at cen_calif@areaxii.org or shipley712@charter.net.

I have been appointed by the Area XII Chair to continue as Central California Regional Coordinator for the 2006-2007 year. Please notify me of your handbell events, so I can publicize them in a timely manner. Also, if you have any concerns or items that you would like for me to bring to the Board, please let me know that as well. Happy Ringing

L.A. MetroShirley Heckman, LA Metro Regional CoordinatorTwo Ringers’ Workshops are planned for this Fall. The first

Workshop was on September 30th Workshop in Pasadena with Wendy Waggener, clinician; and the second will be on October 14 at the First Congregational Church in San Bernardino with Bill Waggener, clini-cian. Both Workshops are to help choirs get a “jump start” on learning music (rated at Level 2 in difficulty) appropriate for performances in the Fall and Christmas seasons. The detailed information can be found on the LA Metro home page of the Area XII website.

Christine Anderson will be the clinician for the 4th Annual LA Metro Spring Ring on April 28, 2007 at the Grace Church of Glendora in Glendora, CA. The Spring Ring repertoire has been announced in the September LA Metro Handbell eNewsletter, also located on the Area XII website. In April 2006, 100 ringers participated in the Spring Ring, and we would love to have even more in 2007!

If you would like to receive the monthly LA Metro Handbell eNewslet-ter, send a note to lametro@areaxii.org. It is that simple! Then you will know what handbell events are happening in our area, and you can also send in an announcement for your events and get free publicity in the eNewsletter.

Southern CaliforniaMicki Mennet-Martin, So.Cal. Regional CoordinatorSeptember 09, 2006 brought Southern California’s Second

Annual READ & RING Levels 1 and 2. Nancy Jessup, Associate Director of Handbells, Concordia University, Irvine was guest Clini-cian. Assignments were given out on arrival ~ no advance preparation was needed. Handbell techniques, articulations, identifying melody lines, rhythm exercises and accomplishing musicality were emphasized as 63 handbell musicians from 12 different churches rang through the day’s four selections. READ & RING is designed so individual as well

REGIONAL NEWS REGIONAL NEWSnever forgot anything and ensured that every student had a task. We were able to set up or tear down in 10 minutes, including bus loading time, if necessary. We did have to prepare to have enough room on the bus for our equipment. This required renting a trailer which the coach bus pulled. Even with restricting luggage to one suitcase per person, there is no way to fit 6 octaves of handbells and handchimes on a coach bus with 40 people (we were joined by parents and some German students from Lutheran High). We also had to prepare for repairs. Handbell parts can break in airplanes and on the road. We had plenty of spare parts and I was sure to have three students with at least one year of handbell repair training ready to make our bells performance-worthy. On the plane, we packed all the clappers in diapers to prevent the violent vibrations which can occur for the duration of the long flight. Our cases were all reinforced with luggage straps, and all of our extra equipment was carefully packed in suitcases and duffle bags.

To book our performances, we used the contact power of both Richard Gehrke and our tour management company, Accolades. About nine months before the tour, I pre-pared a demo CD and information packet about our group, which was sent to all pro-spective venues. We were very honored to be asked to perform in some major cathedrals, and were able to work out the schedule so that our driving times were efficient and we didn’t have to do a lot of backtracking. The locations of our venues allowed us to experi-ence the former East Germany, north-central Germany, the Ardennes, and the Rhineland, doing a lot of sightseeing along the way.

Having the privilege of conducting such well-executed music in the most inspiring settings was a taste of heaven on earth. It meant a lot to us to be able to deliver a dual mission – providing a spiritual concert for the audience and ourselves and exposing a lot of people to a beautiful art form.

Jeff Held is the former Director of Instrumental Music at Lutheran High School of Orange County in Orange, California, and now conducts the Concordia Wind Orchestra as a music professor at Concordia University in Irvine, California. Mr. Held has led many major tours, including performances at Carnegie Hall (LHSOC Concert Band) and the Sydney Opera House (LHSOC Concert Band and Handbell Ensemble). He holds a master’s degree in instrumental music pedagogy from the American Band College at Southern Oregon University, and is a graduate of Valparaiso University.

1� OCTOBER NOVEMBER 2006 1�The Twelfth Tone

REGIONAL NEWS Festivals, Workshops Concerts

In t

he

Are

a

S ep 30, 2006 R ingers’ Workshop

We n d y Wag g e n e r, Cl in i c ian Co n t a c t : Shi r l ey H e ck man, lam e tro @area x i i .o rg N e i ghb o r h o o d Church • 301 N . O r an g e G rove B l vd • Pas a d e na , C A 91103

Oc t 7, 2006 D irec tors & I nterested R ingers Workshop

Nan c y J essup, c l in i c ian 8 : 30 am – 3: 30 p m Tr in i t y Luth e r an Church • Pas o R o b l es , C A Cos t : $35/r in g e r

Oc t 7, 2006 B ack to B asics Workshop

M i ch e l e Shar ik , c l in i c ian 9 : 0 0 A M Co n t a c t : K r is te n L inkFi r s t Co n gre gat i o nal Church of S an J os e • 19 8 0 H ami l to n Ave • S an J os e, C A $10 p e r p ar t i c ip ant

Oc t 14, 2006 R ingers’ Workshop

Bi l l Wag g e n e r, Cl in i c ian Co n t a c t : Shi r l ey H e ck man, lam e tro @area x i i .o rg Unite d Church of Chr is t • 30 41 N . S i e r r a Way • S an B e r nardin o, C A 924 05

Oc t 22, 2006 Christ ine Anderson in Concer t

Co n t a c t : k r is te n @ f p ch . n e t F i r s t Presby te r ian Church of H ay ward • 249 0 G rove Way • C as tro Va l l ey, C A Fre e wi l l o f fe r in g

Nov 4, 2006 G olden G ate/B ay View United M etho dist Church D istr ic ts’ B el l Festival

D o rothy Str ak s , Cl in i c ian Co n t a c t : B r u ce Pe t t i t , g o l d e n gate um c@sb cgl o b al . n e tL ake M e r r i t t Unite d M e th o dis t Church • 1255 Fi r s t Ave • Oak lan d , C A Cos t : $10/r in g e r

Dec 8, 2006 A B ay B el ls Christmas • Wil l iam Kyle, D irec tor

w ith T im othy Ze r lan g , o rgan an d M ar k G o l ds te in , p e rcuss i o n 7: 30 PM G r ace Luth e r an Church • 3149 Wave r l ey St • Pa l o Al to, C A w w w. b ay b e l ls .o rg

Dec 10, 2006 8th Annual Festival of Holiday Handb ells The M aster ’s Hands Handb ell Choir • Conduc tor: Rudy L. Ro driquez

G u es t S o l o is t : Dan Hi l l , P ianis t 4 : 30 PM Co n t a c t : T h e R u d y B e l l @a o l .co m M i d - Ci t i es B apt is t Church • 14391 N ew lan d St • Wes tmins te r, C A Fre ew i l l O f fe r in g

Jan 6-7, 2007 15th Annual L as Vegas Twelf th N ight Festival

Ste p hani e S cot t , Fes t i v a l D i re c to r Co n t a c t : D i x i e B a i l ey (702) 431- 9759 Fa i th Luth e r an J r. Sr. H i gh S ch o o l Gy mnasium • L as Ve gas , N V Cos t : $20/r in g e r

Jan 12-15, 2007 M aster Class in Conduc ting

W il l iam Pay n, Cl in i c ian Co n t a c t : V i ck i Ive r s o n, ass is t ant@ag e hr.o rg (8 0 0) 878 -5 459 Bu ck n e l l Uni ve r s i t y • Lew isb urg , PA Cos t : $450/p e r s o n

Jan 12-15, 2007 M aster Class in Comp osit ion

Ar n o l d Sh e r man, Cl in i c ian Co n t a c t : V i ck i Ive r s o n, ass is t ant@ag e hr.o rg (8 0 0) 878 -5 459 Bu ck n e l l Uni ve r s i t y • Lew isb urg , PA Cos t : $4 0 0/p e r s o n

M ar 10, 2007 Four th Annual Handb ell Workshop

D r. H e r b e r t G e is l e r, C l in i c ian Co n t a c t : R o b e r t a Kess in g e r, rgkess in g e r@sb cgl o b al . n e t St . J o hn’s Luth e r an Church • 450 0 Bu e na V is t a R d • B ake r s f i e l d , C A

Apr 14, 2007 R iverb ells Sp onsors a Day with Tim Waugh

T im Wau gh, Cl in i c ian Co n t a c t : w w w. r i ve r b e l ls .o rg Cos t : $4 0 0/p e r s o n

Apr 21, 2007 B ay Area Spring R ing

Jas o n We l ls , Co n du c to r Co n t a c t : Dave R u d e r, dave r u d e r@ co m c as t . n e t Va l l ey Church • 10 8 85 N o. Ste l l in g R d • Cup e r t in o, C A

Apr 28, 2007 Central Coast Spring R ing

M ar k yo ur c a l e n dar n ow! Co n t a c t : Shi r l ey We r n e r, ce n c al i f@area x i i .o rg

&as whole and partial handbell group participation fit beautifully. The event was hosted by the ringers of Mira Mesa Presbyterian Church, Terri Kubow director.

In October Lee Waggener will come to Point Loma Presbyterian Church for this fall’s Handbell Directors Workshop “COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR RINGERS”. The theme of the day will concentrate on how a director can most effectively communicate with his/her ringers ~ how to help them become musicians, achieve musicality and to bring the audience to want to listen. 21 October 2006 DIRECTORS WORKSHOP. Lee is a great teacher. This will be a valuable workshop. See Coming Events or details.

Marianne Schwartz, handbell director of the Village Community Church in Rancho Santa Fe will be adding a children’s handbell program to that she currently conducts with adult.

Our fourth annual Spring Ring will be held at the Village Community Church in Rancho Santa Fe on 21 April 2007. Participating handbell ensembles will be invited to ring “solos” during the afternoon concert por-tion just as they are this year. Rudy Rodriques, past Area XII chair will be guest clinician for the day’s work-shop. Rudy is somewhat famous for his Young Ringers workshops, his technique’s games and the Maori Sticks classes enjoyed by all. See Coming Events for contact details and information.

Carlsbad’s “MUSEUM OF MAKING MUSIC” <www.museumofmakingmusic.org>, 760-438-5996, x212 brought the summer to a close wth a series of special events featuring Hornswoggle French Horn Ensemble Aug 05, World Beat Interactive Concert Aug. 19 and “Brother Musician Listen to a Miracle” and exhibit celebrating the 75th birthday of the electric guitar on Aug 25 and the Summer Film Festival celebrating Mali’s Saharan Music Festival on Aug. 12 and the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould’s life & career on Aug.26. More to come, contact the museum at the phone or web page noted above.

We had a great day at Southern California’s Read & Ring 2006. 63 ringers who had not seen the music until 9:00am yesterday made music together, played rhythm games and made new ringing acquaintances across the day. Ahead of time participants were asked to indicate ranges in which they would most like to ring. All were able to be placed in their first or second choices. Participants were not placed as choirs together, but as indi-viduals which allowed each one to meet new handbell friends & getting acquainted with other ringers in our area. What a good day it was. At the end of the day ringers thanked Nancy Jessup for her music selection and her teaching. Nancy asked each of them to, also, thank their ringing neighbors for making the day such fun and so successful.

Please send news of your handbell programs events ~ we would like area ringing events included in the Area XII Twelfth Tone, Southern California Regional e-newsletter and at other events open to announcing them.. Send copy information to socal@areaxii.org. I have had the pleasure of serving as Southern California Regional Coordinator for the last 4+ years. With the next e-news you will be meeting a new Southern California Region-al Coordinator. I have been elected Chair-elect and will begin learning my new responsibilities this fall.

R EG I O NAL COO R D I NATO R S

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C l ay to n , C A 9 4517-1612

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Ce nt r a l C a l i f o r n i a

S h i r l e y We r n e r

1913 B e l l a V i s t a Co u r t

Pa s o R o b l e s , C A 93 4 4 6

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2717 Pa r k Ave n u e

L a Ve r n e , C A 91750

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L a H a b r a , C A 9 0 631

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e d u c a t i o n @ a r e a x i i . o r g

2007 AREA V Composition ContestCOMPOSERS! Area V is proud to announce a new composition contest! Requirements include:

• Original 2-3 and 3-5 Octave Composition (both versions must be compatible)

• Chimes / Other Instrumentation Optional• AGEHR Level 3 Difficulty

Contest Rules available upon request (include SASE) from: Mr. Kerry Remp 10086 Hillcrest Road or via email at: kremp@att.net Kirtland, Ohio 44094

Submission deadline is March 3, 2007. Winning Composition will be premiered at an Area V festival and published by AGEHR Publishing in 2008.

1� OCTOBER NOVEMBER 2006 1�The Twelfth Tone

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B ill C astle373 N. Cedar StreetOrange, CA 92868Home (714) 978-2712Cell (714) 292-5864bill castle@ aol.com

Festivals, Workshops ConcertsIn

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Apr 28, 2007 L A M etro Area Spring R ing

Chr is t in e An d e r s o n, Co n du c to r Co n t a c t : Shi r l ey H e ck man, lam e tro @area x i i .o rg G r ace Church of G l e n d o r a • 1515 S . G l e n d o r a Ave • G l e n d o r a , C A

M ay 19, 2007 NorCal Spring R ing

11: 0 0 am - 6 : 30 p m Co n t a c t : Tr i c ia We lte r, D ian e Levo r s e n d ian e @area x i i .o rgSt Eu g e n e ’s • M o ntg o m e r y an d Far m e r ’s L an e • S ant a R os a , C A

Jun 23-24, 2007 A R inger ’s Feast

M o ni c a M c G owan, Co n du c to r Co n t a c t : Le e Wag g e n e r l e e @area x i i .o rgPo m o na Co l l e g e • Clare m o nt , C A

& I have a sheaf of papers from St. Francis: emergency info form, child abuse reporting information, harass-ment policy, safety policy, driver safety rules. I’m also going for my TB test on Monday, and back to have it checked on Wednesday. Fingerprints will be on Wednesday as well. St. Francis does things right, and although there’s a lot to do to be a volunteer, it’s part of helping everyone understand that I’m supposed to be there. My position will be “Band Assistant”.

August 30, 2006

I went back to the local clinic to have my TB test checked a couple of days after the first visit. If you haven’t had one before, the nurse/PCA injects a little bubble of liquid under your skin

(no, it doesn’t hurt), and then you return to have them look at it. “Good” means no appearance of anything strange, and that’s what my arm showed: Nothing. Those of you who know me will probably think about other things - like my mind - having demonstrable abnormalities, though...

School started last week, so JC’s getting acclimated to his classes while Ms. Mitchell and I are doing final preparations. The school’s approach is to start extra-curricular activities somewhat after classes begin; if nothing else, it gives the students a realistic assess-ment of what kind of time they can spend in clubs!

I called Ms. Mitchell today to see where we are. She’s an excellent administrator and teacher; people like her are few and far between! So here are the details we’re working out:

Rehearsal location: Looks like it’ll be the art room. We’ll see how the tables are...

Day and time: We’re checking whether Wednes-day or Thursday works.

Locked storage: This one is tremendously impor-tant because we’re using Area XII’s bells!

Budget: I’ve been given a budget for music! Today I called Amanda at the music company to buy a few pieces, including a book of Christ-mas selections. I’m also planning to write some simple arrangements for us to play so we can fill our folders out a bit more.

September 1, 2006

I stopped off at school yesterday to check on where we are with respect to setting up. We’ll be in the art room on Thursday afternoons, 3:00-4:00 p.m. The ground rule is from Boy

Scouts: leave no trace - we can do as we please with the tables in there, but we also have to put them back exactly as we found them.

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Locking storage is still in the works, but it’ll be avail-able by our first rehearsal. That means I’ll stop off at church to pick up the loaner bells and drive them over to school in my car (will they all fit?). Our first action as a bell choir will be to schlep them up the stairs!

If the music I ordered doesn’t arrive in time for the first rehearsal, I’ve already borrowed some from church, and I’ve thrown together a Level 2- arrange-ment of “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” which we’ll be learning for Christmas.

Our schedule is already becoming populated. I’m hoping we’ll be able to play at the “Night of Acous-tics,” a talent night at the end of October. And then we’ve also been asked to play for “Christmas at Our House”, a St. Francis social/benefit event. We’ll be playing at a couple of places for an hour or so each, which means we need to learn more than one piece. Fortunately, we’ll be background music and need not play continuously... but wouldn’t be fun if we could?

I’m also hoping to get us music that’s more in the teen musical mind-set with respect to rhythm and line; much of the existing repertoire is classically-oriented or hymn-based, and I confess that I’m picky about contemporary arrangements, probably because I’m a bass guitar player. So I’m at work on a new ar-rangement... more later.

September 3, 2006

This has been a productive Sunday for writing. Before going to church, I threw together an arrangement of the school fight song. It won’t sound like the march-

ing band, but it should work if we can get it up to, uh, hyperactivity...

The other piece, completed this evening, is called “Walkin’ on Air”. Here’s the rub: It had to be a contemporarily-styled piece that a fledgling choir of teens could learn in seven weeks. We’ll see how it works... maybe JC will have to add an egg (shaker) to fill out the rhythm and have enough to do, but we’ll see how we do first.

If you have questions or comments, feel free to e-mail me at larry@choraegus.com, and I’ll try to share my answers in future installments..

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