A great big THANK-YOU! to Gail for the last 2 1/2 years of service as Secretary - outstanding job! AND for agreeing to take on the role of Membership Director. If you haven't yet renewed your Handbell Musicians of America membership, you will be hearing from Gail soon!

Registration opens May 15. More information available on our website. 

Questions? email Tessique Houston at events.area12@handbellmusicians.org

Area 12 Events

Bell Table Talk meets on the second Wednesday and fourth Sunday of each month on Zoom. Please let Tessique Houston know of any topics you'd like us to cover. 

This month: Getting Back into the Swing - what are your plans for starting up again in the fall?

This year's National Seminar is featuring a new concept, Handbell Commons. The intent is to have one place for people to congregate and mingle. Area 12 will have a table in Handbell Commons to share all the good things we do here in Area 12. We will be featuring upcoming events (in person and virtual workshops, as well as live streamed concerts, etc.), general information about groups in Area 12 and goodies.

If your group would like to share information at the Area 12 table, please contact Sharon Guilliams at lametro.area12@handbellmusicians.org so that we can coordinate getting the materials to the seminar.

If you are going to National Seminar and are from Area 12, come to Area 12's Bell Table and let's talk. In addition, you can get your exclusive Area 12 gift.

Your membership helps support this and more, including quarterly Overtones newsletter, member-only online resources, endorsement of handbell events (which can include promotion) and more.

Explore the options and benefits at:

Did you know that you can pay your annual membership in monthly installments?

(Individual or organization, e.g., school, church, community organization)each

If you have any questions, please contact me at membership.area12@handbellmusicians.org

For information on Bay Area concerts, events, and other opportunities, click here.  

For information on Northern Nevada concerts, events, and other opportunities, click here.  

Together with Tess, I’ve really enjoyed doing our online directors’ workshops. I learn so much from the attendees! In particular, the questions and then the problem solving discussions really get my teacher-mind going. So, I thought I might continue this in the 12^th Tone.

Often your more confident, leader-type folks who have a faster heart beat will play on the front side and the less confident, follow-the-crowd type will be on the back side. Which are you as the conductor? If you know who might be the culprits, then it’s a little easier to come up with appropriate solutions.

Just helping them become aware of the issue is the first step. Recording the group and then watching afterward with discussion is priceless. If their technique and/or lack of being in the “ready to ring” position is part of the problem, then they’ll be able to see it and you can give them helpful reminders to break their bad habits. I’ve had ringers who lean over and stare at the music, one because they lacked confidence and were stressed and the other because of eyesight problems. You can imagine that they were usually late not only because they weren’t looking up, but because their clappers had fallen forward and it took that much longer to get the bell to sound. Risers weren’t the solution to either problem because that would have encouraged them to continue to be insular and stay focused on their music rather than to connect with me and the rest of the ringers. Instead, the one who lacked confidence needed some small group practice time to feel confident. The vision problem required a trip to the eye doctor with her bell music and explaining to him what she needed.  Happy endings!

Most of the time, though, for most ringers the answer is much more simple – subdivide. Always feeling the eighth note (or in some pieces the 16^th note) will hold the tempo much steadier than thinking the quarter note. When your ringers stray, you can remind them by making a specific sound that catches their attention rather than stopping them. I use ch-ch.

And the most obvious thing that creates slow downs – they technically can’t play it that fast yet. If after slowing it down and lots of practice they’re still not successful, try changing it. Even if the music says to mallet, maybe for this performance it just needs to be TD. I have also simplified rhythms. Remember that the idea is to learn, have fun and make music, not that everything is note perfect.

If you have solutions to share or questions, please contact me!

Barb

For information on Northern California concerts, events, and other opportunities, click here.  

This festival is endorsed by Handbell Musicians of America

Massed Director: Tessique Houston

Red Zone Director: Barb Walsh

The festival will offer some great classes: 

During the last couple of months, I have been sharing tidbits from a couple of recently retired directors as well as some ringing alumni. This is Part 3 of what can we do to help colleges receive better ringers/help our ringers be better.  I have shared the non-ringing life lessons the directors have imparted to the ringers and a few of the “technical” things. This month we will finish with some more of the technical items we can help our ringers with whether or not they are going to ring in a college handbell program.

One of the college alumni gave me this insight.

“I have come to realize that I came into college ringing “very stiff” (think British guards in front of their little booths). Something that my director told me, and it resonated, was that the bell is not the only part of the instrument, the WHOLE person ­and the bell is the instrument, so you need to move the instrument.” [My two cents – you want to move to enhance the music/musicality of the piece; not move to the point of being a distraction to the music.]

Another student/now director indicated:

The retired college directors indicated that often ringers will come in with NO concept of damping; they seem to be oblivious when lack of damping detracts from the music. Another challenge for incoming ringers is ringing exactly on the beat. Making sure our ringers subdivide and count internally will go a long way to remedy this issue. (See the article from Barb Walsh above.) It also helps to have the bells up and moving away from the shoulder ahead of time.

I had to laugh when this last item was shared, as my group has been doing some exercises to strengthen their internal metronomes. One of the directors mentioned that when some non-handbell music majors "try" handbells they discover that they do not have precise internal clocks to keep their tempos consistent.

I never thought that my simple question to some very dear, recently retired college directors would lead to so many insights. Nancy, Claire, and Herb, thank you for all the work you have done with your students over the many years and how much you have given to the overall handbell community.

Sharon

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