The Newsletter of Area 1 Handbell Musicians of America | Vol. XXXIX No. 5 | October 2024 | |
|
IN THIS EDITION:
- Report from the Board Chair
- Notice of next Area 1 Board Meeting
- Festival Conference 2025 Clinicians Notes Now Available
- Winter Workshop 2025 Registration Opens October 15
- Notes from State and Regional Chairs
- Please be sure to scroll down/click "view entire message" to see - and support - our advertisers
| |
IMPORTANT READABILITY NOTICE: There's lots of great things happening in Area 1! So much so that Gmail can't show you everything in one email. Many Gmail users have noticed (and perhaps some of you haven't noticed) that our newsletter gets cut off at the bottom. You must click "view entire message" at the bottom of this email in order to read the full newsletter. Also, regardless of your email platform, you must enable "external images" in order to see all graphics and activate hot links. If you want to see the photos embedded in the newsletter at a larger view, simply cilck on each photo. Sorry for all the extra steps, but you really don't want to miss out! | |
|
Curiosity is a powerful motivator. Wanting to learn more about a topic will lead you to seek out those more expert than you for advice. In the photo at right, one of our workshop participants in Acton was curious to learn more about ringing multiple bells at once, and found a great local expert to give her advice. Sometimes the conditions are not ideal - this room didn’t have bells in it - but it did have glue sticks, so an effective demonstration ensued.
I encourage you to follow some of those deeper desires in the coming months. Fall is a great time to cozy up with a blanket and watch a video - you can find just about anything on YouTube these days. Winter Workshop is coming to Area 1 in January 2025, with many great classes for your continued exploration. Read on in this newsletter and keep an eye on our website and Facebook pages for more information about skills workshops still upcoming in our area.
The Festival Conference 2025 planning committee continues to work on all of the details for the event including the opportunities for classes. If you have an idea for something you want to see, please email Lisa Arnold at events.area1@handbellmusicians.org. We are committed to providing what ringers and directors are asking for, and your feedback really does matter!
Finally, we’re looking for ringers and even directors in the area who want to learn more about becoming a director. So many churches at the moment have bells sitting dormant because there are not directors ready or willing to take the chance at being ready to lead a group. If you’re curious, if you want more guidance, if you think you could be ready - please contact me at chair.area1@handbellmusicians.org and I’d be happy to talk more about what you need to support your growth!
Happy Ringing!
Jenn Stack
Area 1 Chair
chair.area1@handbellmusicians.org
| |
Editor's Note: Area 1 is grateful to Handbell Services for allowing us to use their handbell silhouette artwork featured in our 'Report from the Chair' header. | |
|
Notice of next Area 1 Board Meeting
Area 1 Board Meetings are open to all members of the Guild and held three times a year, usually in January, May and September. Our next regular Board Meeting is January 11, 2025 and will be held virtually. Considering a board position? Just want to hear about all the cool stuff happening here? If you are interested in attending, please email Jenn Stack, Area 1 Chair.
Below are scenes from our September 14, 2024 Board Meeting and Ring Social in Hadley, Massachusetts. We hope to do more of these in the future!
| |
(Click on individual photos to enlarge them) | |
Festival Conference 2025 Repertoire Finalized and Clinician Notes Now Available
With this issue we are pleased to provide an update on the repertoire that will be played at Area 1 Festival Conference next June 26-29 at Worcester State University. We also now have clinician notes from both Fred Gramann and Stevie Berryman, and all of this information can be found on the website at https://area1.handbellmusicians.org/festival-conference/.
We anticipate that registration will be live in early 2025. Stay tuned, and we look forward to another amazing time in Worcester!
|  | |
Winter Workshop 2025 Registration Opens October 15
Mark your calendar now for January 24-25, 2025, when Area 1 returns to UMass Amherst for our popular Winter Workshop weekend.
The Distinctly New England track will be directed by Jason Krug, and Beyond Basics, Before Bronze will be directed by Pete Larson and Samantha Beschta.
Repertoire for Distinctly New England:
-
Prelude and Fugue on Noel Nouvelet – Fred Gramann, From the Top Publishing, MFM20783/5-7 octaves handbells and handchimes/Level 5
-
Hallelujah – Matthew Compton, Grassy Meadow Music, GMH350016/3-6 octaves handbells and handchimes/Level 3+
-
Pale Blue Dot – Jason Krug, Jeffers Publishing, JHS9605/5-8 octaves handbells/Level 5
Repertoire for Beyond Basics, Before Bronze:
(Both pieces are also Massed pieces in the Festival Conference 2025 Repertoire)
-
Fanfare and Intrada - Jason Krug, Beckenhorst Publishing, MBEHB777/3-6 octaves handbells/Level 3
-
Recollection – Tim Waugh, Choristers Guild, MCGB973 /3-5 octaves handbells/Level 2+
Plus, ten different workshop opportunities, including:
Weaving, Bell Maintenance, Four in Hand, Complex Time Signatures, Bass Bell Ringing and Assignments, Engagement with Jason Krug, and 2 Rep Reading sessions: “Oldies but Goodies” with gently used music looking for a new home, and “Hot off the Press” selections from Jeffers.
Rehearsals will begin Friday evening after dinner. For each group, you can select your ringing preference at registration. You will receive your ringing assignments in early January. You are expected to purchase
your music and learn it before the event. Saturday is a day of rehearsals and workshops, ending with a
performance at 3:15 PM.
The early bird price is $195 and registration opens on October 15. After December 22, registration will be $225. This price includes Friday Dinner, Breakfast, and Lunch on Saturday.
Consider joining us for an opportunity to meet other handbell ringers and directors, hone your ringing
skills, and spend time ringing with some wonderful people. Contact Suzanne Neafus, ct.area1@handbellmusicians.org, for more information.
|
|
Notes from CONNECTICUT
Suzanne Neafus, Connecticut State Chair
| |
|
Happy Fall, Fellow Handbell Ringers and Directors –
By now, we are all well underway with our bell choirs in this new program year. I hope you all feel excited, renewed, and challenged to continue developing your skills!
Below are pictures from the recent Holiday Repertoire Read. One participant stated, “After the two weeks I had, it was great to come here, forget everything else, and just play.” During the event, we reviewed newly published Advent music. We plan to have another down in Gales Ferry early next year to review music for Lent. Would you be interested in hosting a similar event? You can suggest the genre, and we will arrange to have the titles sent. I would love to see similar events all throughout Connecticut in the next year. It is a great way to try new music and purchase the titles at a discount.
In the upcoming months, a plethora of ringing and bell learning opportunities will be taking place: Skill
Building Workshops, a Tins Level Only Event, Winter Workshop, and Festival Conference 2025. Make sure to read the articles elsewhere in this issue for more information.
Next year, there will also be an election for Handbell Musicians of America Area 1 Board Members, as
well as the appointment of other members. I will be stepping down as Connecticut State Chair, so we
are looking for someone new to come on board. Please get in touch with Jenn Stack or me if you are curious to learn more about the role. For something shorter-term, ask how you can help at one of the upcoming Area 1 events.
What’s going on in your bell-ringing world? Reach out and let me know.
Happy Ringing,
Suzanne Neafus
Connecticut State Chair - Area 1
|  | Scenes from Holiday Handbell Ring, September 7, 2024 at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Gales Ferry, CT. | |
Notes from MAINE
Dana Humphreys, Maine State Chair
| |
|
Why Do You Play Bells?
The music! It isn’t Christmas without handbells, from the sacred (It Came Upon The Midnight Clear) to the jolly (Santa Claus is Coming to Town), the emotional (Grazioso, Change Ring Prelude on Divinum Mysterium), the wild rides (Celtic Praise, Rondo Passacaglia), pop and rock (Dancing Queen, Don’t Stop Believin’), even the interstellar (Pale Blue Dot). What are some of your favorites?
The physical and mental challenge. Malletting, weaving, tower swings… and how satisfying is it to play a mart/mart lift! (Not to mention the bending, stooping, wrangling and wrestling those bell cases and tables.) And challenging our brains to read a measure or two ahead, remembering a quick change in key, meter, accidentals, a sudden decrescendo from a double forte to piano. (Hint: Watch Your Conductor!) Trying out a new bell position is a great brain exercise and provides a new perspective on the music. What challenges have you overcome when playing bells?
The social opportunity. For many of us, this is at the top of the list. Meeting new people who become good friends, exchanging Christmas cookie recipes, monthly birthday celebrations, breakfast after a rehearsal (I know off at least two Maine choirs who rehearse in the morning and then go out to breakfast together), sharing personal joys and concerns with a supportive group. What fun things do you look forward to when playing with your choir?
A respite from our personal stresses. Going to a bell rehearsal is like a spa treatment. We may end up with sore muscles or blistered fingers, not a new nail color. But for that one or two hours, we are temporarily released from whatever is troubling us. When we focus on playing, both as an individual ringer and as part of a full choir, there is only the music to think about. The release of endorphins and oxytocin and all the other feel-good chemicals in our bodies brings us needed relief. And the respite often stays with us on our way home as we hum the tune of the last piece we rang. Does ringing make your life a little bit – or a whole lot – better?
For whatever reasons you play bells, I hope you find joy and fun and accomplishment in this
extraordinary form of music!
Dana Humphreys
Maine State Chair
| |
|
Happy Fall, Everyone!
By the time this article is published, we will have concluded the Greater Boston Fall Skill-Building and Repertoire-Reading Workshops in Acton, and registration will also be closed for the NH Fall Skill-Building and Repertoire-Reading Workshops in Newport. But there are always more handbell events to look forward to, and in this article, I’m excited to announce all the details for the 37th annual Massachusetts Spring Ring! It will be held on Saturday, April 5, at Tewksbury Memorial High School, the clinician will be Marilyn Becker, registration will be $15
per ringer, and the repertoire is as follows:
Massed (optional for Tins):
Massed (optional for Coppers):
-
Brenda Austin's Morning Glory, 2-3 octaves handbells with optional rainstick, Level 2-, AGEHR Publishing AG23056. Note that this piece was originally supposed to be the Tins piece for the 2020 MA Spring Ring (which never happened), so you may already own this one!
Coppers:
-
Arnold Sherman's Come, Christians, Join to Sing. 3-5 octaves handbells with optional flute and percussion, Level 3+, Hope Publishing HP2863 (ringer’s score) and HP2863D (full score and instrumental parts).
Last year’s Massachusetts Spring Ring featured 147 ringers from 18 different choirs. Can we beat those
numbers in 2025? We can if I see you all there!
Finally, a personal note. As many of you have heard, beginning in early November, I will be taking over from Sue Lee as Director of Handbell Ministries at St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church in Acton. This doesn’t change anything about my role on the Area 1 board, since I’ll still be in the Greater Boston area. However, it does mean that I’ll no longer be directing the handbell and handchime programs at Faith Lutheran in Andover, where I had served for over 13 years. Faith is looking for a new Director of Handbell Ministries, and if you are a director (or an experienced ringer who might like to try directing) looking for a new opportunity, you should check out the job description! There are certainly many commendable things about Faith, especially the wonderful people in its bell choir.
Happy ringing! I hope to see many of you at an Area 1 event this year!
Abby Schoppe
Chair, Greater Boston MA/NH Region
| |
|
Happy New (Program) Year!
Fall is here, and with it, a return to exciting handbell activities!
Mark your calendars now for a November skill-building and repertoire-reading event, with details as follows:
Date: Saturday, November 16
Location: Church of the Holy Spirit, 204 Monument Road, Orleans, MA
Clinicians: Diane Burke, Emlee Kohler, and Sue Lee
Registration: $25 for either half of the day, or $15 for the full day
Schedule:
- Check-in opens: 8:00
- Welcome and announcements: 8:40
- Morning Classes (options include Basic Ringing Technique, Weaving, and Treble Skills/4-in-Hand): 9:00-10:15 and 10:30-11:45
- Lunch (bring your own brown-bag meal): 11:45-1:00
- Afternoon Repertoire Reading (including music from 2025 Cape Cod Spring Ring): 1:00-3:00
We haven’t quite finalized the link for registration yet, but I hope to share it with you in the next
couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, we also now have pinned down all details (including repertoire) for the 2025 Cape
Cod Spring Ring, as follows:
Date: Saturday, March 22, 9 AM to 3:30 PM
Location: Harwich Community Center, 100 Oak Street, Harwich, MA
Clinician: Cheryl Townsend, Artistic Director of the New England Ringers
Registration: $15
Repertoire:
-
Jason Krug’s Inception, 2-5 octaves handbells, Level 2, Lorenz LC202020L (3-5 oct.) and LC202021L (2-3 oct.)
-
Brenda Austin's Hashivenu (Rise up and Sing), 2-6 octaves handbells with optional 2-5 octaves handchimes, Level 2, Hope HP3208 (3-6 oct.) and HP3047 (2-3 oct.)
-
Arnold Sherman’s Song of Gladness, 2-6 octaves handbells with optional 3 octaves handchimes, Level 2+, Red River Music RRHB0064
Whether in Orleans this fall or Harwich in the spring, I hope to see many of you soon. Until then,
happy ringing!
Abby Schoppe
Chair, Cape Cod & Islands Region
|
|
|
Hello Western Mass!
It’s fall and there are bells in the air! Out here on the west side, we started our fall off by hosting the Area 1 board meeting (Sept 14 th ) at the First Congregational Church of Hadley. We invited local ringers to meet the board and join us for a social afternoon of ringing. We enjoyed several pieces and even included two selections from next year’s Area 1 Festival Conference. We laughed, we rang, we had fun before packing it up for the day. Many thanks to the First Congregational Church of Hadley for graciously hosting and letting us use their space, bells and chimes. What a great day!
|  | |
Speaking of the First Congregational Church of Hadley, we are getting ready for our next Western Mass workshop; Fall Tune-up (“TUNE”-up… get it?). This promises to be a high energy day of learning, camaraderie, and fun. Don’t miss out on this upcoming event. Mark your calendars now and go register!
Fall Tune-up (“TUNE”-up… get it?)
WHEN: October 26 th , 8:30 AM to 3 PM
WHERE: First Congregational Church of Hadley, 102 Middle St, Hadley, MA
CLINICIANS: Jennifer Stack, Kristen Russo
FEE: $15 per ringer
REPERTOIRE:
-
Fanfare and Intrada 3-6 Octaves Level: 3 MBEHB777 Composer: Jason Krug; Arranger: N/A
-
It's Time for Sayang Sayang (It's Time for Love) 3-5 Octaves Level: 2 MMBPH1SG Composer: Alvin Oon; Arranger: Damien Lim
Visit https://area1.handbellmusicians.org/state-and-local-events/westernmafalltune-up/ for more information and to register.
It’s never too early to mark your calendars for ringing events during the busy holiday season. Come “Ring in the Season” at the Wilbraham United Church at 3 PM on December 1. You will enjoy several handbell pieces from this small but mighty 3-octave choir as well as a few smaller special groups added for your listening enjoyment. So, kick off your holiday season in Western Mass at the Wilbraham United Church 500 Main Street, Wilbraham.
Be sure to send me a list of your holiday handbell concerts for us to publish in the December newsletter.
As always, if you know of any ringing happenings in our area, please reach out so I can help spread the word and the joy of handbells. Until next time!
Audrey Pierce
Western MA Chair
| |
|
Hello from RI!
We are looking forward to local upcoming concerts and workshops, such as the Ocktobellfest concert on Sunday, October 20 at the Westerly Armory! With many ringing events to our north, such as the Fall Tune-up on October 26 in Hadley, MA, there is something for everyone!
There is also another ringing performance opportunity in Cranston, RI. An email recently came across my inbox from Hillary Williamson, Co-Chair of the 10th Annual Fez-tival of Trees in Cranston, RI. She is seeking handbell choirs to perform at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet during the festival at the end of November. This is a fundraiser that will directly benefit their sister organization - the Rhode Island Shriners. Send me an email if your group is interested, and I’ll forward your information. ri.area1@handbellmusicians.org
At my church, Slatersville Congregational, I have started a more advanced (approaching Coppers) level choir with about 6 ringers. My intention is to invite others from the area to join us. This choir will be performing at another church in Providence, as well as during a few of our own services. I’d like to perform at other places around the state. Would you like to try it out? Send me an email: ri.area1@handbellmusicians.org Let’s see where this group goes!
Upcoming: I will be setting up Festival Conference 2025 repertoire get-togethers this spring for anyone who wants extra practice to prepare for our HMA Area 1 Festival Conference, as well as a Spring Ring! Stay tuned and happy fall!
Jill Boday
Rhode Island State Chair
| |
|
Hello from northern Vermont!
This is the time of year that Vermont shines, and I hope that each of you is able to enjoy the Fall foliage wherever you live. Vermont is currently working on updating its database on member and non-member handbell programs throughout the state. As is with other New England states, some Vermont ensembles are struggling to restart after COVID, and some are thriving as people are once again seeking opportunities for community through music making.
The Vermont Handbell Association is exploring the possibility of hosting an adult ringing weekend at a Vermont resort in the Fall of 2025. At the September 22 meeting, venues, clinicians, and themes were discussed. In the meantime, Vermont handbell musicians are supporting the Area 1 New Hampshire Skill Building event on October 5th in Newport, NH. There are other great learning opportunities right around the corner such as Area 1’s Winter Workshop, January 24-25 at UMass, Amherst, MA. If an online event is more your style, HMA’s Virtual Winter Workshop, January 31 - February 2, is also a great opportunity to advance your handbell knowledge and skills. We hope to see you at these great events!
Kimberlee Strepka
Vermont State Chair
| |
Please support our Area 1 Advertisers: | |
|
Fundamental Tone is a publication of Area 1 Handbell Musicians of America,
published six times a year: February, April, June, August October, December.
Editorial copy and advertisements are due by the 18th of the month preceding publication.
Call for Articles:
Do you have a story to share with fellow handbell musicians? Submit news briefs to your State Chair or email your article to Amy Rollins at communications.area1@handbellmusicians.org.
To Advertise in Fundamental Tone:
We deliver your message to 1,500 handbell musician subscribers, six times a year!
Full page ad (522 pixels wide x 693 pixels high): $80/issue
Half page ad (522 pixels wide x 347 pixels high): $50/issue
Quarter page ad (522 pixels wide x 173 pixels high): $30/issue
Eighth page ad (522 pixels wide x 87 pixels high): $20/issue
Discounts: deduct 5% for prepayment of two issues;
deduct 10% for prepayment of four issues or more.
Submit your ad as a hi-res JPG file to communications.area1@handbellmusicians.org
Our next publication is scheduled for December 1, 2024
Articles and Ads must be submitted no later than November 18, 2024
Thank you!
| | | | |
