Greetings Handbell Musicians.

     We have made a number of changes to the conference format this year.  These changes were made based on your feedback from previous events and based on our own observations on how we felt this event could better meet the needs of everyone in Area 10.  I wanted to take this opportunity to outline some of the changes we have made.

 A Second Coppers Division

The past several Area 10 Conferences have attracted 400 or more participants.  Approximately � of these participants have typically registered for the Coppers division.  This led to crowded classrooms, crowded meal areas, and less opportunity to interact with the clinician.  With this year's event, we are offering both a Coppers I and a Coppers II ringing tracks.  The level of music selected for each of these Coppers tracks is comparable, and we expect Coppers choirs to make the choice based on music list, clinician, and classes offered while not in rehearsal.

The All-Star Choir

One challenge we have faced with every event is finding a way to meet the needs of the most advanced handbell musicians in our area.  One of the best things we can do for our most talented musicians is bring them together, let them share ideas, let them motivate each other, and let them perform with a higher degree of musicality.  The All-Star Choir will be a group of individuals who submit video-taped audition materials and are selected by David Harris to prepare and perform during the Saturday evening concert.  If you are interested in auditioning, information is available with the rest of our registration materials, and the deadline is February 15^th.

 Longer Classes

At previous events, the class length was typically 50-60 minutes.  We found that for many class topics, this wasn't sufficient time to cover all the subject matter and/or give everyone enough time for hands-on participation.  Our drop-in classes have been extended to 90-minutes, and we are offering a number of 3-hour classes which will require pre-registration.  If you are interested in the pre-registered classes, we encourage you to register soon.  There is a class size limit for all pre-registered classes, and we will be filling the classes based on the order we receive the registration forms.

Massed Ringing

Our conference schedule is setup to use Friday and Saturday for classes and rehearsals for Tins/Coppers/Bronze/Youth ringing tracks.  On Sunday, we will bring everyone together for massed ringing and perform a public concert at the end of the day.  I am particularly excited about the Hallelujah Chorus, one of the pieces we've selected for massed ringing.  Typically, with massed ringing, we gather hundreds of people who read off the same piece of music.  In my opinion, this traditional approach to massed ringing underutilizes the musical potential of such a large ensemble.  The Hallelujah Chorus setting we will be using is written for six handbell choirs and takes into account the physical location of each part for antiphonal effects.  I believe we are the first to try this new concept of massed ringing, and I hope our performance provides inspiration to composers and to other areas to try something similar with their events.

     I am very excited to seeing these changes to our conference format in action, and hope they lay the groundwork for further improvements at future events.  I look forward to seeing all of you in Yakima at the end of June.