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Our National
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Message from the Chair -
Scott Leggett
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Greetings Area 12,
I hope everyone has settled into their Fall ringing routines and is getting ready for the busy Christmas performance season that is rapidly approaching.
As the season changes to Fall, there are changes at Area 12 as well. We sadly must say goodbye and mourn the loss of our dear friend Mel Tully. He served many years on the Area 12 board as our Vendor Liaison, always providing insightful advice and willing to take on any tasks he could in support of our organization. His years running WestCoast Handbell Supply were a true gift to the handbell community. He was a dear friend to many of us and he will be deeply missed. Our thoughts are with his wife Gail and their family.
Our other change is that the results of our election are in and we have a new Executive Board for Area 12. I look forward to getting right to work with our new board and continue the important work of serving and supporting our members in the handbell ringing. I congratulate and welcome to the Executive Board Chair-Elect Kendra Scott, Secretary Michele Meenk, and Treasurer Helena Broadbent. I am also pleased to announce the appointment of Sandy Haynes as our new Webmaster and Sharon Guilliams as the new LA Metro Regional Coordinator.
With the elections, there is opportunity for serving on the board as our Bay Area Regional Coordinator. If you have any interest in taking on a larger role in Area 12 in the Bay Area or know of someone you would like to recommend, please let me know.
Till Next time,
Scott Leggett
Chair
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Election News - Michèle Sharik
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Communiqué - Barbara Meinke
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Southern Nevada - Alison Pruett
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Reminder this is the last month to register at the early bird rate for the annual Las Vegas 12th Night Handbell Festival! This is the only massed ringing festival in southern Nevada. Come join 100 other ringers to play under the direction of the incomparable Michael Glasgow. It's an opportunity to meet others in the area who enjoy the same passion. Can't convince your choir to attend? No worries! Individuals are welcome! There are always groups with openings for individual ringers or we even have extra sets of bells for individuals to use. All are welcome to join in extending the Christmas season a little longer.
The 24th Las Vegas
clinician - Michael Glasgow
January 11 - 12, 2019
Boulder City Recreation Center
This event is endorsed by Handbell Musicians of America
Alison Pruett
For information on Southern Nevada's concerts, events,
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Los Angeles Metro - Sharon Guilliams
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Howdy, Howdy LA Metro Directors and Ringers,
I would like to introduce myself, your new LA Metro Regional Coordinator. My name is Sharon Guiliams and I have been ringing for 30+ years. I am an engineer by schooling and vocation, but my passion for many years has been handbells. Currently, I am the remaining founding member of the South County Community Handbell Choir (SCCHC) and direct the SCCHC's youth bell choir, the Heavy Metal Youth. I also ring in a church handbell choir. My path to being a director was not by schooling, but by the fact that one of my choir directors knew that having a feeder choir was essential to having a good handbell program. The only issue was she was not fond of working with kids and so she asked me. While my job took me to some small towns throughout the country, I was able to continue ringing handbells; in some cases that meant resurrecting handbell choirs. I also have performed solos for many years. A director in Georgia wanted to keep me challenged, so she gave me a solo book and said "you should do a solo in a month or so." If she only knew what she started. When Scott asked me to be the LA Metro Coordinator, my only hesitation was that I live in San Clemente, which is the furthest south you can go in the LA Metro Region.
I look forward to working with everyone in the LA Metro area to make your handbell experiences better and I hope I can add value to your HMA membership. We will be working to finalize the details for the LA Metro Spring Ring shortly and hope to have the date, place and time nailed down. We would love to have it somewhere close to the LA/Orange County border to split the driving distance for everyone. If you know of a place please let me know.
If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, please feel free to contact me.
Hope to talk to you soon.
For information on LA Metro's concerts, events,
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Southern California - Michèle Sharik
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Hi there, SoCal!
Last month, I said I'd have the registration paperwork for the 2019 SoCal Spring Ring available for download by now, but I'm afraid I don't. This past month has been very busy for me and I just didn't get to this task. I apologize to you, but will make sure I have them available soon. When they are ready, I will announce it on Facebook, as well as in the December newsletter.
In the meantime, let's not forget the Christmas season is fast approaching! I know many of you are planning to play in the community and in your church, so please
submit online or send that information to me for inclusion on the Area 12 calendar. Many people travel during the holidays and may be visiting other churches for Advent or Christmas Eve services. Let's help them find YOU so they can enjoy the holiday just a bit more.
As always, please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments about anything happening in the SoCal region. I am YOUR resource for all things handbells. If I don't know the answer, I will find someone who does!
workshop & free concert
November 3, 2018
Temecula United Methodist Church
42690 Margarita Rd
Temecula, CA 92592
This event is endorsed by Handbell Musicians of America
My best,
Michèle Sharik
For information on Southern California's concerts,
events,
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Central California - Christine Anderson
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Hi, CenCal!
What does "sabering" a champagne bottle have to do with using a soft mallet on a bass bell? Search "sabering champagne" and take a good look at the motion used by the arm holding the saber. It's exactly the same motion you can use when holding a bell straight out, clapper facing the audience, and glancing the casting. It doesn't produce a "whomp" like the usual mallet strike does, but simply keeps the metal vibrating and sounding longer. After sabering the bell, with each stroke you can raise the lip of the bell upright, then face it out again for the next saber. It's beautiful visually and aurally. I use this technique on "Shenandoah" on the B4 right after the bridge.
Keep checking the
Area 12 calendar ~ you never know when there might be a handbell event that's closer to you than one actually in your area.
Christine Anderson
For information on Central California's concerts, events,
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Northern Nevada - Barb Walsh
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On Score Preparation
(part 2)
After you figure out the style of the piece and what it sounds like, it's time to sort out the "puzzle pieces" and figure out the form. There's more to that than just looking at the 'road map' (checking for repeats, D.S., D.C., al fine, coda, etc.). A delightful attendee at the Long Beach Directors' Workshop said, "Form is like being given a bunch of puzzle pieces. To make sense of them and try to figure out the whole picture, you have to start with the edge pieces to build the frame. Then you have to sort the other pieces into like colors, unusual shapes, parts that make up a specific picture, and so on." Brilliant! Many hymn tunes are left in their original verse/refrain form. Often each verse is changed up a bit from the previous one. Noticing these variations will help in learning the piece and conveying its meaning to your audience. Often there are several "extra" measures that are reminiscent of the main melody at the beginning of the piece called an introduction. Those same or similar measures could be used in the middle as an interlude. The coda is at the end and puts the finishing touch on the piece.
Another tip to determining the form is to locate the melody(ies). Don't forget to look in all bell "voices": treble, battery and bass. Be aware that if the melody is in the bass or battery, it will usually have to be played louder in order to be heard over the treble bells. Speaking of being heard, if your bells play the melody, be sure to bring those notes out (volume, energy, visually, etc.). If they aren't, make sure they aren't as prominent as the melody bells. See if there is a countermelody or an obbligato part to bring out. Also, see if there are short, moving inner lines that add texture to the piece and bring those out as well. Bell composers who are also organists are famous for having more than one melody going at a time; Fred Gramann comes to mind!
If you missed part one, check out
last month's issue. And keep your eye out next month for using what you learned in kindergarten!
For information on Northern Nevada's concerts, events,
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San Fransisco Bay Area - Kendra Scott
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Dear Bay Area,
I am writing this article as your new Chair-Elect! Thank you to all those who voted on all the ballot items. I look forward to my new role helping Scott with all things Area 12! Rest assured we will keep the Bay Area in capable hands. We are still brainstorming a replacement for me as Bay Area Regional Coordinator and welcome your suggestions! In the meantime I will fill in here as needed.
We are heading into the holiday season and I'm sure many of us have winter concerts, so make sure they're
on our calendar so we can come support you! November and December are busy times for us, so don't forget to take care of yourself along the way!
Looking ahead, we will have the annual Bay Area Spring Ring on May 3-4, 2019, at Valley Church in Cupertino. Our clinician is the fabulous Nick Hanson! The repertoire for both the Intense Ring and Massed Ring are up on the
Handbell Ventures website. Larry and Carla Sue will present our noon-time concert. We will once again feature a youth track, so bring those younger choirs! This event is
endorsed by Handbell Musicians of America.
The Bay Area School Handbell Festival is March 28, 2019 at All Saints Catholic School in Hayward. The clinician-director is Barb Walsh from Reno, Nevada.
More information is available from the organizer, Dian Ruder
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Hope to see you all at these events!
For information on San Francisco
Bay Area's concerts, events,
and other opportunities,
click here
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Northern California - Sandi Walker-Tansley
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For information on Northern California's concerts, events,
and other opportunities,
click here
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