Christmas Handbells! Options

[Clare1986]

This is possibly a bit random but... I'm about to start teaching handbells for christmas. I've had a little experience playing them when I was younger but I've never directed before. Any tips?!

[rumba]

I ring bells and have done handbells quite a lot. Do you know your bells? - how many have you got ? , how are they numbered, what sharps and flats have you got etc - find out first, or you may get an unpleasant surprise when some notes that you need are not there! Basically, you should have about an octave and a half (at least) in one key, but will not necessarily have all the additional sharp/flats to enable you to play in all keys ... work out what your options are before you get to the rehearsal! Bells usually have their pitch (A, B, C etc) stamped on them, their 'number' is allocated according to the key you are in. Check whether they are numbered upwards or downwards - church bells have 1 as the highest note not the lowest, so your charts need the correct way. It helps to look at some previous notation to be sure, before you write it out from bottom up!

To be well prepared, write out a number of tunes of varying difficulty (without harmony to start with) so that you have some options depending on the number of ringers. Because Handbell music is written out by numbers, (to correspond with church-bell ringing) the codes used for note durations are not always obvious to inexperienced ringers, so you may want to start with some well known tunes. If you are used to working from musical notation, write yourself a conversion chart (C=1, B=2 etc) for quick reference. (Of course if you have perfect pitch you will need to write this out exactly at the bell pitch, or you will go crazy!)

Directing is usually about counting the beat, (think primary school orchestra!) and gesticulating/glaring at offenders as required !!! New ringers often take a bit of practise to get their bells sounding exactly on the beat, so you probably need to start with rounds (scales) or chords to get them keeping with the beat. there's a knack to the flicking, and less experienced ringers usually start with just one bell, then one in each hand. Really experienced ringers can do two in each hand, and pick up/ set down others if needed, but don't expect that!

[andante_in_c]

And I would add, having conducted a handbell team in the past (which appeared live on Radio 2 on Christmas morning!) be prepared to count like mad for them. It is so difficult to get used to playing only one or two notes in a tune!