If sarah123 and others were to organise a 'how to play simple tunes on handbells' day in spring/summer 2009 in an as yet undecided location in South East England, how many of you would be willing to come along and have a go?

I was about to sign myself up, then realised you'd already done it

We'll need your bells Sarah!

I'd be up for it (try anything once, me......)

We would need at least 7 or 8 people to be able to play most of the music I know (unless you want to end up bell-juggling) , so come on people...sign up

I'll need to work out a date/location with you Sarah - but good to see the first show of interest, katyjay!

Well, anywhere no too far away (meaning within a 3ish hour drive from Cambridge) , and preferably not during A levels.

I too have bells if necessary. And I can bell-juggle if necessary too.

Not a problem.



We'll avoid mid-April to mid-June Sarah.



, and

I'll have a go too

The chance of people bell-juggling slowly decreases...

Bell-juggling is FUN.

Count me in. :-)

Though a bit of juggling is fun.
Please can we ring plain hunting by swapping bells around and ringing straight down the line? Please??

T.

Shows how much I know about bells

Let's bell-juggle!



No idea what that means, but it sounds good

Choices for venues would be in Sarah's patch (Cambridge), my patch (South East London) or elsewhere in Greater London/West Kent/Surrey. What would people prefer?

ooh id love to near cambridge would be nice

I'm happy to do this if Sarah123 isn't, or indeed, if she is!

I guess I'd better put this on the '09 calendar...

The idea is certainly appealing, but I daren't commit myself until I know the date, as I have a lot of weekend commitments (I'm assuming we're looking at a weekend?). Also Cambridge isn't the easiest place to get to from here, though I'm sure it would be possible - Hubby would probably enjoy a tour of the town whilst we ring.

Can you put me down as a "maybe" for now, please?

I've never tried ringing methods on handbells, but it sounds fun - well a lot more fun than on tower bells anyway

im ringing church bells on saturday at our local church!

Well, the normal way to do it would be very similar to the way you do it with tower bells. Keep your own bell(s) and ring them at the appropriate times.

But the silly way is to have 4 people standing in a line with a table in front of them (with something on it that's safe to put bells down on) and two bells each.
Ring straight down the line.
Everyone cross their hands over and ring straight down the line.
Put down the bell(s) that are next to someone else, pick up the one they've just put down and ring straight down the line.
Uncross your hands and ring straight down the line.
etc etc.

So the bells get swapped over and passed around, but are always rung in the order in which they're lined up.
It should be possible to ring any method that way, but plain hunting is the only one I've done.

I havn't done much normal change ringing on handbells, but the silly version is a "must try" even for tune players.

The other version is even sillier. Each person has one bell. The bells are always rung straight down the line. But the people move.

Ooooh! I want to have a go at that! :-)

Very very interested, particularly if in London (though of course can't commit until I know the date). Elsewhere would depend on location but love the idea!

I might be interested, depending on where, when and the attitude of my parents

This sounds interesting - please can I put my name down? ( Hopes date won't clash with any choir commitments) Cambridge or near by would be good for me though I am mobile
.

Val

Ok, so here's a list of people who've expressed an interest so far...

sarah123
barry clari
andante in c
Teigr
Daisy Chain
Katyjay
hello_cello
Panthera
Val Alto
BerkshireMum
smd

So that makes up to 11 people so far

Location and date dependent...but I like the idea of trying it!

The venue is undecided at the moment. It'll be somewhere in South East England (if I book the hall, it'll be Greater London, West Kent or Surrey)

b-c will be booking the hall

Looking at the possibilities/interest, it is likely the handbell event will be in Surrey.

All the fun things......

Might have tried that myself.

Sorry...

*resolves to give notmusimum a tambourine for the bandstand gig*

Hmmm... has a thought......

I'm not buying your old Clarinet No way am I squashing faries either, not unless I can join 'Shouting For Girls'

For anyone who saw my typo that's what they should have been called

Thanks Barry for keeping me out of trouble

I'd like to have a go assuming you'll acccept a complete beginneer.
So please add my name to the list (date dependant of course)

I'm a complete beginner. I've never knowingly rung a handbell in my life!

*adds smd's name to sarah123's list*

How could one possibly unknowingly ring a handbell?!

This is Barry we're talking about!!!

*Wonders if I can be trusted with a handbell after throwing my biscuit across the floor in Rotherhithe... *

Fair point...

Hmm - I think you will need extra supervision

Sarah123, what do you think? It's likely to be her own foot she'd drop it on...

I'll put a date on this event as soon as I can

Interested but as usual chances are I won't make it as my weekends get VERY busy.

I last rang handbells when I was 9 and the 'junior' group I was in only ever got as far as ringing rounds during the few weeks the recorder group became the junior handbell group. The 'senior' group who'd been ringing for a year before I joined the school were playing Teddy Bears Picnic and I thought it was one of the best things ever! I'd love to have another go now I'm a bit (ok a lot!) bigger. My wrists were too weak for anything but the smallest 2 bells.

A lot will, of course, depend on when sarah123 is around, as she's a fairly essential piece of this day! Expect it to be after A levels are finished though (that's late June onwards).

Just caught up with this thread...



We have the music for the Teddy Bears' picnic. Its something I've always had my eye on, but we've always been too busy with christmas carols to try it One lucky person gets a trill!

That sounds great - add it to your list of music to bring Sarah!

Handbells are that difficult?! (few weeks = rounds, a year = teddy bears picnic) I was assuming it was some (serious) fun along the line of Kazoo orchestra... What have I signed myself up for?

Looking forward to it, though

From my experience, if you can read music, you would probably be able to play most of the things we play straight off (assuming you dont get your hands muddled up - it has been known to happen ). To be honest, you don't even really need to be able to read the notes, just the rhythms.

Where the problems come is when most people in the group can't read music, and whose entire musical experience is ringing methods on tower bells, so rely on it being a familiar tune for the rhythm. (notes are different colours for left and right hands).

Basically, I'm pretty sre everyone here could make a pretty good go of it!

how many bells do you have, just out of interest?

*Makes mental note to remember to check I actually can bring the bells!*

We have all the bells for 2 octaves from G below middle upwards, so that's 25 I think. And if anyone else has a set, we would have more obviously.

Most of the music we have is for up to 8 players with two bells each (the top part often has only one bell, and every now and then you get someone who has to juggle three).

If there's going to be more than 7 or 8 people, either we would have to do a bit of taking turns or do a bit of arranging music for handbells, which I'm willing to try if anyone has any ideas, but given I've never really done it before, it probably wouldn't be the best ever. We might want some more music anyway though, as our range of non-christmassy music is pretty limited.

The group I ring with has some all-year-round music, but it's set for bells from middle C to high G, so the low G to B people wouldn't have much to do! I don't know whether I'd be able to borrow it anyway, as the lady who leads us has two different groups of ringers and might not be willing to loan it. When we have a date set I could ask her if you like - there's all sorts from the theme to Beethoven's 6th through Rule Britannia to Mango Walk.

Those bottom bells must be very heavy - I usually have high D and E, and on the one occasion I was asked to stand in for the middle C/D lady, the bells seemed so massive compared with my usual ones! We don't have low G to B bells, but I bet they sound nice.