Application is on the way!

I hope you will receive it in 2 days time.

Looking forward to see you all.
I have no experience of Handbell - but keen to learn, hooray!

Wonderful : will collect, fingers crossed, on Thursday

Hi Barry,

Count me in for the meal please.

*makes note*

Thank you

Sorry I haven't replied earlier - we returned from a fortnight's holiday last night.

I'd love to come to the meal, Barry; thanks for organising it. Looking forward to meeting lots of forumites!

Yes, me too. I would like to stay for meal as well.
We will be busy for both 29 & 30 August! by the way, anything we have to bring?
No music stand, no principal instument...
Only with packed lunch?

We normally play with the music laid on a table but you can bring a music stand if you want as it's probably easier to read with it not horizontal. It's all down to personal preferance really though. Red and green pens (not too thick) might be helpful in the event that I've missed a few notes when I went through colouring them in, but I'll make sure I bring a couple so that's not essential either. Can't think of anything else...

Do we need to wear gloves for this?

Everyone wearing Marigolds could look quite funny

The group I used to play with bought white cotton general purpose gloves from Boots. They're only £2 or £3 a pair and can be washed. I don't know whether it's strictly necessary - you shouldn't touch the bells themselves except for thumb damping (which gives a staccato effect), as the grease from your skin spoils the look and attracts the dirt.

No, our bells are already covered in about a hundred years worth of grubby fingerprints, a few more won't kill them. The only reason I've sometimes worn gloves in the past is to keep my hands cold in the freezing church in the winter.

I just thought I'd better let you know that I'm going to be away for the next 5 days, so if anyone has any questions regarding the handbell day, I'm not ignoring them and will answer them on Thursday when I get back.

I thought it was probably about time I did some thinking about how the day is going to work out. Would people prefer to just take it as we go and play whatever takes our fancy at the time or would you rather I thought up something more of a structure? Not having been to any forum events before, I don't have any idea of what the normal practice is. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

What I would do (based on the flute day I ran a couple of years ago) is to have plenty of music available, but to get it into a rough order. So make sure you have some easier things to begin with, and keep the more ambitious items for later on (but probably not just after lunch). It will mean that you're not tied down to anything, but that it's not all so open-ended that everyone stands around looking blank.

I'd also aim to do two or three items and then have a break for something different, such as walking changes or a cuppa.

That's the way I've pretty much dealt with all the orchestral playdays and the single reed day last year : recommended!

Thanks you two. I'll go and collect the music from the handbell case sometime in the next couple of days, then have a sort through it a bit.

Andante, do you want to some method ringing or call changes? If you do, then you can be in charge of that because my knowledge of methods is pretty much limited to plain hunting on the treble.

Sarah

Looking forward to see you on Saturday.
I have just sent friend RQ in face book! I will bring gloves though? (of course lunch as well)

I've just accepted you.

Seriously, noone needs to bring gloves. We've never worn gloves to ring the bells unless it's so cold in the church that we can't feel our fingers.

Would it be useful if some of us brought music stands Sarah?

It depends if you want them really. We normally lay music around the edge of a big table with the extra bells in the middle, but I've sometimes found it easier to read if it's propped up/on my lap/on a music stand if there's one around in the church. So, I guess if you'd have problems with horizontal music reading, then bring one. Also, I guess it's quite a long day so it may be better for your neck.

It depends if you want them really. We normally lay music around the edge of a big table with the extra bells in the middle, but I've sometimes found it easier to read if it's propped up/on my lap/on a music stand if there's one around in the church. So, I guess if you'd have problems with horizontal music reading, then bring one. Also, I guess it's quite a long day so it may be better for your neck.
[/quote]

Acutaully back? (<- age...)
lay down music makes more sense.... Oh, I am so excited I always wanted to try. In Japan, we have regular TV programm which celeblity people try whatever they never try in their life, in New Year day.
And Always Hand bell is coming up, and they do very well though! (they said it took 5 months to do one piece of music, i am sure we are better.)
I will bring a camera saturday as well.

I'll bring a stand in that case, just in case it's needed. Thanks Sarah

Restaurant booked!

It's an Italian restaurant, near West Byfleet station : so it should be convenient both for the car drivers and the public transport users.

Have you got a programme of music Sarah, or will it be a surprise on the day?

Erm, not as yet, but will try and come up with a rough one by tonight, as I have all the music at home now.

OK : if you're publishing a programme, I'd just do a list, and then largely decide what you're going to try on the day, depending on how things go.

Well, not a programme exactly just a list of stuff we might play in a vaguely getting gradually harder order.

I'm getting excited about it now! Anyone know how much parking there is at the church?

It's pretty good : there's a car park, and a reasonable amount of on-street parking too BM

Thanks for the quick reply, Barry. Really looking forward to meeting everyone.

Incase either of you do do some call changes heres a bunch of musical ones

• 135246 / 13572468 / 1357924680 = Queens
  
• 13524679E80T = Double Queens (0 = 10, E = 11, T = 12)
  
• 531246W9780T = Full Whittingtons (theres a rhyme, lol Turn a-gain whit-ing-ton, thrice lord mayor of lon-don)
  
• 3216549870/14327658 = Roller Coaster
  
• 142536 / 15263748 = Tittums
  
• 342516 / 45362718 / 5647382910 = Exploding Tittums
  
• 31247568E90T = Ripple Tittums
  
• 2579E641380T = Boogie Woogie
  
• 1864297530 = Yeovil Octaves
  
• 13245768 = Bowbells
  
• 321654987TE0CBAD = Roller Coaster on 16 (a = 13, b = 14, c = 15, d= 16)

I have no idea what the numbers mean h_c, sorry

I think they're the end product of rearranging all the bells one by one. Queens certainly is. What confuses me is how you organise everyone getting from rounds to there in the first place.

You don't have to, Sarah. You can just go straight from rounds to Queens to Tittums to Whittingtons back to rounds, because handbells have no problems jumping several places in one go. I'll be happy to look after the change ringing side for you; sorry I forgot I haven't replied to your earlier post.

It all looks very fascinating!

Will there be a special 'don't have a clue' area for me to stand in?

Oh, well that's a diffferent way to go about change ringing. You're definitely in charge of the changes and methods side of things.

What is the difference (if any) between a change and a method?

I'll come and sit with you, Barry.

Right, I have a pile of handbell music and a cup of tea. Everything is set me thinks.



For changes, you get told where to go whereas for methods you have to remember. In other words, changes are something Sarah can normally do (just don't ask me to do the directing), methods are something Sarah can't do.

Thanks Sarah! Your assistance will be much appreciated!





I'll call in at the local supermarket when I arrive at West Byfleet to buy tea/coffee/biscuits



I see - thanks!

A method is a prearranged (and learned) set of changes.

Thanks andante_in_c (full username in case of confusion with our more recent, similarly named forumite )

Right, we have a list!

In rough order of difficulty we have:

One bell each, with a person spare to conduct:
Fen Ditton Bob Along (looks as though its based on some method or other but with harmonies)
Helston Floral Dance
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
The Bells of St Mary's
The Marseillaise

One bell each, no spare person to conduct
The Entertainer
Minuet in G (Bach)
All Through the Night
Men of Harlech
Teddy Bears' Picnic (this one's significantly harder than the others in this group though)

Some people with more than one bell:
Greensleeves
When You Wish Upon a Star
Scarborough Fair
Yesterday
Hedwig's Theme (Harry Potter Theme)

When I say 1 bell per person, I mean one bell per beginner, two per non-beginner for most of the pieces.

So basically the plan is to start at the beginning and work through the list, missing out any we can't be bothered with and stopping for lunch, tea or letting Andante_in_c take charge and do some change ringing whenever playing tunes gets boring.

EDIT: I meant to add that if either Andante or Berkshiremum (or anyone else who might happen to have any handbell music) wants to bring some music along with them, it would be very welcome as there is a slight danger we might end up in Christmas carols at the end of the day if everyone picks it up as quickly as I expect they probably will.

Looks good

Thanks for all your hard work in this event Sarah!

To be honest, I think you've put in more hard work so far. All I've done is spend a few hours arranging songs and writing a list of pieces.

Your programme sounds great, Sarah!

I don't think we'll run out of music, because even if we got through the lot before lunch, it would be far from perfect, so we'd be able to have another go later on, after some changes with Andante.

Also, we can swap bells if we like, which makes the whole piece feel different. The lower bells are rung with a different motion from the higher ones, and you need a stronger wrist, so it might be good for folk to swap around after a group of pieces and try different bells.

It's ages since I've rung, and I'm so looking forward to it. It takes a lot of concentration, though, and I bet we'll be tired by the end of the day.

I've only sourced a venue and booked a restaurant, really. Without your work in sorting out the music and leading us in the ringing, we'd have no event Sarah

I'll see if I can find our music (didn't think of getting it out before I packed everything in boxes for the big room swap ). Would you like us to bring our bells too?

You could bring your bells if you want. As long as the two sets are roughly in tune that would create more 2-bell parts in most of the pieces by doubling the tune or something which could be good as it'll give more people more to do. Which bells do you have?

I think it'd be nice to see both sets of bells : if they are different to Sarah's andante, I think it'd be nice to see/hear the differences sometime during the day.