Hello forum

Applications for the Forum Handbell Day are now open!

Thank you to katyjay for all her efforts in hosting the webpages.

The website and application form can be found here.

Hope to see you there!

b-c

Thanks to Sarah123 and Barry-Clari for organising this.

I'll be sending off my application form today.

For those of you who don't know the area, Brittens Music shop is near both the station and church, I find it to be an excellent place for printed music - but that may depend on your instrument.

Thanks smd!

I'm planning to do the first collection from the PO Box this coming Saturday (30th), and I'll acknowledge forms as I get them by email, PM, text or phone call.

I had a quick look in Brittens on Friday when I was in West Byfleet for hall viewing purposes. They have a very good selection of music, and it's not even 5 minutes walk from the handbell venue.

I've also located a nice restaurant for the after event meal

This looks amazingly fun, but I think it's a bit far for me

We'll have all sorts of original events scattered throughout the UK for 2010 BB2 : so I'm sure you'll find something different that appeals to you then, that's a bit closer to chez vous.

I know, I wasn't complaining or anything

Just as an aside (it's my thread, I can do what I like ), is there anything you'd really like to have a go at musically BB2? As a loyal supporter of the forum events, I think it'd be nice to get your views.

Ive just prepared my application for the post! Thanks to Barry and Sarah for organising this; it should be great fun.

There's an after event meal?! Even better!

Cool : I'll collect it on Saturday

See you there BM!

Form completed and will be in post tomorrow! Looking forward to it.

Looks like there's 5 of us so far. I'm looking forward to seeing you all there.

I'll let you know what applications are in the PO Box on Saturday Sarah.

I'll give you the form etc. tomorrow, Barry.

NB to self, that's three things you have to give Barry now.

great, thanks andante!

I will also give you a form tomorrow, Barry.

Thanks!

Looking forward to seeing you too, Sarah. And everyone else, of course!

Looks like Barry's lucky day - all those ladies and no competition!

adding katyjay/andante already moves us onto 7, including you and I Sarah!

He might not be so lucky

Does this mean you've changed your mind?

Well, my dad would probably be willing to come, but its a fair distance, and its the complete opposite side to were either my brother is or uncle is. Also, i feel bad making him come, he isnt really interested in that sort of thing at all. Im not sure yet.

How does this work... do you all get allocated a bell or two, get given a sheet and just watch for the notes that correspond to your bells? Or do you have your own sheet with only your notes on it?

I know what curiousity did to the cat but I'd like to know I could probably drive there, if only to have a look and see what all the fuss is about...

Usually you have a sheet with the whole piece on, but your notes are marked with red for the right hand and blue for the left. So if you were playing D and E, say (my usual bells!), on my sheet every D would have a blue ring around it and every E a red ring. It's most common to be given two bells, but in some groups you might have to play three, or if too many ladies turn up that week you might be down to one!

Perhaps our group does it that way because not all the ladies read music; you don't really need coloured rings if you know what you're doing! It's quite amusing, because I like to play "Spot the missed note" - usually in every other piece whoever marked up the sheet will have missed a D or an E somewhere!

So from the comments, it seems this particular musical niche is a female-dominated thing? I guess for us chaps, it's probably not viewed to be a very blokey activity

I've always fancied having a go at doing the "proper" bell ringing but that must just be my inner Quasimodo

Go to the thread in the percussion forum for info about real bell ringing

We normally have 4 males (3 ringing, one conductor, who takes the 8th part if needed) and 4 females, so that's about as even as it gets I think. It might well be that we're the exception to the rule though.

Ah, cool. I can imagine that if quite a few are new to it, things could potentially descend into chaos and much hilarity What sort of pieces do you usually tackle out of interest (pardon me being nosey!).

I've rung a handbell...ooo...around about once. Twice at a push

It should be a fun day : and you'll be most welcome to come along Solari!

By the way, as an aside, the Anglesey forum concert in 2007 consisted of 14 participants. Thirteen women, and me

I think the groups in my area are ladies' groups which meet in the afternoons, and as most men work they aren't around. Sarah's group sounds much more fun, with a nice mix of ages and a few men too. No reason why it shouldn't be as "blokey" as any other musical instrument.

h_c, how about arranging a bellringing afternoon in 2010? I expect Saturdays are difficult because of weddings and Sundays because of services, but with a little ingenuity?


Now we know why you're so keen to arrange forum events, Barry!

I'll keep an eye on the thread and see what's happening. As for Anglesey - Hah - that must have been a bit strange at first, hope they didn't give you too much banter

Have transferred this idea to the 2010 thread

In the immortal words of Harold Steptoe, "You dirty ol' man!"

Cool : we'll be able to take applications up to a reasonably late stage. There's no formal closing date, but if the event fills up, we'll have to stop taking applications (that will be around about the 20 people mark)

Great, thanks.

Hm all this talk of handbells reminds me of the Sabriel/Lirael/Abhorsen books. Do they have individual names?

It was a very good first ding



Not sure about mix of ages. There's 6 people around my parents' age or older and there's me, so there's a bit of a gaping hole that would be the 20-45 age group.

Well if I managed to turn up, I could be a token member of that missing demographic

Thanks!



I think the handbell day will have more 20-45s. I'm one...

Hi Barry,

If the PO Box is anything to go by you must be quite close to me Is it possible to put in an application via email and paypal the money over or something instead?

There are almost as many systems in use as there are handbell teams! I've rung from musical notation and from numbers, and I've rung from complete scores and parts only. It all depends how many bells are in the set. The team I used to run had three chromatic octaves split between a dozen ringers ( mostly couples, so mixed male and female) and one score would have been totally unwieldy.

Probably the hardest score I ever rang from was the one for the handbell part of Britten's Noye's Fludde. Lots of very close harmony chords notated on one stave. It was a dickens of a job sorting out where your part was.

I haven't set up a paypal account yet, sorry - but it is something I'll looking into in the future.

You are about to have mail Solari

I have printed and completed my form..but forgot to post it before going to Leeds last Friday. You'll get it in the next day or two.

Cool, thanks DC

The event is filling up quite nicely!

I somehow thought this clash with Chets summer school, but having double-check, it doesn't, so now I can join!

Will try to post the application this or next week...

Wonderful see you there Panthera!

I'm collecting forms from the PO Box tomorrow, and will acknowledge receipt of them over the weekend

Hi Barry, I found my cheque book (gathering dust) so will send a cheque over this weekend to finish off the application!

Great, thanks Solari!

I forgot! Sorry Barry. Hope there are still some spaces left. Will get form/cheque off to you at weekend.

There are spaces DC : I'll collect your form during the course of next week