Bronze & Bells home · Handbell Terms

In a handbell choir, each ringer is responsible for two notes, plus the sharps and flats that go with them, and plays them every time they come up in the music, no matter which part they're in. You're not playing a melody. You're one key on a piano that eleven people are playing at once. So the table is set up like a keyboard, lowest notes on the ringers' left and highest on the right (from the audience it's the other way around, and we have argued about this).

These are the assignments for the Advent concert. The handchimes use the same positions, so whatever bells you ring, you ring the same chimes. Sharps are written with #, and each sharp is also the flat of the note above it (A#4 is the same bell as B-flat 4).

Changes for particular pieces:

• "Lo, How a Rose" and "Still, Still, Still" are handchimes only. Same positions, but the chimes are longer than the bells, so the table gets crowded at the bass end. Irvin and William trade a little elbow room for a little patience.
• "Carol of the Bells" has a fast four-note figure that runs through positions 5, 6 and 7 the whole way through. Patricia, Emma and Jane have been practicing it in the car. Their families have asked me to make it stop.
• "O Come, All Ye Faithful" has Irvin ringing his C4 and D4 "four in hand" (two bells in each hand) so he can cover the low notes with the organ. He's the only one of us who can. He was an engineer for forty years and says it's just leverage.
• If the baby comes early, I will ring position 3 from behind the table and conduct with my head, and everyone will watch my head. Please watch my head.

The Ringers