All Creation Rings! Come celebrate spring with the Madison Area Concert Handbells' three performances of our full-length concert, "All Creation Rings."
Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children. Tickets are available at Borders Books in Madison or at the door. This concert showcases six octaves of handbells, complemented by handchimes, organ, and a wide variety of percussion -- from snare drum to a referee's whistle. Expect some surprises! Our repertoire ranges from ragtime to classical, from spirituals to Sousa. Highlights will include:
Handchimes Wanted Madison Area Concert Handbells would like to thank all of our past contributors
whose generosity resulted in the purchase of handbells. The fund raising
continues! Our next goal is to buy five octaves of handchimes. We are
accepting donations toward this goal. You can send your tax-deductible
donation to the address below. What is MACH? Madison Area Concert Handbells (MACH) was formed in 1997 for highly skilled ringers to share their love of handbells with a wider audience and have an opportunity to perform challenging handbell literature from various genres. Concerts are held each winter and spring with a variety of themes. (See opposite column for this spring's concert details.) In the past four years Madison Area Concert Handbells and ensembles have performed for retirement homes, at Olbrich Gardens, at Monona Terrace, for weddings and holiday parties and live on public radio.This past winter, Madison Area Concert Handbells performed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra at their Holiday Spectacular concert. Madison Area Concert Handbells is the only auditioned community-based handbell group in the area and owns the only six-octave set of handbells in the state of Wisconsin. The present ringers of the Madison Area Concert Handbells range in age from 20 to over 60 and have a total of over 200 years of ringing experience.
To Your Health! The beginning of a handbell rehearsal has a standard routine for many choirs. The ringers greet each other over setting up the bells and music; the director convenes the rehearsal, perhaps with a few announcements; and then the ringing begins. Madison Area Concert Handbells rehearsals, however, have a new component, thanks to Susan Berry's new book, Healthy Ringing for Handbells and Handchimes. At the beginning of rehearsal, the ringers now take turns leading warmup and stretching routines. Simply stated, Berry's book intends to help ringers and directors "play in harmony with handbells, instead of harming themselves with handbells." Berry points out that handbell ringing is a physical workout. Just like other athletes, ringers need to warm up the muscles they will be using ...from head to toe. Healthy Ringing analyzes the muscle groups used in ringing - arm, hand, neck, shoulder, chest, back, leg, foot - and provides exercises for each. A good warmup before a rehearsal includes stretches for each of the groups. Berry outlines preferred practices for posture, breathing, and ringing and damping techniques. A healthy ringer takes care of ears and eyes as well, while a healthy director makes proper use of the voice. Bass bell techniques get their own chapter, as do chimes. Each exercise and technique is described and illustrated by helpful line-drawings. Healthy Ringing appears to be taking the handbell world by storm. Lee Afdahl, who led the AGEHR Mid-Winter Workshop (see article below), referred to the book often during the weekend. The e-mail discussion group, HANDBELL-L, has heard multiple testimonials to Healthy Ringing in recent months. And a Healthy Ringing workshop, led by Susan Berry herself, will be held in West Bend, Wisconsin, on Saturday, April 7, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. For more information about the free workshop, call Sheila Goehring at 262-629-1935. You can order Healthy Ringing by calling Handbell Services, Inc. at 1-800-37-BELLS. Here's to healthy handbell ringers! Mid-Winter Workshop In February, Madison Area Concert Handbells and Asbury Church hosted the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers (AGEHR) Area VII Mid-Winter Workshop at Asbury Church in Madison. About 50 ringers from around the area, some coming from as far away as Lake Mills, La Crosse, and even Minneapolis, enjoyed the expertise and wit of well-known clinician Lee Afdahl. Handbell techniques and extensive sight-reading sessions provided learning opportunities for everyone. FAQ (Frequently Asked Question): How are Handbells Made ? Manufacturing handbells is an intricate process. The shape of the bell is designed to produce a certain fundamental tone and overtones. A pattern called a match plate is formed from the designer's drawing. From this plate, sand molds are made into which pure bronze (which is 80% copper and 20% tin, heated to 2,150o F) is poured. When the bronze hardens, the sand mold is broken away. The bell is then turned on a lathe to a specific shape using a template. The tuning of the bell happens on a lathe as well, cutting from the inside by the hand of an experienced craftsman. The bell's vibrations are tuned with a scope that measures overtones to 1/100th of a semitone. Machine polishing is next, and the handle and clapper are added. The assembled handbell undergoes an indexing procedure to find the best strike point. After buffing to a jeweler's finish, the bell is ready to make music. Handbells range in size from the C8, which is 2" in diameter and weighs 7 oz, to the C2, which is 15.25" in diameter and weighs 15.5 pounds. In 1991, Malmark also developed aluminum bass bells to reduce the weight and create a strong fundamental tone. Though about 30% larger in size, the aluminum bass bells weigh about 2/3 what their bronze counterparts weigh. Future Performances Mark your calendars for our 2001 Holiday concerts planned for Saturday, December 8, at 7:30 pm, at Asbury Church, and Sunday afternoon, December 9, at a time and location to be announced. See our web page or the next issue of our Messenger newsletter for details.
Announcing New Ringers! This past December, interested individuals had the opportunity to audition for Madison Area Concert Handbells. The Audition Committee asked hopefuls to demonstrate handbell techniques, sightreading ability, general musical knowledge, and a variety of other rhythmic tasks. Madison Area Concert Handbells is pleased to welcome two new members, Wendy Milbauer and Julie Koehler. Wendy, a teacher in the Madison area, previously directed a handbell choir in Hartford, Wisconsin for four years. Julie recently moved to Madison from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to attend graduate school. After ringing with her church handbell choir for a few years, she was eager to continue ringing in Madison. Both women have enjoyed ringing with the handbell choirs at Asbury Church. In addition, Madison Area Concert Handbells welcomes back Jon Zimmerman after a year away from the choir. Handbell-ringing enthusiasts interested in auditioning should contact the music director (see contact information on the first page). Auditions will be held the week of May 7 by appointment. Meet Another Area Choir The First Baptist Church Handbell Choir will soon celebrate a quarter century of ringing! To mark their 25th anniversary, prominent composers Cynthia Dobrinski and Lee Afdahl have been commissioned to write music that will be premiered by the choir in December, 2001. The anniversary holds special meaning because of the history of the group's founding. In September of 1976, 7-year-old Michael Nelson died in a tragic backyard accident. His parents, Ann and Vance Nelson, requested that memorials to their son be used to purchase handbells for the First Baptist Church, since Michael loved music and was fascinated by bells. Within two weeks, sufficient funds had been donated to purchase three octaves of handbells, and a new choir came into being. Directed by Vance Nelson, the group played for the first time on Christmas Eve. Since then, the choir has continued to grow and contribute to the musical ministry of the church. Under the direction of Vance and Ann Nelson, they have added two more octaves of bells and three octaves of chimes. Three of the original members still ring with the group. MACH member Alice Teter joined this choir in 1996. If you want us to feature your choir in a future issue of our Messenger, please contact us! |
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