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March 2006
Welcome to RingTouch--Area III's (AGEHR) digital newsletter with current announcements on events, concerts and bell happenings |
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All Descriptions - Hampton Festival Conference 2006 - March 31-April 1, 2006 Conducting 101: What They See Is What You Get - Agnes French Beginnings, endings and everything in between! How to determine and establish tempo; basic time signature patterns: tempo changes; meter changes; giving cues; and more! Participants will ring for each other. A good introduction for beginning directors and a good brush-up for experienced directors. Bring a baton if you have one, and your music notebooks/stands. First Timers' Meeting - Festival Staff If this is your choir's first experience at an Area Festival - plan to come to this session to learn how to get the most out of the weekend of ringing, classes and concerts. We'll discuss the weekend schedule, tips for selecting classes, what's in the director's packet, the massed ringing experience, and anything else on your mind. Refining Ringing Techniques - Carol Hunter Warm up for the Festival music with some focused technique work. Ringers, come review the basics and improve your contribution to your choir. Directors, polish up your own ringing skills to teach better. Tools for self-evaluation included. Repertoire: Bella Nova - New music from small publishers - Dottie Tweedie You won't find these pieces on a demo CD - This repertoire class highlights new releases from some of the smaller, lesser-known publishers - featuring a variety of pieces from ensemble to 5 octaves, easy to advanced. From here, you'll be able to find more of these small gems on your own... Area III Forum - Charm Peterman, Area III Chair Come to this discussion to share ideas, network resources, and work to enhance what Area III can offer to choirs, ringers, directors, composers. We encourage at least one person from every choir to attend this session!! Bass Bells - Advanced - Lois Hofmann This class will cover many aspects of bass bell ringing from appropriate warm-up exercises to various techniques such as weaving, switching bells while ringing, back-ringing, controlled damp, shake modifications, and assignment options. Practical applications from standard handbell literature will be discussed and rehearsed. Bass bells - Basic Skills - Lois Hofmann This class will introduce various aspects of bass bell ringing (the lower 4th and 5th octave bells - C3 through B3.) Warm-up exercises will be rehearsed and the mechanics of safe bass bell ringing will be discussed. Emphasis will be on proper technique and sound production. Detailed handouts will be supplied. Beyond the Elements - Anacrusis Handbell Ensemble This class is designed for INTERMEDIATE-TO-ADVANCED Ensemble Ringers. Highlights will include weaving, passing, and many different versions of (Traveling) Shelly and (Traveling) Four-in-Hand and Six-in-Hand Techniques. Please bring 2 MALLETS and FOUR (4) or SIX (6) BELLS from within C6-C8 in ascending sequence (such as E6, F6, F#6 and G6 - or - F7,F#7, G7,G#7, A7 and A#7.) BOOMWHACKERS!TM - Nancy Cappel Bring your sense of humor! The class is the same as years before--always lots of fun with a crazy instrument! Everybody rings...er...wacks!! Connecting the Dots: Making Music from Black Dots on White Paper - Agnes French This class will focus on playing our favorite percussion instruments, namely "Handbells," musically. Topics will include legato ringing, phrasing, melodic lines, voice leading, ringing styles and bell assignments - all for maximum musical results. This class is for ringers and directors. Bring your gloves, music notebooks/stands. Dottie's Dots! - Demystifying Dotted Rhythms - Dottie Tweedie Ah! - Behold the power of the dot! Just what does it mean when it comes to counting and rhythm? Bring your gloves as we get a hand-le on dotted halves, quarters and eighths - right-handed and left-handed dots, and more! Do-Re-Mi: An Introduction to Solfege - Laura Douglass Learn another way to "Speak" and "Sign" Music. Enter the world of Do-Re-Mi to understand how this innovative method teaches and enhances sight reading, transposing, and musical skills. Elementary Elements of Ensembles - Anacrusis Handbell Ensemble This class is designed for BEGINNING-TO-INTERMEDIATE Ensemble Ringers. Highlights will include: weaving, passing, and many different versions of Shelly and Four-in-Hand Techniques. Come review your techniques and learn some new ones. Please bring 2 MALLETS and FOUR (4) BELLS from within C6-C8 in ascending sequence (such as F6, F#6, G6 and G#6 - or - A7, A#7, B7 and C8) Fun with Rhythm and Movement - Linda Simms Put the beat in your feet and let's move! Participants in this class will explore and experience rhythm with the use of tennis balls and movement. Just like our rehearsals, teamwork and a sense of humor are necessary! Percussion Petting Zoo - Lynn Bogovich This class will involve total hands-on usage of a plethora of percussion instruments; namely, tympani, snare drum, tambourine, temple blocks, suspended cymbal, crash cymbals, shakers of various sorts, hand drums, ratchets, claves, finger cymbals, wind chimes, triangle, slapstick, jingle bells, castanets, etc. Now is your chance to actually learn to play these instruments. Problem Solving in Music Rehearsals - Carol Hunter What problems are you confronted with during rehearsals? This class will explore possible solutions to problems of a non-musical nature. Ringers and directors alike, come share your needs and your ideas. Ringing the Director's Desires - Zana Kizzee Last year we studied how to ring the composer's desires. This class will give insight and explore the nuances of the director's language with the ringing ensemble through various musical examples. Do you wish to explore the silent musical communication skills between Director and Ensemble? This is the place!! Bring notebooks, mallets, gloves. Rx for Your Tricky Spots - Ellen Moretz The doctor is IN!! Bring your Festival scores with your trickiest page turns, impossible weaving challenges, steamy accidental jungles…will help you work through these troublesome sections in detail. Soon you'll be "right as rain!" Score Study - David Tiller Sight-reading is fun…once! Then it's time to prepare our music beyond the sticks and dots on the page. When we understand the form and patterns in a piece, the true musicality appears. Learn some methods to identify form and structure in the music to help you make each piece come alive as a ringer or director. Bring your Festival music, please. No ringing is involved. S t r e t c h i n g Your Music - Dottie Tweedie This class will explore new ways to add variety and spice to a piece you already have. Make your music sound different without the expense of buying more pieces. Add zip to an otherwise plain piece. Take a Level 1-2 piece up a couple of notches to challenge bored ringers….or to make more difficult music accessible to lesser skilled ringers. Bring gloves, bell notebooks, mallets and pencils! Repertoire: Bells and C Instruments-Linda Simms Expand your repertoire and spice it up by adding other instruments! The music used in this class includes the possible addition of violin, flute, recorder, oboe, keyboard or chimes. Please bring gloves, mallets, and music binders. Repertoire: Easy Does It!! Levels 1 and 2 - Laura Douglass Level 1 and 2 music will be showcased - for choirs to master quickly and ring with excellence!! Repertoire: Handbells and Percussion - Lynn Bogovich Bring your knowledge from the Percussion Petting Zoo class and play the various instruments while other colleagues play the handbells. Now is your chance to be a percussionist. Repertoire: Ring and Sing! Bells and Voices - Zana Kizzee Have you ever wondered what literature is available to ring along with your vocal choir? This class will present repertoire and suggestions for you to successfully combine bells and voices. Come ready to ring and sing! Repertoire: Short and Sweet - Nancy Cappel Musical gems wrapped in small packages! We'll ring through shorter pieces for shorter times in the service! Bring your notebook, gloves & mallets. A Concert to Celebrate 20 Years of Service!! Holy Trinity Lutheran Church celebrates its 20th annual Handbell Concert on May 7 at 7:00. The concert will feature the two songs commissioned for the adult and teenage choirs by Michael Helman (Evening Meditation) and Kath Wissinger (Veritas) and in recognition of all current and former ringers and their families. Bells Beyond the Church As part of our mission to reach out to others with the unique sound of handbells, the HUMRingers of Highland United Methodist Church in Raleigh provided the inmates of the North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women with a concert on December 6, 2005. Many of this group of 13 accomplished adult ringers had been there on other occasions as well. About 200 women were in attendance, many of whom had never seen a handbell choir before. They were a very enthusiastic audience and asked good questions between selections about how we ring, etc. We concluded with several sing-along Christmas carols which they thoroughly enjoyed. Members of Capital Ringers Teach Children to Ring Together By Kathy Ansell 02/15/2006 RSVP If you have something to list in the Area III RingTouch Newsletter, a question or a comment,
please e-mail RingTouch@areaiii.org. Submissions will be included as space permits
and may be edited for content. |
