I’m a piano teacher with a degree in music, but I have to cover two handbell classes tomorrow and have never even picked one up! Thanks for the crash course! I feel much better about it now.
You're going to be great! The only thing that might be weird for you as a pianist is going to be the fact that they are a transposing instrument, they're pitched an octave above written pitches. Just in case you're playing piano with them in the future, heads up!
Awesome, glad it was useful. I appreciate you. They're going to be great! Let me know later if any follow-up video topics would be useful to you or necessary for your students. Thanks again, and good luck!
I was asked to join the bell choir, and I didn't know anything about bells. I was placed with the bigger bells, so at first, I couldn't ring them enough to make a sound. It was super stressful lol. This is so helpful and now I feel prepared!! Thank you :)
Happy it was helpful! Yes, the big bells are much slower and harder to ring because they're deceptively heavy! Sometimes I've seen bell choirs put them on what's called a tree (bell tree) and ring them with mallets. Might be a fix if you ever get stationed on big bells in the future and have trouble ringing them. Wishing you success!
Yeah, I know what you're talking about. I mostly just call it "vibrato," most musicians coming from other instruments instinctively know what to do and what I mean when I use that term. And I don't just call for it on final notes, but sometimes long tones as well. I think gyro is specific to endings, although I'll have to double-check. Appreciate you!
Absolutely! Appreciate the feedback, in retrospect I do wish I had started with better markers 😂 If I ever make a part 2 I will not make the same mistake
@@EnHymn Omg, I was not expecting you to be active and actually do it so quickly on a 4 year old video, that's some dedication right there!!! Thanks so much, you're awesome lol. I'm writing a piece for my bell choir so this is very helpful
Yeah, looking back I catch my breath a little watching me put a thumb down on the casting. Even though I know I cleaned them immediately and they weren't impacted, still feels wrong, should always wear gloves. Shelly and Four-in-hand might be fun to get into for a future video!
Hi do you know where I can get cheap affordable bells with the same handles as the bells u play, I have to improve on my grip as well as my shakes but I can’t bring home the bells from my school
The only places I've found good, inexpensive bells is in the used market. I've found some deals on used bells in only three places: eBay, Facebook, and directly from a church or school that didn't want them anymore. Hope that's helpful!
Great! Two quick tips and some thoughts for how I would go about developing a better swing style, hopefully they're helpful! 1. Make sure we're listening to Swing Music: Immerse yourself in swing music to develop a natural feel for the rhythm. Think Big Band, Jazz. Pay attention to how the instruments, especially the drums and bass, create the swing groove. 2. Understand Swing Feel: Swing rhythm is often described as having a "long-short" feel, where the first note in a pair of eighth notes is longer than the second. This creates that laid-back, syncopated groove that people talk about. I'd start with maybe one bell and see if I could apply what you hear in other swing music and this idea of "long-short", just the rhythm, before moving on to two bells, one in each hand. Pick smaller bells so that you don't get tired out too quickly. The exercise I'm thinking of would essentially be something super simple, Then I would make sure I could do the "long-short" rhythm idea in one hand by itself, switch to the other hand by itself, and then pass the rhythm between hands. Then, and only then, would I start to apply this to my actual music. What I would be looking for when applying this to my actual bell music is any eighth notes, that's really where the swing happens. If the eighth note is on the beat it's a long note, and if it's on the "and" it's a short note. Does that make sense?
I don't see why not! May have to wrap it into a video about bell techniques, otherwise it'll be super short. What is giving you trouble with your shake right now?
Couple options, but a lot of it depends on the music scores and the instructions written there. Most of the time, it'll just be a regular shoulder damp, but often with a mart lift you'll see a table damp, especially at the end of a piece. Good question!
Hey Tiffany, thanks for reaching out. I don't want to make any assumptions and would like to give you some valuable advice here. Could you tell me a little about what you want to accomplish? - Maybe what kind of music background you have?
@@EnHymn hi I'm a beginner I play piano and did hand bells once and could keep up music wise .. I just want ones that sound decent for my own enjoyment and the ones necessary . Thank you
@@tswanson23 That's great! I love that you're interested in branching (back) out to Handbells from piano. The best handbell makers are hands down Malmark, Schulmerich, and Whitechapel. In the video in playing a set of Malmark bells. They sound the best and are what bell groups use for performance. HOWEVER... They're stupid expensive ($1,000+) and are hard to get in smaller sets. If you're just doing it for yourself and are on a budget (or just would rather not invest THAT much into a hobby), I've got some ideas for you! I looked it up on Amazon, and there are two pretty promising items I see, although I'm not familiar with either. www.amazon.com/dp/B0046HSTRE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_mLqRBbXQJYA00 These are brass, they're cheap, they seem to sound okay. It's a
Another option to consider: Check Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and EBay for local deals. You might get lucky and catch a church who is getting rid of their HandBells, you never know!
You're starting your mart waaay too high. If you are using ONLY gravity that will work, but most ringers won't control the motion that much. Therefore, you should never start more than a couple of inches above the foam.
Hey Ann. Yes, it would be impractical to start the mart or mart lift that high because it would take too much time to ring. I was exaggerating so everyone could see the basic concept (from so far away), but thanks. In performance, a few inches is the only way to ring, and I would argue against using too much extra force and to allow gravity to do most of the work.
You could maybe use preprinted charts (black on white) with actual copy of what we’d see in music rather than take time to draw on board moving it, erasing it, spell check. Just a thought. We have some displayed on our choir room wall and a printed reference sheet in our music folders. Very helpful. Thank you for your visuals. Very helpful. Handbell ringing is a beautiful art form!
