Hal Hopson's Come Ye Faithful: A Ceremony of Carols

This year my Presbyterian Church's Chancel Choir is presenting their annual Christmas concert on Sunday, Dec 2.

They like to include a sing-along portion to their Christmas concerts & this year, they've chosen to do 4 selections from Hal Hopson's Come Ye Faithful: A Ceremony of Carols, for SATB choir, organ, orchestra, and handbells!

We are doing these 4 selections: O Come All Ye Faithful, We Three Kings, Silent Night, and Hark the Herals Angels.

The handbell parts aren't huge - they only use 16 notes total for the entire suite - but they do add a nice "flavor" to the music. They're a lot like the stuff seen Hal Hopson's The Creative Use of Handbells in Worship book.

Because the Chancel Choir (with 50 or so singers) will actually be using the orchestra - complete with percussion - and organ, plus congregational singing, I decided to double the entire handbell part up an octave (so we're playing the notated pitches, plus the pitches an octave higher).

Here's the neat part: The entire printed part could be played by a single ringer, so this would be a great way for a soloist to take part in a performance. Doubling it up an octave would be a great way for a duet team to participate. We're actually doing it with 4 ringers because I wanted to not only make it super easy for the ringers (since we got the music with such short notice), but also because I want to "show off" the fact that we've got a bell choir and not just me! :-)

More on Mallets

Back on the Handbell Community website, Maryann asked a question about my Mike Balter 23 Rattan mallets:

Which lower bells? I ask because I would love to find great mallets to use for a piece that mallets from C4-Eb5.

My answer included this:

Experiment! There is no one mallet that works on any particular bell 100% of the time -- it depends on the sound you want for that particular music AND it depends on the hall.

This is one reason why it's wonderful to rehearse in the performance space - you can hear what it's actually going to sound like. It's also good to have a variety of mallets so you can make changes as necessary.

Maryann hasn't had a chance to reply to that yet, but when I've said that to people in person in the past, they sometimes look crestfallen. Part of that is because mallets are freakin' EXPENSIVE! Even just plain old handbell mallets are not cheap & here I am recommending that everybody have a collection of mallets!

But honestly, it's supposed to be all about the music, isn't it? The music is best served by having the tools necessary for the job at hand, right?

Well, that includes having a variety of mallets so that you can choose the one that works best in your particular performance situation.

I've purchased mallets for both of my church groups. I've been at my Presbyterian church since October 2002 & at my Episcopal church since September 2004. When I started directing there, both churches had mallets that I considered to be sub-standard.

For my Presbyterian church, I bought a selection of TruTimbre mallets & they work pretty well. (I also got the Comfort Grip handles for the bass mallets.)

However, 2 years later, when it came time to buy mallets for my Episcopal church, I decided to experiment. I went out to Ebay and bought a collection of marimba mallets from a small percussion store. (The entire collection was something like only $80, so it was an easy way to experiment!) I tried out each mallet on a range of bells & then labeled each mallet (I have one of those Brother label printer devices.) with that information. I'm happy with the sound they produce, so I think my experiment was a success!

Both churches' sets are supplemented with the Malmark grey mallets because I think they work really well on the upper bells, especially for suspended malleting.

One other thing: for some passages (such as the suspended mallets in Arnold Sherman's Grazioso) we strike the bell not with the mallet head, but with the other end, the soft rubber handle. We strike it on the rim of the bell, holding the mallet perpendicular to the rim itself. (In Grazioso, the G5 & C5 bells use regular yarn mallets played in the normal fashion.) Using the rubber handle creates a very soft, very ethereal effect, which is what I wanted for that "angels coming down from heaven" passage.

Michèle's Mallets

Whenever I travel, handbell people ask me about my mallets. You see, I don't just use "handbell mallets" because, as a soloist, "handbell mallets" don't meet all my needs. They simply don't cover a wide enough range - and I don't have time to change mallets for one or two notes within a phrase (even if I wanted to). I need to find mallets that cover a wider range while still sounding good.

I have taken my bells to percussion stores and tried out various mallets.

I now have a collection of mallets that includes not only "handbell mallets", but also mallets made for vibraphone, marimba, and even timpani.

I uploaded pics of them to Flickr and have embedded thumbnails below. Click on any of them to view comments and other details.

(The pics also appear in the slideshow in the right-hand nav panel of this blog, along with the rest of my Flickr photos.)

Touch the Sound - Addendum

I almost forgot to mention this!

There's a scene in Touch the Sound - A Sound Journey With Evelyn Glennie in which Fred & Evelyn are experimenting with the different sounds they can make in the abandoned sugar factory.

Evelyn has a pair of Boomwhackers and hits Fred's back with them, then hits him on the head.

It's pretty silly. :-)

Touch the Sound

Tuesday I received my copy of the DVD Touch the Sound - A Sound Journey With Evelyn Glennie.

I have been looking forward to getting this since I ordered it!

After bell choir rehearsal on Tuesday night, I popped it into the DVD player & sat back to let it wash over me.

I was NOT disappointed.

The visuals were simply stunning - the things the director chose to film and how he wove those into the music.... I intend to use some of these ideas when it comes time to film my own DVD (I only wish I had the same budget!!).

One of the highlights of the film was the filming of Evelyn Glennie and Fred Frith recording a completely improvised CD in a sugar factory in Germany. Yes, a completely improvised CD! It's also called Touch the Sound.

Now before I go on, if you didn't click on the links for Evelyn & Fred above, go do it now. They are both incredible musicians and you need to know their work.

OK, did you look? I'll go on now...

Not only was the footage and the music from the session incredible, but another reason why it was so cool is that Fred Frith teaches at Mills College in Oakland. Why is that a big deal?

Because my friend Pam Grove just completed a degree in Handbell Performance there. That's a noteworthy achievement in its own right, because there are only 2 colleges in the US where you can major in handbells. Pam was the first one at Mills and basically created her degree as she went.

Another cool thing is this: Fred Frith played guitar on her senior recital!! Here is this world-class musician, well-known and respected in the world of new music, playing on the senior recital of the first person to major in handbells at Mills!!

AND, a personal bit of coolness -- I shared the stage with Fred! :-)

While I mostly took a supporting role in the recital (read: I was a roadie), I got to play afuche on Peter Gabriel's Shaking the Tree which closed the recital. Fred played guitar. I stood right next to him!!

OK, thanks for letting me be a bit star-struck there, but it really was cool!

Here's a YouTube video of an excerpt from the DVD. This is Evelyn on marimba & Fred on guitar playing A Little Prayer. Look at the incredible camera work! This is the sort of thing I'd like to do for my own video.




(Note in the interest of full disclosure: if you click on the link for the DVD or CD and then buy it, I receive a 4% commission.)

The Choir of Bells - Sunday, Nov. 18, 2007

As you know, I direct bells at 2 Bay Area churches, one of which is Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church in Sunnyvale, CA. Our handbell choir is called "The Choir of Bells" and we played in church this past Sunday morning, for the 10:00am Traditional service.

We played 2 pieces for the Prelude:

Our God, Our Help in Ages Past arranged by Lee J. Afdahl. I made 2 changes to the piece:

1) from the pickup to m. 49, through m. 56 (the chime section), I doubled the melody up *two* octaves on bells. It's a trick I learned from Sonos' director James Meredith - he uses it to great effect in his arrangement of the Spanish piece "Cordoba" - it adds an almost ethereal, crystalline quality to the music. I had to borrow a D8 from a neighboring church (Thanks Dave & Dian!!) but it was totally worth it.

2) I cut m. 57 through beat 3 of 75 (the mallet section). That section never did much for me. :-(

Immediately after that, the organist played a short piece (Festive Processional on 'Now Thank We All Our God' by Michael Burkhardt), then we played Procession and Hymn by Andrea Handley, which yes is the same piece my other bell choir played last week. Again, I had it put into the bulletin as Praise to the Lord, the Almighty!

For the Offertory, we played Philip L. Roberts' arrangement of Holy, Holy, Holy from pages 59 & 60 of Volume 2 of his book Hymns for Handbells along with the piano. We played the first verse (page 59) entirely on chimes. For the second verse (page 60), we switched to bells AND 3 sopranos from the Chancel Choir (vocal) sang the descant out of the hymnal. I had them stay in their seats, so the singing seemed to come from nowhere & everywhere at the same time, like the proverbial "Choir of Angels". Simply lovely! Judging from the many comments I received after the service, the congregation really enjoyed it, too. :-)

Finally, we joined the Chancel Choir on their anthem Jubilate Deo (Psalm 100) by Dale Wood. The score calls for organ, handbells, finger cymbals, triangle, tambourine, and suspended cymbal. Members of the Choir of Bells played all the percussion instruments. It was the first time we'd ever done anything with the Chancel Choir & so it took a bit more time to put together than we would have liked -- the singers were not accustomed to the time delay between the 2 groups (especially since the Choir of Bells plays from the Sanctuary floor while the Chancel Choir is up in the Chancel), but we managed. We also got lots of compliments from members of the congregation for this one - with the comment that the bells could be louder!

We are considering doing more things together, which I love to do - I love to include other instruments with bells. I think it makes my ringers much more flexible (and they have to be pretty flexible with me as their director! LOL!) to have to account for an outside instrument or vocalist, being aware of how they phrase and really *listening* for how the various musical lines relate to each other.

Kiriku in concert

On Friday night, Brian & I, along with our friends Gretchen & Kevin, drove up to Lafayette to see the Japanese group "Kiriku" in concert. Others have reviewed the concert - both on the Handbell-L and on the Handbell Community website, so I won't do a full-fledged review here, other than to say that Jim Atchison was right when he said "Those who miss the concert will never understand the loss."

Kiriku was formed and is led by Ms. Taiko Ostubo, a protege of the late Japanese handbell director Mr. Katsumi Kodama. If you didn't click on her link in the previous sentence, go do it now (don't worry; it's in English); I'll wait here for you....

Did you see that? She played in the first-ever handbell concert at Carnegie Hall! She played at the White House for the Reagans! Her group "Chamber Ringing Soloists" played with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra!!

Taiko is known throughout Japan as a handbell artist. People there view handbells as a real musical instrument largely because of her efforts. As an artistic director, she is uncompromising in her demand for musicality - and it shows in the results she gets.

I have to tell a funny story now.

Last year, Taiko came to the US to ring with Sonos. Yes, she commuted from Tokyo to San Francisco several times over the course of 6 months or so to rehearse and perform with us. On one of her visits, she was staying at my house (she is a wonderful house guest!). I was taking Japanese language lessons on Monday nights at the Soko Gakuen in downtown San Francisco & Taiko decided to come with me.

I was in the Beginning 1 class, so Taiko wandered around the school a little bit until she found the Advanced class. The students there were practicing their conversational skills by playing a sort of game. Each person had to say 3 sentences, one of which was not true, and the other people had to guess which one was false.

Taiko's sentences?

"I have met the Emperor of Japan."
"I have met the President of the United States."
"I have met Mother Theresa."

Here's a pic of me with Taiko and Stephanie Wiltse (who flew in from Michigan just for the concert!):



and here's the rest of the set of photos from the concert.

Update to an Update

In response to UPDATE #1 of this post: Psalm 133 by Kris Anthony is a very beautiful piece with some interesting harmonies & I intend to ask Kevin if we can play it in Bronzewood Paedeia, but it's not in "a modern idiom" as I meant the term.

So, to be clear, how do I define "a modern idiom"? Well, that's a hard definition to pin down simply because the music it describes consists of many different styles. I think the Wikipedia article on "Contemporary Classical Music" describes what I'm talking about.

First, it gives some background:

At the beginning of the 20th century, composers of classical music were experimenting with an increasingly dissonant pitch language, which sometimes yielded atonal pieces. Following World War I, as a backlash against what they saw as the excesses of Romanticism, composers adopted a neoclassic style, which sought to recapture the elegance and emotional distance of the classical era. After World War II, modernist composers sought to achieve greater levels of control in their composition process (e.g., through the use of the twelve tone technique and later total serialism). At the same time, conversely, composers also experimented with means of abdicating control, exploring indeterminacy or aleatoric processes in smaller or larger degrees. Technological advances led to the birth of electronic music. Experimentation with tape loops and repetitive textures contributed to the advent of minimalism. Still other composers started exploring the theatrical potential of the musical performance (performance art, mixed media, fluxus).

The article then talks about the musical trends that have emerged since the late 1970s:

Since the 1970s there has been increasing stylistic variety, with far too many schools to count, name or label. However, in general, there are four broad trends.

* The first is the continuation of modern avant-garde musical traditions, including experimental music.

* The second are schools which sought to revitalize a tonal style based on previous common practice.

* The third focuses on non-functional triadic harmony, exemplified by composers working in the minimalist and related traditions.

* Influence of the computer. Contemporary music composition has been altered with growing force by computers in composition, which allow for composers to listen to renderings of their scores before performance, compose by layering performed parts over each other and to disseminate scores over the internet.

After that, it goes into detail about these four broad trends.

Now, what *I* mean by "in a modern idiom" does NOT include point #2 above: "a tonal style based on previous common practice". Most music written for handbells today falls into this category. Much of is is very good, mind you - I am definitely NOT saying that this music is without purpose or value or doesn't deserve to be played! Far from it!

What I am saying is that I want to broaden the sonic pallet of handbells to include the other 3 points above, specifically as it relates to solo handbells. If I want to do that, I have to seek out music that does so. If that music isn't already there to be found, then I must cause it to be created somehow, whether that's by writing it myself, or commissioning it from other composers.

So, does anybody know of any music for solo handbells written in a modern idiom other than the 4 pieces I've already mentioned in this post?

NOTE: I haven't seen or heard Derek's piece yet, so don't know if it fits into my description. Once I've seen/heard the piece, I'll probably post another update!

Dare to Be Stupid

I am a fairly active poster to the Handbell-L mailing list. I tend to share not only my ideas and successes, but also my questions and failures. Over the years, various people have asked me why I am so open about those things in a public forum. I've come up with various answers such as, "I think it helps everybody move forward" or "I don't believe we should exist in a vacuum", but today I ran across something that really said what I wanted to say perfectly.

It was, of all things, an annotation to a web comic that I read regularly. The comic is Irregular Webcomic. The author of this Lego-based comic, Sydney physicist David Morgan-Mar, has several story lines running simultaneously & often tells some pretty esoteric (read: geeky) jokes. Most of his daily strips feature some sort of annotation to either explain the joke, or to muse about various things. Today's annotation did both.

Here's the annotation in its entirety:

I don't have much to say specifically about today's comic, but I do have something to say today.

I come up with ideas.

Lots of ideas. Lots of bad ideas. A few good ones. And some that are pretty bad as they stand, but which have the germ of something much better inside.

I was recently (as in today, as I write this annotation, which is about a month ago by the time this comic appears) lamenting the fact that I haven't been invited to a wedding for going on 2 years, and that I don't know anybody for whom marriage is a reasonable possibility in the near future. One of the things I really enjoy about weddings is the opportunity for photography. I have a lovely new camera and some pretty good lenses, and would like to give them a workout at a wedding some time.

The idea struck me that I could get up on a Saturday morning, dress in a suit and tie, head out to a nearby church, and just hang around waiting. Eventually a groom and his retinue would show up - they usually arrive pretty early, well before most of the invited guests. I could approach the lucky fellow and make an offer:

Hi, I'm an amateur photographer who lives nearby; here's my card with my contact details. I'm trying to improve my wedding photography, so I was wondering if you'd mind if I just hung out and took photos during your wedding. I'll be discreet, I won't get in the way of anyone, I won't be using a flash, and I'm dressed like a guest so your official photographer won't get ruffled feathers. I won't follow anyone away from the church - I don't want to crash your reception! And I'll send you a free CD with a copy of all the photos I take, no strings attached.

Now, depending on your own reaction, you're either thinking this is actually a very cool idea, or that there's no way you'd trust some stranger making a request like this. This, as it stands, is in fact a moderately bad idea. It has the potential to make people paranoid on their wedding day, which is not a good thing.

But the thing with me is that this doesn't stop me sharing the idea with people. I posted this idea to my blog, asking people what their reaction would be - while pointing out that I wasn't seriously considering trying it out; I was just sort of thinking out loud.

A few people posted comments saying it sounded cool and they'd take up such an offer, but many pointed out the weirdness aspect, and one guy wondered if I might be an ex-boyfriend of his bride-to-be doing some crazy stalking thing. About what I expected.

But one person suggested an alternative: Approach the pastor of the church with some business cards and the same story, and ask if he would share the idea with couples planning to be married at the church. This way each couple would have time to consider the offer and make a joint decision, it would be much less intimidating, and (very important) there'd be no strange surprise on their wedding day.

Suddenly my somewhat dodgy idea has been turned into something that is actually a pretty good idea!

My point here is not about weddings or photography, but about the process of creating good ideas. The best way to create good ideas is not to sit around by yourself trying to think of good ideas. Rather, it's to think up mediocre or even downright bad ideas, and to share them with other people. Collective human ingenuity is much more powerful than any individual. Given a seed of an idea, someone else can adapt it, apply a different perspective, or use it to spark something else entirely that they never would have thought of by themselves.

The corollary of this is that it's a good thing to share your bad ideas. We all come up with crazy sounding stuff sometimes. Many of us never share it with anyone, because we're afraid of sounding stupid, or being ridiculed. But sharing your bad ideas liberates them; it puts them out there into the collective idea-space, where they can attract the attention of someone who might just be able to give it the right twist to turn it into something good.

A more concrete example can be found on my own website. A while ago I had an idea for another comic. I thought it would be cool, but I mostly dismissed doing it as it would take a significant amount of time - a commodity I have in short supply. But rather than ditch it, I mentioned the idea to some friends of mine. They loved it, and suggested sharing the workload of writing and constructing the comics amongst all of us. Thus was born Darths & Droids.

I want to generalise this a little bit now. The best way I can think of to generalise it is to quote the title of a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic:

Dare to be Stupid.

The lyrics of the song are unimportant (though funny). The principle is that you should not be afraid of sounding stupid. If you have an idea or a suggestion for something, let people know about it. It may merely be mildly amusing in a "how stupid" way, sure, but it may also be the catalyst for something incredibly cool. If you don't risk sounding stupid, you never get the cool.

There's another context in which this general principle of "daring to be stupid" applies.

Have you ever been in a school classroom, or a university lecture theatre, or wherever you are supposed to be learning things, and either:

1. You thought the teacher made some sort of mistake, and wonder if anyone else has noticed, or if anyone would point it out? - or
2. Suddenly there's some point the teacher is trying to make that you don't understand, and you sit there confused, hoping someone will ask for clarification?

And then, lo, a fellow student puts a hand up and asks the question. "Sorry, have you made a mistake there?" Or "Sorry, I didn't understand that last point - can you go over it again?" And the teacher realises that there is indeed a mistake, or that something wasn't explained properly, and fixes it.

That student is daring to be stupid. By calling attention to himself, he runs the risk that his fellow students will think him an idiot. But you know what? That student is the smartest student in the class. Because he doesn't want to be left behind, he doesn't want to misunderstand something, and he wants to know if that mistake is a mistake in the teacher's writing or in his understanding. That student, by daring to be stupid, assures that he doesn't end up actually stupid.

I went through school and university several years ago. I graduated fairly successfully and I now have a doctorate in physics and a good job doing scientific research that interests me. One of the most important things I learnt in my education was to dare to be stupid. I used to be fairly unassuming as a child, and didn't want to draw attention to myself. I didn't want the other kids to think I was being stupid by asking questions in class.

But I was curious enough and eager enough to learn to start asking questions when I didn't understand something. That kid who always points out when the teacher makes a mistake on the board? That was me. The one who stops the teacher and asks for a better explanation when most of the class have just been bamboozled by something that was difficult to follow? That was me. The other kids would just sit there.

In university it wasn't always me - there were other students who raised their hands and interrupted the lecturer. And helped both themselves and everyone else in the class by doing so. Several of the people who ended up doing the same difficult university courses I did had got there by daring to be stupid.

I've learnt many lessons in life. Today, this one was reinforced in me by my now habitual tendency to share my bad ideas. It led to a much better idea. And now I have another good idea (that's two good ideas from the one bad idea I had this morning): to share it with all of you. So I've co-opted this comic's annotation to bring you this story. The moral? I'm sure you know it by now.

(And just for the sake of completeness, here's a link to the comic to which this annotation belongs.)

Seen on the Jeffers site!

I went out to the Jeffers website today to search their catalog for something & saw this!



How cool is that? Right on the front page!

The Trinity Ringers - Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007

I direct bells at 2 Bay Area churches - one of which is Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Menlo Park, CA. Our handbell choir is called "The Trinity Ringers" and we played in church this past Sunday.

This church has 2 morning services. There's an 8:30am "Peace Service" and a 10:30am "Joy Service".

We played for the 10:30 service & played one piece for the Prelude: Procession and Hymn by Andrea Handley. I listed it in the bulletin as "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty". It's a neat arrangement in that the first bit can be used as a processional (and we did that when we played this piece in concert 2 years ago), but also in that the "introduction" is 47 measures long! You don't hear the melody until measure 48, then you hear it once and the song is done. It's very exciting with lots of "rocking" 8th notes (that's like a rocking chair, not like rock music). The excitement build up until the climax of the piece when the text says, "Let the aMEN sound from his people again!" - the "MEN" is the climax of the piece - the first (and only) time the rhythmic motion comes to a stop and everybody plays a dotted half note, then continues. It's a singularly breathtaking moment in the piece.

We also played the Anthem/Offertory: Ring Alleluia by Howard F. Starks. An older piece & an original composition rather than an arrangement, I added a little bit of octave doubling in a few places to fill it out, and we played it at a tempo of about 160 - very vibrant and joyful! It's interesting because the main melody is played mostly by the D5-A5 ringers - a challenge for the upper treble who are used to always having the melody, but now must play harmony & descant.

A few years ago, we were gifted with a box full of handbell music from a church in Arizona. I'm not very clear how we received the music from this particular church, as the gift was given the summer immediately before I started directing there - so when I started, the box was already there. We dutifully sorted & catalogued all the music & I have found it to be a rich source of material for us -- so many jewels that are now POP (Permanently Out of Print) or POD (Print on Demand) - like the Starks piece.

Most of these pieces were written in a time before there were notational standards - such as the C5 always being in the bass clef, or articulation markings as we now know them - so it is sometimes a challenge for my ringers when we start working on a piece, but I think it's good for them to encounter music like this & learn to interpret the markings.

This music also seems to have a quality of excitement - composers were still learning how to use handbells to best effect and that sense of discovery shows through in the music.

Pictures added

Now that I'm finally settling down into my new laptop - I got a Gateway tablet PC with Vista - I uploaded a bunch of pics from PASIC to Flickr. They're not the best pictures - I am no photographer; my talents lie elsewhere - but they do show some cool stuff, if I say so myself. :-)

I updated several of the previous posts to include the pictures:

Emmanuel Séjourné & Chung Ang [PASIC - Nov 1 (Part 6)]
Classes & Concerts [PASIC - Nov 2 (Part 4)]
Last day of PASIC - Nov 3
Home on Tuesday

Enjoy!

Bass Chimes - PASIC Addendum

While I was at PASIC, I saw some REAL bass chimes in the exhibit hall!

Home on Tuesday

As I previously posted, my husband arrived in Columbus on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, we got up at the crack of dawn (thank goodness it was the time change weekend!) and drove an hour to get to Faith Lutheran Church in Mount Vernon, OH, where I played for their 8:00 & 10:30 services.

UPDATE: Here are some pics!



It's kind of funny how I ended up there...

Back in Sept 2006, I played a concert in my hometown. My mom hung posters up in a nearby town. Art, one of the ringers at Faith Lutheran, was in the area visiting his daughter, saw the poster and came to my concert. Then in May 2007 I was in the Cleveland area for a workshop & concert. Art came to the workshop along with another ringer (Jen) and their director (Shelley). Shelley had tried to get me to come to her church that weekend, too, but I was booked in Upper Sandusky instead. So when I knew I was going to be in the Columbus area this past week, I asked Shelley if she still wanted me & her answer was a resounding "YES!"

From the "It's a small world after all" department -- another interesting thing about that church: my accompanist was organist Fred Lewis. At one point he asked me, "Have you ever played anything by a composer named 'H. Dean Wagner'?" "Dean?" I asked, "Sure! I've known Dean for years & love his music!" It turns out that Fred was Dean's organ teacher!

I've often said that one of the best things about my job is that I get to travel to so many places, meet so many cool peoople, and see so much neat stuff. Faith Lutheran has a "New Testament Stone Garden". Absolutely fascinating! The Knox County Visitor's Bureau has a description of it:

The Faith Lutheran Church is home to the New Testament Stone Garden, which is arrangements of stone designed to illustrate biblical passages. The New Testament refers to stone 48 times in 11 books. The Stone Garden focuses on 14 of these references. Throughout the journey in the Garden, visitors can read the reference passages cut into stone and discuss their significance to the surrounding stones during a guided tour. Started in the late 1960s, the stone collection ranges in weight from less than one pound to stones weighing more than 8,000 pounds and coming from all over the world. The Garden is open year-round and guests are encouraged to visit during daylight hours. A 60 to 90 minute guided tour is available by contacting the church.

Brian got some nice pictures of it, so after he's gone through them and uploaded them to Flickr, I'll link to them here.

After the church services & after visiting the garden, we drove down to Morrow, OH, to have dinner with my mom. We spent all day Monday with her, too, then drove back to Columbus early Tuesday morning to fly home.

I direct rehearsal on Tues nights & we were supposed to land in San Jose at 4:35 which is plenty of time to get to rehearsal. Unfortunately we had a short layover in Denver & our plane had a mechanical issue, so we were given another - and had to change from gate B28 to B31. A few minutes after we got there, they said that that plane also had an issue, so we were given yet another one & had to change to gate B39. After sitting there for about an hour, they told us that that plane was also unsuitable so they ended up fixing our original plane & we all headed back to B28. Meanwhile, we were delayed so much that I cancelled rehearsal. I phoned as many people as I had phone numbers for (note to self: update phonebook!) and Brian sent an email to everybody that he had an address for. I also asked the church to put up a sign on the door just in case I didn't manage to reach everybody. I hope we got everybody in time....

And just for my friend Martin:

* here's the plane we took from CMH to DEN
* and here's the plane we took from DEN to SJC

In other news: Sunday night after dinner, my laptop died. Won't even power up. We suspect it's a loose CPU. All my data is there, but I can't access it right now. I plan to go get a new laptop on Wed morning; I need an upgrade anyway, but it's still annoying. Thank goodness for fancy phones! My Treo has kept me connected (I'm actually composing this entry on it), even tho I don't have access to my email history or a few files. (Most of my files are stored at home on the server, but I had made some updates which are still on the laptop.) I hope to be back up and running by the end of this week!

[UPDATE: My miracle-worker husband revived my laptop. He had to take the whole thing apart & reseat the video card & one of its daughter cards, as well as the CPU, but it's running again. I'm still going to get a new one, but at least I have access to all the stuff on this one again. WOO-HOO!]

Last day of PASIC - Nov 3

I forgot to mention this in the post about Neil Grover's master class, but he talked about his flight to Columbus from Boston. He said that he had packed a bunch of his orchestral triangles into his carry-on bag. When the bag went through the x-ray machine, the TSA agent asked him, "What have you got in there?" He replied, "Triangles". The agent replied, "Don't be a wise-ass!"

Today I bought:
*) another cymbal stacker
*) a bunch of CDs:
"Five (and-a-half) Gardens" by So Percussion
"I Ching" by Marta Klimasara
"Animato" by Jasmin Kolberg (Marta is a performer)
"Marimba Meets the Classics" by Naoko Takada
(I didn't notice right away that there was an English translation on the back, so I was reading the Katakana: To Kaa Ta To Fuu Ga - Oh! That's "Toccata and Fugue"!


I took some classes:
Timpani Fundamentals The teacher was not so good. He assumed we knew things and skipped over other things, etc.
Keyboard fundamentals This teacher was good. There was also an excellent discussion on sight reading. I learned that, when I hold 2 mallets, I use the "Traditional" grip, which is favored by Keiko Abe and others. Some keyboard percussionists use the Burton grip, and still others use the Stevens grip.


I attended some concerts:
Mi Youne Kim on marimba. Very sensitive musically & very graceful.
So Percussion from Yale University. Incredible sounds and cross-rhythms. They even had a small set of those color-coded desk bells that they struck with a hard mallet.
Marimba Ayim from the University of Florida. A Guatemalan marimba group.

I took some pictures & will post them soon. It turns out that I *do* have the cable - duh, I was looking in the wrong accessories bag! - and will upload them to Flickr sometime soon.

Update: Here are some pictures I took. Click on them to go to Flickr & see the descriptions, etc.:




However, my husband just arrived here - we're going to go visit my mom tomorrow & Monday before returning home on Tuesday - so I might not get to it right away....

Classes & Concerts [PASIC - Nov 2 (Part 4)]

Today they were offering free hearing tests as part of a "Health and Wellness" focus. They've also had classes on ergonomic playing techniques and similar things.

I had my hearing tested & while I fall within normal adult human parameters, I still know that I've lost some hearing since last year. You see, in April of 2006, when Sonos was returning from a concert in Oklahoma City, I suffered from severe barotrauma. So severe that both of my eardrums ruptured. They put me on antibiotics to prevent infection (they mentioned the possibility of needing "timpanic transplants" if I got an infection), but then there were complications - I was allergic to the antibiotic and ended up in the ER with hives so severe that I still have scars on my legs & face.

The barotrauma kept recurring every time I would fly & so I had tubes put into both ears so that I can fly without pain. To this day, I still feel like my ears are "stuffed up", even though I pass the hearing tests. I know that I've lost hearing because I now have real trouble picking out voices from background noise. If I'm in a large-ish room & there are lots of people talking, I can't pick out individual voices - it's all one big mush of sound. I have to be right in front of the person speaking & have to watch their lips.

The people doing the hearing tests today saw my tubes - the one in my left ear is still there (I knew that because when I blow my nose, air comes out of my ear), but the one in my right ear is laying in my ear canal. The nurse couldn't tell if it was still attached with a flap of skin or if it was just laying there & she recommended that I make an appointment with my ENT doctor, which I shall do right away.

Now when I fly, I use a pair of Ear-Planes pressure-regulating ear plugs, plus I have an Ear Popper, plus I always use a spray nasal decongestant, just in case.

Anyway, after the hearing test, I attended a showcase concert by Polish multi-percussionist Marta Klimasara who was simply OUTSTANDING. She played 4 pieces for solo marimba and 3 pieces for other types of percussion including Tambourines (1987) by Rupert Kettle. The piece uses 4 tambourines - one of which she played with her feet! - and was eye-opening (ear-opening?). Such sensitivity and passion from a tambourine!

The Northwestern University Percussion Ensemble joined her onstage for Marimba Spiritual (1989) by Minoru Miki, for solo marimba with percussion ensemble. A fine example of the wonderful and innovative Japanese writing for marimba, it utilized spoken word as well as percussion. Very effective.

After the concert, I attended the "Recreational Drumming Workshop" which turned out to be a class on Dalcroze Eurhythmics! It was very similar to a class by Tim Waugh and was a lot of fun. Having taken similar classes before, I kind of knew what to expect, so I did a lot of people-watching.

Then it was time for the "Symphonic Emeritus Concert". For this, symphonic percussionists Alan Abel, John H. Beck, Anthony Cirone, Arnie Lang, Stanley Leonard, Salvatore Rabbio, and Gerald Unger all together played a bunch of symphonic excerpts - with CD accompaniment. In between the excerpts, they explained a bit about why that excerpt was chosen and what to watch for, as well as a bit of their own performance philosophies.

UPDATE: Here is a picture of them all on stage. Click on it to go to Flickr and see the description, etc.:



Following that, I sat in on the "World Showcase Concert" featuring the Fort Lewis College Percussion Ensemble playing the "Music of Lou Harrison's American Gamelan". I really can't adequately describe the instrument, so go to the Wikipedia link. I loved the low tones they were able to produce - how I'd love to have some of those to use with my bell choirs!

Then I sat in on a bit of the Clinic/Performance by marimbist Anne-Julie Caron. She was wonderful, but I realized I hadn't eaten for 6 hours and my stomach was grumbling, so I left and went to dinner.

Original Solos in a Modern Idiom [PASIC - Nov 2 (Part 3)]

I posted the following to the Handbell-L today:

*******

* Subject: Original solos in a modern idiom?

Being here @ PASIC has really inspired me. I'd love to play & teach here, but realize that my repertoire is a bit scant.

So I am asking for The Great Handbell-L Research Team for help! :-)

Does anybody know of any pieces for solo handbells that are written in a modern, contemporary classical idiom?

I know of 4 such pieces, all of which I either commissioned, or caused to be written in some way:

Summer Wind (1999) by James Hirt, for solo bells & flute

The Buffoons' Troth (2002) by Paul Allen, for solo bells with woodwind quintet

Relentless (2002) by James Meredith, for multi-percussion solo (handbells, cymbal, drum, & triangle) and cello

and the 4 movement piece Die vier Städte von Südliechtenstein (2007) by Matthew Prins, for solo bells & harp

Are there any others?

*******

UPDATE: Stephanie Wiltse suggested Psalm 133 by Kris Anthony.

UPDATE #2: Derek Hakes says that his piece Before the Day Breaks and the Shadows Flee will be published by STEP next year.

More shopping [PASIC - Nov 2 (Part 2)]

Today I bought:

*) a pair of Sabian light finger cymbals. I used to have a pair of nice Zildjians, but they seem to have gravitated to Sonos - which is ok; Sonos uses them fairly often & needed a good pair. I checked the Zildjian booth to see if they had any, but they didn't bring any to the show. Neither did Paiste. A lot of general percussion vendors had "Tibetan Finger Cymbals" - they must be "in" right now - but they didn't have the sound I wanted, so when I went to the Sabian booth & they had regular Western-style, I bought them right then.

*) a Gibraltar boom arm extension, which I hope to use for the drum for Relentless.

*) a pair of Mike Balter Ensemble 13 mallets. I love how these sound on low-tenor/high-bass bells. You can see me using a pair of them in this video (warning: it's a BIG file, so will take a while to download).

*) the Stuart Marrs on Elliott Carter DVD. It's an instructional DVD for timpani, but I got it because it's got some really cool camera work in it. I want to review it for ideas for my DVD.

*) a Beatnik Rhythm Analyzer. This device tests you on rhythm. Not only will it give you patterns to repeat, but - and this is a big reason why I bought it - you can program rhythms into it. It took me a while to explain to the booth attendant what I wanted to do with it. I gave him an example:

Say we have a rhythm: One Two Three And Four And One And Two And Three E And A Four Dee Tay Duh Luh. I want to play ONLY on [the ones with parentheses] (One) Two Three (And) Four (And) (One) And Two (And) Three (E) And A Four Dee Tay Duh (Luh).

Once he understood what I wanted to do, he showed me that the machine will indeed allow me to do that, easily! I can't wait to use it - and to let my students try it.

*) a Trigger Triangle. I'm going to need to buy another cymbal stacker tomorrow, but the idea is to mount all three cymbals on the stand, then put the 3rd stacker at the top, to which I'll mount the triangle. The drum will be on the boom arm extension. I hope it works!

Lonely, Redux [PASIC - Nov 2 (Part 1)]

I was walking from the vendor exhibit hall to a session when a young man stopped me and asked, "Hey! Are you the handbell director at Trinity Church??"

It turns out that he's the son of one of my ringers! He's a percussionist at a school here in Columbus (can't remember which school, argh!) and is attending PASIC.

He seemed really surprised to see me!

Emmanuel Séjourné & Chung Ang [PASIC - Nov 1 (Part 6)]

The evening concert tonight was a double-header. The first half was supposed to be Emmanuel Séjourné, head of the percussion program at the Strasbourg Conservatory in France. However, Emmanuel told the audience that he doesn't like to play solo, so he shared the stage with Quebeçois marimbist Anne-Julie Caron (who will be playing her own solo concert tomorrow) and with the NYU Northwest University Percussion Ensemble.

It was a really nice performance - Emmanuel and Anne-Julie did some marimba duets & Emmanuel played vibes to Anne-Julie's marimba, then he accompanied her on piano for one of his own compositions.

Then the did something cool - Emmanuel & 3 members of the NYU Northwestern University Percussion Ensemble came out & stood at the front of the stage, then the lights were dimmed so it was nearly pitch black. Each of the 4 performers had 2 lighters in their hands. Yes, cigarette lighters. They "sparked" them in various rhythms and in various sequences & lit some of them, also in various rhythms and sequences & also positions (ie. hands overhead, etc.). It reminded me of change ringing, actually!

The second half of the concert was Percussion Ensemble Chung Ang. I have some pics of this group, but I forgot my camera-to-computer cable at home, so it will have to wait until I get back and they are posted below! (Click on the pic to go to Flickr and see the descriptions, etc.)

A professional percussion troupe that performs traditional Korean drums, dance, and song, they were FABULOUS! They did a processional to start off. Each performer was wearing a hat with a ribbon attached. As they played & danced, they moved their heads around such that the ribbons went flying - kind of like the eurhythmic gymnastics you see at the Olympics.

After the ribbon guys, another group came out with some double-headed drums. They sat on the floor to play these. It seemed to be a kind of "call and response" setting. There was a leader & she gave hand & vocal signals to the group for when to change rhythms and patterns.

After them came the big floor drums - kind of like Japanese Taiko. These guys used one big stick and one smaller, flatter stick to beat the drums. The 2 sticks had different tones, of course, and they were just as theatrical in their presentation as a Japanese Taiko group would be. (The guys in the back row had REALLY big sticks - wait 'til you see the pics Here are the pics!)

Encouragement [PASIC - Nov 1 (Part 5)]

While I was waiting outside the hall for tonight's evening concert, I saw timpanist Jonathan Haas walk by. He performed the Philip Glass piece at last night's concert & was the one who had difficulty getting funding for his Carnegie hall debut (in fact, the funding came AFTER the Carnegie recital because the foundation people were there & liked his performance!).

He was alone, so I went up to talk to him. (Yes, I'm shy - can't you tell?)

I introduced myself and told him that I enjoyed his performance and that he was an inspiration to me. He asked me some questions about handbells, so I basically gave him an impromptu lesson right there! I had left my bells in the hotel room, so I had to demonstrate with my pen, but he immediately understood what I was talking about with the difference between "active wrist" and "passive wrist" and using the fingers to make the bell strike.

He said that when his orchestra has had to use handbells in the past, the owners of the bells made them wear gloves. I said, "Oh don't even talk to me about gloves!" and explained about how gloves are to protect YOU from the bells, not the other way around.

Then, Joseph Conti, one of Jonathan's former students who is now with the Milwaukee Symphony came up & Jonathan introduced us. Joseph said that the MSO has played with handbells before on their holiday concerts (a group from Concordia, I think is what he said) and that it was wonderful - the audiences really love it!

Anyway, I explained to Jonathan why I was at PASIC - to figure out where I might fit in with handbells. We talked a little bit about what I do & the music I play & he told me that he expects me to be there next year teaching and/or performing. "Make it happen!" he said.

A little later, I was in the concert hall waiting for the show to start & struck up a conversation with the man behind me. His name is Brian Johnson & he's the President of the Vermont Chapter of the PAS. He was very interested in hearing about handbells, too, and when I said that I wanted to play at PASIC, he said, "Why not? It's percussion!" and encouraged me to pursue it, too.

I think that's cool. Nobody has said, "Well that's just a toy" or "Handbells?!?" Everybody has been very encouraging.

It's interesting, though. When I mention handbells, people ask me about changing ringing -- I had no idea that so many people knew what that even was!

A Little Shopping [PASIC - Nov 1 (Part 4)]

I want to play "Relentless" (the piece I commissioned from James Meredith & which is featured on my new CD Chimera) more often so I've been thinking of how I can make it more "portable".

The piece requires 2 sets of bells (G4-G6, plus an A6 & an A#7), plus 3 cymbals, one drum, and a triangle. It's a real pain to set up all those cymbal stands & get them placed just right over the bell tables. It takes a long time & it's a lot of stuff to drag around.

So, I bought some "cymbal stackers" - short lengths of metal tubing which will let me put all 3 of my cymbals on one stand. The drum will still need to be on a stand (unless I can figure out how to eliminate the stand??). This means I will only have to set up 2 stands instead of 4! Yay!

The next thing I'm looking for is a triangle mount that will let me mount it on the cymbal stand too (I might need another stacker) plus keep it from spinning. Right now, I use a banana holder thingy, which I have to weight down with a small 1-lb. handweight so that it doesn't fall over when I strike the triangle. Plus, the triangle spins and waves around & I'd prefer it stay in position. Basically, I want one of these.

I also bought the Keiko Abe biography "A Virtuosic Life". Keiko Abe is a real inspiration to me - she is almost single-handedly responsible for bringing the marimba from a folk instrument to a respected symphonic instrument. She worked with instrument manufacturers to technically develop the instrument as well as with composers to create more music for it. It is largely because of her work that people can actually go to school and major in marimba and have careers as marimba solo artists.

That's why I'm here at PASIC. These people understand what I want for handbells.

Lonely [PASIC - Nov 1 (Part 3)]

This morning, I was feeling pretty lonely. When I go to handbell events, there are usually several people there that I know by sight, and several others whose names I know & who know me, too. But here I am, by myself at a percussion event where I don't know *anybody*!

As I was waiting outside the door to go into the tambourine master class, I happened to look at the name tag of a woman standing near me. I noticed it said "Terre Haute, IN" and I thought, "I've played there!". Then I looked at the name on the tag: "Susan Pell". I looked up at her and our eyes met. Just as I said, "Are you related to Doris?", she said, "Handbells!" Turns out that she's Doris' daughter & Doris was the one who hosted my workshop & concert at her church in Terre Haute way back in March of 2001! (That was the very first concert I played away from my home church!)

Later, I stopped by the California Percussion booth in the exhibit hall - and the guy at the cash register, Trey, recognized me! They've borrowed Sonos' bells for various things in the past & since I'm Equipment Manager for Sonos, he recognized me. :-)

So, I guess I'm not so alone here, after all! I wonder who else I'll see here?

Tambourine Tryst [PASIC - Nov 1 (Part 2)]

I observed a Master Class in Symphonic Accessories this morning. Several university students played orchestral excerpts and were critiqued and taught by Neil Grover, principal percussionist for both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops.

At one point Neil made a comment that tickled me pink. Describing one of the Pops' midwest tours, he said, "We played in a lot of really beautiful hockey arenas across the country." LOL!

Anyway, all of the students chose to do pieces on tambourine. I sat through most of the class with my jaw on the ground. I had no idea that tambourine could be so expressive....

... which reminds me of this article a friend sent me several months ago:

You Must Romance The Music Out Of The Tambourine

A Whole Day of Timpani Concerts [PASIC - Nov 1 (Part 1)]

Yesterday was the first day of PASIC, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Wednesday was "Focus Day" & this year the focus was on solo timpani.

As you might imagine, this event was very different from a handbell event!

I attended 5 timpani concerts & 1 lecture/demo. Wow. It was pretty amazing to hear all that music. Most of it was New Music with all kinds of modern sounds. One guy even performed an interactive piece with computer. The piece is "d for timpani and computer" by Barry Moon & the program notes say:

d is the second in a series of pieces that explore algorithmic design for semi-improvised instrumental performance with computer. In keeping with the ideal of improvisation, these pieces allow the computer at least as much control over both surface level sound and form as the performer. The timpanist is fed directions via computer graphics [which we, the audience could see via the projector]. These directions are based on a "tendency map" created from audio analysis of the timpani. Although the computer has a tendency to push the piece in certain directions, the performer can, at any time, disagree, and attempt to change direction. The timpanist is urged to play without using traditional techniques. Most of the sounds are to be produced through the application of piezoelectric buzzers, and other objects placed on the drumheads. Buzzers are designed for maximum variation of timbre and intensity, and several are controllable via light sensors [the performer waved his hands over these to make different sounds!]. Activated by mercury switches, the buzzers only turn on when needed, and are shape/color coded to allow placement and timing to be depicted in the graphic score. Sounds produced are processed to highlight the aspects of timpani sound characteristics that the computer deems interesting, based on its tendency towards a sonic goal. Processes include spectral de/re-composition, fft filtering, and time/amplitude modulation."

There were historical pieces as well - most notably a concerto written in 1786 ("Symphonie mit acht obligated pauken" by Johann Carl Christian Fischer) performed here with the Westerville Symphony Orchestra (a local community orchestra).

But the highlight of the day was the evening concert! It was the University of Akron Symphony Orchestra with timpani soloists David Herbert (principal percussionist for the San Francisco Symphony), Jonathan Haas, and Doug Howard performing works by Kraft & Glass. The Kraft piece uses "tenor timpanis" - new instruments developed specifically for this piece!

A few days before I left i got the Percussive Notes journal magazine from the PAS which had feature articles on these pieces complete with links to YouTube. I watched the videos Monday night @ home & so was really looking forward to the performance.

Again: WOW. I really don't have words to begin to describe it. Here are the links to YouTube; see for yourself!

Concerto No. 2 for Timpani and Orchestra XIII/The Grand Encounter (2004/rev. 2006) by William Kraft
Part I
Part II
Part III
Epilogue

Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra (2000) by Philip Glass
Part I
Part II
Part III

What really struck me tho was Jonathan Haas' struggle to do a recital @ Carnegie Hall. When he applied for grants, he was told "we only fund musical instruments". I need to talk to him - I think he would have some good insight into how to get handbells recognized, too.

The music here inspires me. It's become clear that the only way handbells are going to be recognized is if we keep pushing for more & more "substantial musical works". Transcriptions & arrangements are fine, but we need more New Music from established composers. It's the only way.

I have already commissioned 2 works but need to keep pushing. We need more!

Today I will be attending a few classes in symphonic accessories. When I go to school I expect to be treated as they would treat a marimbist or vibist, which most likely means that I will have to learn how to play general percussion, too, so I might as well see what it's like.