Home from DBW, plus some musings

I flew home from Distinctly Bronze West today -- in fact, I'm writing this from the plane, which was delayed by almost 2 hours, grrr [/rant]. I am absolutely exhausted, but had a great time at the event.

I think Jason Wells did a fine job in his inaugural appearance as Maestro of this event. I remember when he first appeared on the scene back at Pinnacle 2000 in Las Vegas, directing Ring of Fire at their 7:30 am concert. He's older now (as we all are), but hasn't lost any of that enthusiasm or energy. He has, however, gained a musical maturity that I am happy to see.

I'll be honest: that's one of the reasons I was so eager to attend the event this year -- I wanted to see if Jason had really matured in that way. It turns out that he has! Yay! This is not to say he doesn't have room to grow -- who among us can say that we don't have room to grow musically? -- but that he definitely wrung a lot of music out of us & I think if he continues in this role, there are some great things going to come out of the future of Distinctly Bronze!

I intend to keep attending both the East and West events for as long as I'm able to do so and will encourage others to attend, too.

At our Sunday night concert, I had the pleasure to finally meet a few people in person that I had only known via email or other online channels: Charlotte Hoover, and Mark & Lynn Andersen. Charlotte and I have been correspondents for years and years on the Handbell-L. Mark produces a video/audio podcast which features Lynn on handbells fairly often. (All three are (or have been) involved in the Emerald City Ringers, members of which also donated their equipment, time, and energy toward making DBW a successful event this year. (Thanks, ECR!)) Mark & Lynn also hosted Kiriku on their PNW tour a few years ago & produced their concert DVD.

Lynn said something to me after the concert that I've been musing on ever since. He said, "I can tell you've been influenced by Kiriku."

Of course that's a compliment -- one I've heard before, in fact, and have always been pleased about! -- but it's also not surprising that my ringing style looks like theirs, given their history & mine.

Let me explain: Kiriku was founded by their Artistic Director Taiko Otsubo, who was the protegé of Katsumi Kodama. (Another member of Kiriku, Yoshimichi Fukuda, also rang with Kodama from an early age. I think Yoshimichi & Taiko have been ringing together for well over 20 years.)

Kodama, for his part, made quite an impression on handbells in the US when he brought his groups to tour back in the late 80s/early 90s. Kathie Fink helped host one of those tours. (In fact, Kathie's daughter Lexi was born immediately after the Glee Handbell concert in Walnut Creek, CA -- Kathie was in labor but delayed going to the hospital so she could see the entire concert. Yoshimichi played at that concert, but Taiko did not.)

A year or two later, Kathie & PL founded Sonos, so I think it's fair to say that Sonos' ringing style and artistic philosophy was influenced by that experience (as well as by Jim Meredith's musical artistry, of course).

I first saw Sonos at Pinnacle 2000 in Las Vegas (yes, the same event at which I first met Jason Wells -- who was also quite influenced by Kodama in his younger years). They absolutely knocked my socks off & I was proud to join Sonos in early 2002. That, of course, had a profound influence on my ringing style as I learned all about "finger damping" and "sloppy damping" and other such things.

I first met Taiko in 2003 when she joined Sonos for our tour of Japan that year. (In fact, she was instrumental in bringing us to Japan in the first place!) She joined us again in 2005 and that's when I had the opportunity to see Kiriku in rehearsal. (I posted about that experience to the Handbell-L -- their attention to detail and to musicality were stunning, especially in an ensemble of that size.) Taiko then commuted from Tokyo to San Francisco to ring with Sonos for the next year and a half!

So yes, I've been influenced by Kiriku and by Taiko (and thus by Kodama), and I don't want to discount that, but it's also true that Sonos was influenced by Kodama separately and I think that Sonos has had a much greater influence on my style just by dint of sheer time and exposure.

Kodama's life was far too short, but his legacy lives on in Kiriku, Sonos, & Velocity (a small ensemble also founded by Sonos co-founder PL Grove). We share a history -- one that I'm proud to be a small part of.

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