Successful Small Ensembles
Saturday, January 29, 2022 • 11:30 AM EST
Instructor: Mark Arnold
Once the exception, smaller handbell ensembles are now taking the stage as often as full choirs. We’ll discuss different ensemble sizes and shapes, focusing primarily on mid-size (4-6 member) groups. Techniques, organization, and music selection will be covered, with examples of various ensembles and styles.
00:11:19 Eileen Raycroft: I have bandwidth issues so I’ll stay off video. Good morning from Los Angeles!
00:11:44 Ruth Marquette: I may have the same issue, Eileen.
00:14:46 Linda Onorevole: yes
00:14:50 Susan Butler: yes
00:30:24 Bonnie Havery: I missed who the arranger is of “The Holly and the Ivy”. Can you please repeat that.
00:31:30 Gillian Erlenborn: I’ll bring that question up when we get to a good stopping point!
00:34:09 Mary Ryrholm: Our player found that by interlocking the bells for 4iH playing, it was easier to handle the larger bells.
00:43:30 Samantha Strasser: Not sure if this is relevant to this class, but if I wanted to arrange an existing full choir handbell piece for a smaller ensemble, I’m assuming I’d have to start by contacting the publisher for permission to arrange?
00:43:47 Eileen Raycroft: Have you done any amount of Zoom rehearsals for bells (where people play with spoons or other non-bell objects) together?
00:44:13 Mya: I realize it applies to all music, but how do you figure out the live streaming permissions?
00:44:54 Eileen Raycroft: I have a “special considerations” small bell choir. The two elderly ladies love to each play their own two bells (accidentals included), G4-C5, and are not willing to change positions or take on more bells. I have a lovely lady with Downs Syndrome who needs to be cued for every note she plays. The other three players have various levels of skill. Therefore I’ve had to adapt existing arrangements, or more commonly, I’m creating new arrangements myself to highlight everyone’s strengths/challenges.
00:45:51 Amy Fugate: do you ever direct these smaller ensemble pieces? I can’t seem to get out from in from of my bell ringers. Perhaps I’m allowing them to rely on me too much.
00:46:31 Anita: Thank you for confirming that “coaching” rather than “directing” is a legitimate thing. We have basically always done that as we need every person we have and I would rather play than conduct. Everyone has learned to work together very well.
00:46:40 Leslie Lewis: Grassy Meadows and Larry Sue include streaming permission with every purchase
00:49:26 Mary Ryrholm: Anita, if someone is absent for a rehearsal, try ringing for them and then you can see how it goes without a director.
00:49:30 Sara Sowa: our director plays bells sometimes while directing
00:49:50 Samantha Strasser: Chorister’s Guild used to have a flat yearly streaming fee that covered all of their music, not sure if that’s still the case.
00:50:31 Marla Moore: very helpful information!
00:50:38 Kathy Stoker: When do the smaller ensembles practice? Do you attend their practices?
00:51:07 Chris: So, for our regular bells choir if our church service is live streamed, do we need permission for the bell songs?
00:51:57 Jan Nyhus: This has been very helpful. We had to downsize our choir during COVID, so we have been using a lot of small group pieces in the past two years. We have never completely quit ringing.
00:52:05 Sara Sowa: We use the piano more lately to make up for less ringers. Our choir is half the size it used to be now.
00:52:14 Denise Baustian: I put together a 3-member ensemble for Christmas, but it is hard to get people to commit when you have a small congregation. We used a 6-bell arrangement from Larry Sue.
00:52:45 Eileen Raycroft: Thank you so much for all this valuable information! Like the other comments, our regular bell choir has shrunk down to a “small ensemble” and I’m so glad for all the new literature.
00:53:01 Yvonne DuVal (she/her): Thank you so much! I’m excited to venture into smaller ensemble work. 🙂
00:53:06 Mary Ryrholm: Thank you!!
00:53:14 Denise Baustian: I used their MP3 accompaniment because I wasn’t able to accompany and play bells.
00:53:39 Chris: If church services are livestreamed, do we need permission for our bell pieces?
00:53:47 Susan Butler: Thank you!
00:53:53 Cathy Canfield-Jepson: Thank you for lots of helpful information!
00:53:56 Ruth Marquette: Thank you. I’m hoping our church could get a few ringers together but have only done a quartet for Christmas. Glad there are more music selections available.
00:53:58 Denise Baustian: Thank you!
00:54:06 Sara Sowa: Thank you.
Jason Krug – Jason W. Krug is a native of Indianapolis, IN. He holds a degree in music from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jason is a full-time freelance composer, arranger, clinician, and teacher. Since his first publication in 2006, he’s had over 400 compositions and arrangements accepted for handbells, piano, strings, organ, and choir. His works have been featured at numerous festivals and workshops in the United States and beyond. In his spare time, Jason enjoys writing. He has spent several years working on a young adult fantasy series, The Sadonian Chronicles, and recently released his first non-fiction book, The General Theory of Creativity. He frequently participates in the National Novel Writing Month event in November. Jason continues to live in Indianapolis with his wife, Ellen, and his sons, Daniel and Malcolm. You can find him on the web at jasonwkrug.com. 
Leslie Lewis – Leslie Lewis has been ringing handbells since 1979 when she was introduced to them at the Montreat Worship and Music Conference. Leslie has been ringing in the bass section for Distinctly Bronze East since the event began in 1999 and added Distinctly Bronze West in 2019; she also participated in the Distinctly Bronze European Tour in 2007. She has rung low bass in many area and national All Star Choirs, and at Virtuoso 2017 and 2019, sharing the stage with the Raleigh Ringers for the final concert. Leslie rings with Queen City Ringers based in Charlotte, NC, where she also serves as treasurer, and is treasurer for Area 3 of the Handbell Musicians of America. She enjoys substituting for choirs in the Gastonia and Charlotte areas and dabbles in solo ringing. Having added the lower 6th and 7th octave chimes to her growing set of handbell “toys” she hopes to offer her services to add the lower chimes for groups that don’t have them available once ringing returns to “normal” in the area. After graduating from North Carolina State University with a degree in computer science, Leslie worked for IBM and First Union National Bank for a combined 15 years before turning a part-time role preparing income taxes into a career. Leslie is president of Unified Income Taxes and Accounting, Inc., in Gastonia, NC, where she prepares all types of tax returns and, as an enrolled agent, represents clients during IRS tax audits and appeals. Leslie served as director of commission accounting for a Charlotte-based brokerage firm with branches in seventeen states from 2009 to 2015, when she left to pursue the role of chief accounting officer for a commercial aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul station located in Medley, FL. Other than bells, Leslie enjoys playing golf and walking on the beach as a precursor to life after retirement.
Bruna Marinho – Bruna Marinho is an energetic handbell ringer, pianist, and music teacher based in SãoPaulo, Brazil. She is the founder of Handbells Brasil, an organization that promotes the art of handbells in Brazil through performance and education. Bruna graduated in 2014 with a degree in music education from Catholic University of Santos. Bruna first encountered handbells in 2016 as a part of a music exchange led by Dr. Moorman-Stahlman from Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA. Inspired by this experience, she organized a free handbell workshop in Brazil that was attended by about 40 students. Since 2017, Handbells Brasil has played in community venues and churches and has developed music education programs in elementary schools. In 2018, Handbells Brasil received a donation of three octaves of Whitechapel handbells from a church in Pennsylvania and the organization has purchased two octaves of Malmark handchimes. Bruna is the Malmark representative for Brazil. To promote the art of handbells in Brazil, Bruna spent about six months as a music ministry intern at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, in Iowa City, IA, and attended the HMA National Seminar in Grand Rapids, MI. She recently created a series of comedy handbell videos on YouTube as a way to engage people and spread the joy of handbells. 
Stevie Berryman – Stevie Berryman is astonishingly good at the game Boggle. She can fold a fitted sheet so it looks like it came right out of the package. Likewise, her skills as music director and teacher have also been acquired through long hours of arduous and dedicated practice. For much of her career Stevie has directed seven or more ensembles each week, meaning she has 98 years of experience (in dog years). Her effusive energy and wild creativity found a perfect setting in 2013 when she became the Artistic Director of the Houston Chamber Ringers, which has let her smash together her love for music, laughter, and tacos in a truly remarkable way. She has a particular passion for teaching children how to ring, and her innovative methods have made her a sought-after educator at area and national handbell festivals. Stevie loves helping other choirs as a private clinician, or planning epic concerts for them as a creative consultant. Her next step in global domination is to take over the card game world with the company she owns and founded with her husband, Paul, Truly Horrible Things. In real life she is the handbell director at First Congregational Church in Houston, TX.
Lisa Arnold – Lisa Arnold started ringing in 1976 with the Wesley Bell Ringers of Salt Lake City, UT, and toured for four summers, performing in 49 states and nine Canadian provinces. The first community handbell ensemble Lisa rang with was Bay Bells in San Jose, CA, and has been a member of the Merrimack Valley Ringers since 2010 when she moved back to New England. Lisa has regularly taught workshops at Area 1 Spring Rings and festivals in topics such as exercises for ringers, bass bell technique, weaving, solo ringing, and handbell notation. Lisa and her husband, Chuck, use handbells as an excuse to travel and ring all over the world. She spends her free time learning Italian and riding bicycles. Lisa serves as Past-Chair of Area 1 of Handbell Musicians of America.
Ed Rollins – Ed Rollins is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Columbia Handbell Ensemble, a position he has held since 2006. The ensemble has performed on four occasions for HMA national events and numerous regional and area events. For the last 20 months, Ed served as Interim Executive Director of HMA. He has been active in this organization for many years, serving as Missouri State treasurer, Missouri State chair, Area 8 chair on two occasions, area representative to the national board, and President of the board of directors. For 31 years, Ed was associate pastor for music and administration at First Baptist Church of Columbia. During his tenure at the church, he promoted many ecumenical concerts (including the 9/11 Memorial Concert and the 10th Anniversary Memorial Concert), created an extensive program of liturgical art, and co-founded the highly successful Odyssey Chamber Music Series. Ed is married to Jess Wolfe, a teacher with Columbia Public Schools. He has four terrific step-kids, and in March he and Jess welcomed Iris Mae Wolfe Rollins into the family.
Karen Van Wert – With an insatiable thirst for knowledge and a passion to share what she has learned, Karen Van Wert is at home in a classroom or at the podium. She will tell you, “There is nothing more rewarding than witnessing a ringer grasping a concept and executing it in their music. Building skills and instilling confidence in a ringer is the goal of every rehearsal, for then we can make music.” Karen and her bellboy, James, make their home in Savage, MN.
Barb Walsh – Barb Walsh has been the Northern Nevada/Eastern Sierra Regional Coordinator for Area 12 of Handbell Musicians of America since 1993, and was a public school music teacher in the Reno/Sparks, NV, area for 33 years. She received Educator of the Year Award from the Nevada Music Educators Association in 2014. She has developed handbell programs ranging from elementary school children to the adult community group, Tintabulations, known for their high energy, innovation, and musicianship. When not teaching, directing, or ringing, Barb plays flute and piccolo in local orchestras and shares backcountry adventures with her husband, dog, and horses. 
Linda Krantz – Linda Krantz is an accomplished and widely recognized solo handbell artist, has an active performing career, and regularly teaches at the local, regional, and national level. Linda’s greatest love is to perform solo concerts, where she most enjoys playing classical music. She has performed as far away as Paris, and most recently with David Lockington, cellist and maestro of the Pasadena Symphony. Linda was a student of Nancy Hascall, learning all she could about traveling four-in-hand (4iH) and the nuances of artistic solo ringing. Linda is a founding member and president of L.A. Bronze, a past president and current advisory board member of the Pasadena Symphony, and a founding artist and past board member of Timbré. She has served as secretary of the Area 12 board of Handbell Musicians of America, and currently serves on the National Development Committee for Handbell Musicians of America.