Ring in the Christmas Season

   When I watched the bell choir at church I never thought they were reading real music. I somehow envisioned them following something like the shape notes harp singers use or even just the letters A-B-C-D-E-F-G to let them know when to chime in. After all, when you're not playing all the notes, you shouldn't have to read any more than what you play, right?

   Well, I was on the right track, sort of. When Roxanne Golden, director of Golden Bells, Atlanta's Premier Professional Handbell Choir, showed me a score for their next concert, I told her I was surprised to see that it looked like regular sheet music.

   "It's not regular sheet music. Look again," said Golden. "You'd need three hands to play this on the piano."

   Upon further inspection, I detected fifteen-note chords stacked upon the staff. Everybody follows the same score, but each ringer tracks his or her note along a line or space and counts out the beats between rings. Those playing higher tones produced by smaller instruments multi-task by juggling as many as seven bells, playing two in each hand and following several lines.

   The ringing is produced by a manner of flinging. Betsy Reynolds, of Lilburn, said, "It's like snapping a dishrag at someone." With smaller bells, yes. With larger bells, like the thirteen-pound low G, it's more like snapping a bowling ball.
Golden Bells, with their six-octave range, plays a wide range of music, including classical pieces, show tunes and numbers like "Boogey Woogey Bugle Boy" and "Kiss the Girl" from the movie, "The Little Mermaid." They've performed at the 1996 Olympics and at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston. 

   Because of the difficulty of their music, ringers must audition for parts.

   "Bell music is written in levels. Level six is the hardest ever written. We play at levels four and five, while most church choirs play at levels one through three," said Golden.

   Golden Bells started meeting at Lilburn Baptist Church ten years ago. Though they now hold practice out of the county, half the group including their three charter members lives in Gwinnett. Musical background runs the scale from Ken Hayes of Alpharetta who has a Masters degree in music to Becky Youngblood of Norcross who can't read a note. "But I can count to four," she said. 

   A bell choir require quite a commitment compared to other musical groups. If all the tenors miss choir practice, the harmony suffers, but the melody still flows. If one ringer doesn't show up there are holes in the melody, so to fill in they must find a sub.

   Golden Bells will perform their Christmas concert at Mountain Park United Methodist Church on Friday, December 10, at 7:00 p.m. The Four-Bell Ensemble will play at Hebron Baptist Church in Dacula on December 13 and 14.
What better way to celebrate the Christmas Season than with Golden rings?

(more info: www.goldenbells.com )


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