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| Bells A, A# Bb and B. |
I suppose eveyone in life has a mental list of all the things they would like to try before they visit the big somewhere in heaven or go down below to the bonfires! I've had handbell ringing on my "Things to do" list for most of my life, and last night I finally got the chance to have a go. I have a friend who is a ringer, and she mentioned that the Potterne group were short of a player, so here was my golden opportunity.
I played three bells which ring the lower notes, and with the help of specially annotated music, I was able to keep up with the other players. The music below shows the markings, a green spot for bell A, a purple spot for bell A# or Bb and a red spot for bell B. Things go well until you have to turn over a page, and then it is not so easy to work out what hand to use. It will be good fun and at Christmas we are playing in Potterne Church's carol service.
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handbell will give you a brief history of the art of handbell ringing. It is interesting to read that the first handbells were made in Aldbourne in Wiltshire, a small village not far from Devizes. A set of bells is very expensive and ours were founded at the "Whitechapel Bell Foundry" where they are sent regularly to be retuned. http://www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk/
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| The music marked for each bell. |
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