Tag: Handchimes Classroom

Two Halves Make a Whole

Starting a new ringing ensemble with music that includes whole notes and half notes is recommended for the first rehearsals.  If you are directing a new group this year, you’ll want your music choices to include simpler rhythms in a moderate tempo so that your new ringers can focus on developing their ringing skills even if they are seasoned music readers.

Your ringers will have great success in playing homophonic music in which they will have the support of the group as they advance from chord to chord.  Giving them the opportunity as they work as a team in ringing and damping together will be positive reinforcement.  Musical results will be achieved as they coordinate their arm motion with the chordal ringing. Longer notes will also help develop to music literacy for pre-readers as well as eye and hand coordination.

If your new group includes those new to music-making – you will welcome the ability to teach them basic note values with resources that progress systematically.  We’ve been busy at ChimeWorks compiling some suggestions (all available for immediate purchase and digital download) for you which will get your program off to ringing success:

A Simple Prayer (Soliloquy) by Linda R. Lamb

Prelude to Sunrise by Sandra Eithun

Tranquil Chimings by Sandra Eithun

Starting Point, Volume 2 ( 2- 3 Octaves) by Sandra Eithun

Starting Point, Volume 2 (3 – 5 Octaves) by Sandra Eithun

Pathways to Musical Ringing, Volume 2 (2 – 3 Octaves) by Sandra Eithun & Michael Joy

Pathways to Musical Ringing, Volume 2 (3 – 5 Octaves) by Sandra Eithun & Michael Joy

 

Tips for Choosing Repertoire for Beginners

It’s hard to believe it’s late June – have your thoughts taken you to planning the program year?  If you are starting a new handchime ensemble this fall, here are some tips to help you choose the appropriate repertoire for your beginning group:

 

  • Be sure to check the Handbells (Handchimes) Used Chart.  Use music that remains in the key that it is written and does not use any extra or accidental handchimes. This insures that each ringer will have no more than two diatonic pitches to ring so that they don’t have to tackle any handchime changes.

 

  • Choose music that is homophonic (chordal) in texture so that your ringers will have the support of each other as they progress through the score. Independent lines are not desirable for beginning ringers.  Ringing together in chords avails your ensemble to the support of the team.

 

  • Keep the tempos moderate while your ringers develop their eye and hand coordination. As a director, you are asking your ringers to do a lot – ring the notes accurately, damp when needed, move their arms to produce a more legato line and so much more.  Slower tempos will allow your ringers to think through the process.

 

  • Simple rhythms are best! Choose music that is based on whole notes, half notes and quarter notes.  No subdividing the beat at first.

 

  • Stick with the basics of ringing and damping. There is plenty of time to teach different techniques.  In the beginning, it is important to develop a strong foundation in ringing style by moving the instruments through the duration of the beat and damping.  Once this is mastered, go to the next step with articulations.

 

If you are not sure how to begin in choosing music, visit our Handchime Ensembles page on the ChimeWorks website and filter the Difficulty choices to Levels 1-, 1 and 1+.  There you will find titles of interest and click further to view sample pages and hear a recording.  Click here to view the Starting Point resource as shown above.

 

With these resources, planning will be easy and you may find time to fit in another vacation before the new year begins!

Ode to Music

Children will remember the songs that we teach them throughout their lives. Be it a catchy tune, silly lyrics or an engaging movement, the music that we teach will impact our students in different ways but the end results are the same – lifelong memories.

As teachers of music, we hope to instill an appreciation, love or passion for music into our students. We do this best by actively involving them in the music-making process allowing them to be creative as they go and encouraging them to connect their experiences to the world around them. We also know that music will stimulate the intellectual, emotional, spiritual and social growth of our students affecting their lives in so many ways.

We balance our choice of lessons and repertoire to broaden our students – classical, folk, world and nonsense songs fill our teaching space – all to provide our students with a varying wealth of repertoire. Along with our singing, we introduce drums and other percussion, recorders, Orff instruments, ukuleles, Boomwhackers®, KidsPlay® bells and handchimes all in effort for our students to find their voice. In the end, our hope is for well-rounded young musicians leading to accomplished adults who are kinder, gentler and welcoming.

How often do we stop and sing about it? Music, that is. As we close the school year, we have an opportunity to sum up all that we offer with songs that praise our beloved art. Words that express how wonderful music is that our students will remember for a lifetime.

Share the joy of music with some of the following ChimeWorks lesson plans that will allow your students to sing and ring about it!

Merrily, Merrily Greet The Morn (LP00053)

Music Alone Shall Live (LP00043)

O Music, Sweet Music (LP00021)

Sing Together (LP00055)

Viva La Musica (LP00065)

Welcome Ev’ry Guest (LP00072)

O, How Lovely (LP00066)

Using Handchimes in the Classroom

You, like many general music teachers, may have a set of handchimes in the instrument cabinet of your classroom that have been sitting for years. Now’s the time to open them up and get them into the hands of your students and begin reaping the benefits of using handchimes in the classroom.

Why?

Using handchimes in the classroom offers bountiful benefits in teaching music skills that will bring excitement to you and your students. Handchimes create a beautiful tone – they have been said to create the purest tone known to mankind. Children do not have to master the instrument to create this beauty – they hold the instrument and snap their wrist – no worries about embouchure, fingerings and being in tune – the beauty is instantaneous using the wrist to create the sound and the arm to sustain it.

The music skills that can be taught by ringing are many. Students can learn about note duration, rhythm, harmony and melodic line though the mental and physical aspects of ringing. Through ringing, students will increase their independent thinking, listening skills, attention span, physical coordination, self-discipline and personal expression. They also gain positive social and emotional skills through collaboration and the development of self-esteem. Working with a group of ringers teaches tolerance, patience, support and cooperation to name a few.

How?

Using handchimes in the classroom does not require all the equipment that goes along with a handchime ensemble – tables, foam and music. Distribute one handchime to each student and allow them to sit at their desks, sit in a circle on the floor or stand. With a chime in hand, the students can learn to ring and damp, ring note durations, scales, chords and melodies all by rote.

If you desire to start slowly, use your handchimes along with your Orff instruments allowing students to double ostinati on handchimes. If Kodaly is your method, use the handchimes to intone a song by ringing a chord, accompany a modal melody by choosing the pitches of the mode on handchimes and have them ring randomly throughout the piece. If you have students who are not successful in playing the recorder, have them ring chords on the handchimes to accompany the melody that the students on recorders are playing. The incorporation of handchimes into your existing lesson plans is easy and will embellish your teaching!

Once you have experienced the positive benefits of using handchimes with your existing lesson plans, expand your curriculum by engaging your students with more ringing! Through the ChimeWorks® Online Resource Community at www.chimeworks.com, you have access to over a hundred lesson plans using icons, chords and ostinati. Use these lessons to accompany singing or to teach music literacy. Add in non-pitched percussion for students to improvise rhythms along with the singing and handchime parts. All your students will have hands on experience!

When?

Begin or finish the school year with ringing success – it’s never too late in the academic year to introduce handchimes. Because of the instant success in creating beauty of tone by ringing a handchime, your students will have the opportunity to jump right into the music!