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.