![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.chimeworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pulse-trace-163708_1280.jpg\")
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We know a being is alive when we check for pulse.\u00a0 So, it is for music!\u00a0 Without pulse, music can be dull.<\/p>\n
Some think that only music with quicker tempos can be exciting.\u00a0 This can\u2019t be farther from the truth!\u00a0 A case in point would be Ravel\u2019s Bolero. \u00a0Watch it here<\/a>.\u00a0 Yes, it is pulse that brings music to life.\u00a0 It\u2019s the underlying beats which are strong and weak that add ebb and flow to our sound that makes it so musical, so alive!<\/p>\n We can bring this concept to our ringing ensembles by having them do a couple of things to accent beats.\u00a0 But before doing so, we have to teach our ringers to feel the music with its stronger and weaker beats so that it is innate.<\/p>\n Teaching about meter initially is a lesson worth the time as it will always remain.\u00a0 As you introduce different time signatures, be sure to take the time to introduce the stronger and weaker beats.\u00a0 Having your ringers clap the 4 beats in 4\/4 time and give a heavy stomp on beat 1 and a lighter stomp on beat 3 is a great exercise for new musicians.\u00a0 Follow suit with \u00be time with the stomp only on 1.<\/p>\n Before stressing too many musical points in the handchime or handbell rehearsal, practice the score so that the notes are fairly comfortable.\u00a0 At that point, the ringers can focus on musical issues rather than struggle with note reading.<\/p>\n One of the easiest ways to bring out the line in a melody is to have your ringers sing it.\u00a0 Any nonsense syllable like \u201cla\u201d or doo\u201d will be fine if they are unfamiliar with the text.\u00a0 Your ringers will naturally accent the beats that are important as they sing and it is important that they feel it with their entire body, especially their arms.\u00a0 The arm motion is the breath support for the chime or bell and will help the melody to be more lyrical.\u00a0 Encourage the ringers to move in some as they sing stressing the stronger beats.<\/p>\n Pulse is probably more important in the harmonic accompaniment as it carries the melody.\u00a0 Sometimes, it may be harder to feel.\u00a0 When rehearsing, separate the melody from the harmony and have those ringing harmony clap when their notes ring, stressing stronger and weaker beats. \u00a0\u00a0Adding a stomp of the foot on the strongest beat will help as well.<\/p>\n Once your ringers are feeling the pulse in the music, there are few things that they can do to bring out the stronger beats.\u00a0 The obvious one would be a stronger flick of the wrist when ringing.\u00a0 Plane is important as we ring and holding the instrument higher (between the breast and shoulder) for stronger beats and lower (between the waist and breast) for weaker beats.<\/p>\n These are just a few concepts to consider as you teach your ringers that all beats are not created equal!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We know a being is alive when we check for pulse.\u00a0 So, it is for music!\u00a0 Without pulse, music can be dull. Some think that only music with quicker tempos can be exciting.\u00a0 This can\u2019t be farther from the truth!\u00a0 A case in point would be Ravel\u2019s Bolero. \u00a0Watch it here.\u00a0 Yes, it is … Continue reading Adding Life to Music When Ringing<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,31,40],"tags":[36,37,18,34,21,30],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chimeworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chimeworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chimeworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chimeworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chimeworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.chimeworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198,"href":"http:\/\/www.chimeworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions\/198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chimeworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chimeworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chimeworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}