Category Archives: Choreography

Choreography exercises

Doing exercises will help you learn solo handbell choreography (sometimes called “blocking.”) That, in turn, will free you to explore works not specifically published for solo handbells. You can create your own exercises by writing out a 1 octave scale, both ascending and descending, in any key. Try several different approaches to choreographing the scale, document it with solo notation, then try another key. You can also do this with a phrase of any handbell solo, or any musical line within your bell range. Continue reading Choreography exercises

Comprehensive choreography example

Over the last 4 months, I’ve been writing here about the principles and techniques that allow us to choreograph music for solo bells. In this example, I’ll walk you through a piece and explain my thought process and the decisions I make. There’s no single right answer to choreography; there’s only the solution that makes most musical sense for an individual musician. I’ve chosen this example specifically for the problems it presents and the variety of techniques employed in my solution. A typical solo would be less complicated. There’s a video of the entire piece at the end, and I’ll walk you through the score in sections. Continue reading Comprehensive choreography example

How I approach choreographing a piece

Some soloists approach choreographing and learning a piece differently than I do, and you may prefer their method, or another way you discover. This is what works for me. Most of my repertoire isn’t written for solo handbells; my accompanist and I adapt it from other instruments. I wrote about this in Transcribing for solo handbells. Before I start the choreography, I have some sort of score, either purchased, downloaded, or created in Sibelius. I also run that arrangement by my accompanist for her input before I invest any time in it. While I’m working out the choreography for a piece, I devote most of each practice session to it until it’s fully choreographed. For that reason, I develop choreography for only one piece at a time. Continue reading How I approach choreographing a piece

Documenting solo choreography

Once you figure out how you’re going to play a handbell solo, record the choreography for future reference (and possible publication). There are several approaches you can use. I prefer the system found in Nancy Hascall’s notation guide (part of which appears in the Guild’s notation guide), which I find easy to use and intuitive. I recommend buying a sheet lifter from Jeffers that summarizes single bell technique notation on the front and multiple bell technique notation on the back. Continue reading Documenting solo choreography

Four-in-hand setups, Shelley plus and minus

In this article, I’m assuming you’re comfortable with the standard “ring and knock” method of four-in-hand. I may come back to four-in-hand fundamentals another time. Today, I’m going to focus on four-in-hand setup choices and one method of changing the setup in the air, called Shelley plus and minus. This could also be used for pairs of bells not in Shelley position, like “ring and knock.” Continue reading Four-in-hand setups, Shelley plus and minus

Traveling four-in-hand

In this article, I’m assuming you’re comfortable with the standard “ring and knock” method of four-in-hand. (I may come back to four-in-hand fundamentals another time.) Here, I’m going to focus on traveling four-in-hand. Remember that the first bell you pick up is the primary bell, the one held by your thumb and index finger. You may think of this as the bell you “ring” in “ring and knock.” The second bell you pick up is the secondary bell, between your index and middle fingers, or the “knock” bell. Continue reading Traveling four-in-hand

Basic principles of choreography, keyboard layout, and displacement

Over the next several weeks, I’ll talk about how I approach choreographing a piece. I’ll include the pros and cons of each approach, as well as when and how I’d use each. Throughout this discussion, I assume you’re ringing bells placed horizontally on the padded table. Some soloists place the bell handles upright, and they may use different methods to organize them. Continue reading Basic principles of choreography, keyboard layout, and displacement