Tag Archives: teaching

Handbell choir, Rehearsal

Rehearsal “best practices”

Note: The term “best practices” means a methodology that consistently produces superior results.

Preparation – director: Do score study, breaking down each piece to determine how you’re going to approach teaching all the elements, such as rhythm, techniques, musical expression, etc. In the 1990s (and perhaps other years), Overtones ran an excellent series called Conductor’s Roundtable, where accomplished conductors explained how they would analyze and teach a piece. If you’re a member of the U.S. handbell guild, you may find some of the articles online, or you could order back copies. Always go into rehearsals with a plan for what you want to accomplish, and consider how that fits into the bigger picture of preparing to ring in church or present a concert. Continue reading Rehearsal “best practices” →

Handbell choir

No ringer left behind – Music reading challenges

There are many resources for learning music notation, both in print and online. This article won’t attempt to duplicate those, but instead focus on challenges and confusion handbell musicians may experience. Ringers with little or no prior music reading background may want to work through a workbook. I especially like Alfred’s Essentials of Music Theory – Complete. Note the catalog number (16486 – book with 2 listening CDs), as Alfred has several similar products. It’s an inexpensive resource. Though the book is available without CDs, ear training will help ringers improve. Ringers can start wherever the book presents new information, on page 1 for some, perhaps a few chapters into the book for others, and work through the book as far as the director suggests. Continue reading No ringer left behind – Music reading challenges →

Handbell choir

No ringer left behind – Communication

Often ringers struggle to keep up with others in a bell choir. Joining an established handbell group is like jumping onto a moving train. Integrating new ringers, especially if they don’t read music yet, can take time but yield big dividends. Or maybe they aren’t new, but they struggle because they didn’t get a good orientation to ringing. As the director or fellow ringer, you may struggle yourself to help them, because you just don’t understand what causes their mistakes. Many struggling ringers are adult beginners, and they haven’t learned the language of music. If you learned music yourself as a child, it’s second nature, and you may not know how to teach basic music principles, or remember how you learned them. It would be like a native speaker teaching the language to an immigrant. Continue reading No ringer left behind – Communication →

Copyright, Handbell choir, Legal

Sight-impaired ringers

Handbell musicians often assume it’s OK to enlarge handbell music for sight-impaired ringers. However, copyright law restricts the right to copy as follows:

1) What: literary (not musical) works
2) Who can copy: institutions that exist to serve the blind, like the Braille Institute
3) For: the legally blind Continue reading Sight-impaired ringers →

Musicality

Kodály and solfège applications to handbells

I wrote previously about my experience taking Kodály training in conducting and musicianship. I recently completed Kodály Level 2 musicianship, though I opted not to take conducting because of time constraints. I’ve been thinking about how to apply these concepts to handbells, and I offer the following as food for thought. Continue reading Kodály and solfège applications to handbells →

Working with others

Believe in yourself

Every Friday, the Wall Street Journal features a one-of-a-kind property for sale, which could be anywhere in the world. These morning, I saw the photo and the headline “A Frank Lloyd Wright House,” and I immediately recognized Mr. Berger’s house. Robert Berger was my geometry teacher at Novato High School (north of San Francisco) in 1972. Like all good teachers, he had a profound influence on my life, and that house (though I visited only once) in a way changed the trajectory of my life. Continue reading Believe in yourself →