Bells Will Be Ringing
Carillon Handbell Choir…
Handbells ringing rhythmically together, reverberating recognizable music is a sound that’s pleasing to anyone’s ears. It is likely the reason handbell choirs are so sought after during the holiday season, coming together to play “Jingle Bells,” “Silent Night,” “Joy to the World” and other Christmas favorites for audiences all over their communities.
In Shasta County, the Carillon Handbell Choir is an intergenerational group of ringers sponsored by First Presbyterian Church and St. James Lutheran Church in Redding. They’ve had members from all walks of life in the group; its musicians have 256 years of ringing experience. Currently, Carillons has nine ringers and five substitutes.
Its membership changes as kids graduate from high school, ringers move, retire or pass away. Fortunately, new ringers move to Redding, or some people became curious and picked up the instrument. The bell ensemble is open to those in fifth grade and up who have at least one year of musical instrument experience. The Carillons rehearse at least once a week and they play at three different churches once a month (St. James Lutheran, First Presbyterian and United Methodist).
Its 54 Schulmerich handbells and 43 Schulmerich Melody-chimes are kept at the church, paid for through donations, fundraisers and memorial gifts. Every year, a maintenance person comes in from Montana and takes the bells apart, checks for broken springs, replaces washers if needed and makes sure they’re ringing the right octaves. Members of the choir also polish them up nicely after every use and they wear gloves when they ring to prevent oils and tarnishing.
The Carillons have played handbell festivals in Oregon, Virginia and Florida, and have traveled as far away as Germany to help the Castle Church start a bell choir.
It started hosting the Redding Handbell Festival in 2008 that usually takes place in mid-October at Crosspoint Church. Handbell choirs from California, Oregon, Nevada and Washington usually come out to play under a professional director.
However, it’s Christmastime when everyone thinks about handbells.
“Everyone loves bells around wintertime,” says Carillons Director Nancy Schmitt. She has been with the handbell choir in Redding since 1992. “Everyone wants us to come play in December, it’s busy, busy, busy.” They’ve played at Mercy Hospital Guild Gala fundraisers in the past, memorial services, weddings, assisted living facilities and retirement homes, where residents like to hear oldies such as “Camptown Races” and “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain.”
However, the most popular songs requested by the Carillons are Christmas songs, and Schmitt says the choir loves playing “Amazing Grace.” Personally, Schmitt’s favorite songs to play are “Holy Holy Holy,” “Joy to the World” and “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.”
“And different variations of ‘Amazing Grace’. It’s universal; everyone around the world knows that song,” Schmitt says.
Schmitt says that learning to play the bells all depends on the individual. For example, if people have taken trumpet or clarinet lessons in the past and know how to read music, they will pick up handbells faster than someone who’s never been around an instrument.
“If they know how to read the music then they catch on pretty fast,” Schmitt says. Since handbell choirs are available in other communities, people who’ve played before in another town and moved to Redding tend to fit right in. The Carillons use four octaves of bells, four octaves of chimes, mallets and stirring sticks (like what’s used in meditation singing bowls). “Lots of different techniques and sounds come out of the bells besides just the ringing,” Schmitt says.
One member even plays bell trees, which have handles and bells that hook onto each other attached to a stand, and the ringers play them through interloping strings. Or two people can play two bells apiece, making a quartet.
And there is something about hearing a handbell choir that makes tears spring to people’s eyes.
“Yes, people get emotional when they hear the bells, especially around Christmastime. Probably because it brings back memories. Something about the sounding of the bells affects people,” Schmitt says. •
Carillons Handbell Choir • www.carillonshandbellchoir.org
