Anybody want to write/score some original music for my handbell group?

[Rooster_Ties]

OK, as some of you might remember -- my wife and I lead a crazy church handbell ensemble at our Unitarian Church (Unitarian Universalist, actually). Have for a little over two years now (a group we started ourselves, from scratch).

We have three octaves of bells (from the C below middle C at the bottom, up to the C two octaves above middle C), and we can occasionally borrow more bells from another church -- above and below our 3-octave pitch set (about an octave more in either direction). But we try to lean towards music that sticks mostly within our regular 3-octave limits.

We have anywhere from 8 or 10 ringers (people), and sometimes as many as 12 to (at most) 15 ringers. Lately it's been about 10 or 12 ringers, average. Most are not trained musicians (70% of them hadn't even read a note a music when we first began), but they're enthusiastic, and we've played some interesting stuff over the two years we've been at it.

The beauty of handbell ensembles is that collectively they can play music that is MUCH more complicated than any individual in the group could play, or needs to be able to play. Each ringer is usually responsible for just two notes/bells (for example, say G and A), plus the accidentals related to those notes (Gb & Ab, or G# and A#). Yes, that's theoretically 5 bells per person, but most pieces don't use all 12 chromatic notes equally, so each ringer usually only plays two or three bells per piece at most. (And even with key changes, at any given moment, there's usually only two or three bells (per ringer) in any one section that are particularly active).

Edited February 18, 2008 by Rooster_Ties

[Rooster_Ties]

This morning (in church) was the debut of our newly purchased bells -- a three octave 'used' set dating back to the late 70's, that we got on eBay about 6 weeks ago (saving us $3,000 over the cost of new). And to break 'em in right, this morning we did a collaborative performance with a free jazz trio (called "Snuff Jazz" -- they're about as free as Ornette all through the 60's), with a guy who has a bunch of hybrid horns he made himself (much like Roland Kirk), plus bass and drums. He wrote out some charts with patterns for us to follow (and a bunch of repeats) -- music that created a 'form' for his group to improv over. It was pretty crazy, and was programmed for a service about Evolution (and I billed the music as being the "evolution" of a church handbell ensemble). It all came off pretty well. A lot of people loved it, and a few people hated it, but I think more than anything, people did think it was interesting. One thing's for sure, everyone had some sort of big fat visceral response, of some kind. (Mission accomplished!!)

Now, most of the time though, we play entirely 'through-composed' stuff -- though I'll be experimenting with -- well -- any interesting options I can come up with (through-composed, or otherwise).

We're playing next at the end of March in an "anti-war" church service, with original arrangements of Elvis Costello's "What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding" (yes, I know Nick Lowe wrote it, but everyone only knows Costello's version). And Neil Young's CSNY song "Ohio" ("four dead in Ohio"), and then to cap it off -- "Get Together" ("Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together..." - best known in the version by The Youngbloods in the late 60's. And speaking of improv, the version of "Ohio" has a section in the middle with a lot of random ringing (within given pre-set chords) over the main repeated bass-line of the song, for about 16 bars or so. The goal with that piece is to sound like an angry, pissed-off handbell ensemble (if such a thing can be done).

So, in short, we at NOT your average church handbell choir.

Edited February 19, 2008 by Rooster_Ties

[Rooster_Ties]

So, if you've got Sibelius (or some other music notation software, or some really good musical penmanship), and are crazy enough to want to try and write some tunes for the most subversive handbell choir known to mankind -- this is your big chance!!

When we play (in church services), we typically need three tunes on a given Sunday. Two short tunes (about 2 to 3 minutes each), and one longer one (so about 4 or 5 minutes, for the offering).

There are some funny goals to consider in this kind of music, somewhat unique to handbells. The parts need to be busy (even what some might call "really busy"), but at the same time NOT too complicated. In other words, LOTS of notes (to keep everyone in the group somewhat busy), but NOT lots of rhythmic complexity. The group can handle notation down to 8th notes, with occasional 16th notes if they're part of repeated patterns that they can get in their heads. Triplets, maybe. We can't swing 8th notes worth a damn, unfortunately, though it's something I intend to work on with the group (if we can find music suitable for that). Remember, very few people in the group had ever read any musical notation of any sort as recently as two years ago.

Everyone plays off the same part (exact same score) -- so you wouldn't have to create any separate parts for separate ringers. Usually one two or three page musical score (assuming there's a repeat or two in there) is enough to cover 2 or 3 minutes of music. The ringers just circle (or high-light) their notes (from the larger score), and only pay attention to their own notes that way. But the other notes kind of give everyone a road-map for where they are in the larger context of the piece. In short, handbell music often looks just like a piano piece for a pianist with 20 fingers.

There is tradition of composers (even big names, like Beethoven and Brahms) who wrote pieces for "students" -- that weren't nearly as complicated as what they were otherwise capable of writing (obviously). Think of this as something like that. A chance to write for a specific set of musical requirements, and then how interesting can you make things within the limitations of what the group is able to do technically.

I haven't got a lot of budget for this, but depending on the complexity involved, and the time you put in -- I've got $75 to $100 or so (total) to offer anyone who wants to take on writing a set of three pieces, about about 2-3 minutes in length for two of them, and 4 or 5 minutes in length for the third piece.

Edited February 19, 2008 by Rooster_Ties

[AllenLowe]

I once knew a guy who used to play bells in church with his twin brother; they would sub for each other when each was sick - one day he decided to end it all and he jumped off the church steeple - everyone came running to look at the body - one guy said to another:

"do you know him?"

"No, but he's a dead ringer for another guy."

Edited February 18, 2008 by AllenLowe

[Free For All]

I'm thinking Donna Lee. Or maybe Lennie's Pennies. Perhaps Una Muy Bonita.

[Spontooneous]

I'm thinking Donna Lee. Or maybe Lennie's Pennies. Perhaps Una Muy Bonita.

Why not "Countdown" and "Happy House" too?

[Free For All]

I'm thinking Donna Lee. Or maybe Lennie's Pennies. Perhaps Una Muy Bonita.

Why not "Countdown" and "Happy House" too?

"Countdown"- that's SO "5 handbells ago"..............

[Jim Alfredson]

What kind of music are you looking for, moodwise?

[Rooster_Ties]

What kind of music are you looking for, moodwise?

The sky's the limit.

The group plays about 6 or 7 times a year (about once every 6 weeks). About half the time we play, there's some heady high-minded topic that doesn't particularly lend itself to music that's tightly programmed (thematically). Say something like Existentialism, or Emerson and Transcendentalism, and the like. (The bell choir gets on the schedule only after the VOCAL choir has already picked their services to sing (they sing about twice per month). And with them having to program music with words -- they rarely choose the topics that have no obvious musical programming choices.

I was kinda toying with having all modal music on the same Sunday sometime. Or something that harmonically approximated a lot of the early 70's jazz I like so much -- what Dusty sells to high heaven as being "spiritual" (in their specific definition of the word). Or something that used a lot of chords in 4th's (my technical terminology is limited here (and probably wrong) -- I'm talkin' McCoy Tyner-esque chords).

But I could even be happy with music that otherwise -- in other circumstances (on other instruments) -- would probably be border-line "New Age". Not as "un-busy" as New Age, but harmonically similar.

Other options to consider... Bells don't just have to be played ringing them all pretty (the usual way). They can be rung "into" the table-padding, making a "thump" sound. Or rung into the table, and then lifted up immediately -- getting both the thump, and the sustained ring at the same time. Or bells can be played with mallets -- in which case the lower bells sound quite a bit like marimba, and the upper bells sound a lot like vibes (with the vibrato thingy turned off) -- because usually the bells are on the table padding when played with mallets. There are some other techniques too -- but often the group can figure out which ones to apply where (to which lines within the piece) after it's been written. We also have access to borrow "handchimes", which sound kinda ghostly, and ethereal. They have a less percussive quality, and can bring out a melody line quite nicely (or leave the melody on bells, and have most of the accompaniment play chimes).

I can send copies of some bell-choir music so visually people can see how busy things are.

Lots of stacked chords, and homophonic writing can be good. Patterns (riffs) especially in the lower octave can be good. It's best to have lines (riffs) made up or two or even three parallel lines -- so if a bell is missed somewhere (as can easily happen), then you still get the sense of the line because the other parts of the parallel line do usually get rung. Sparse writing is prone to exposed sections that can easily crash and burn if just one or two bells are missed in performance. I imagine the writing riffs (as if for big band) would be a skill that would translate well into writing for bells.

Again, I can send some hardcopy examples of music that match a lot of these goals.

I'll have an ongoing need for music for years to come -- so there's not a real hard deadline here. But I'd love to debut something this Fall, and maybe something else early next Winter.

Edited February 19, 2008 by Rooster_Ties

[Rooster_Ties]

Oh, and much as arrangements of things could be good too, I'm really looking to commission some original music here. (Or arrangements of original music -- tunes you may have already written!!) Of course, we can't survive on musical heads alone, so there'd have to be some newly written "development" sections. Or theme and variations.

But I do have access to a couple good arrangers here in Kansas City (though more would be welcome). But what I'm looking to get into now are some original things. I'm looking at local resources for original music too. I figure a good two commissions per year would fill about 25% of my music needs per year.

PO: That said, if anybody wants to take on some arranging -- I'd be all up for that too!!

Edited February 19, 2008 by Rooster_Ties