East Midlands Region

HANDBELL TUNE RINGING

Handbell Tune Ringing is a very unique way of performing music. Perhaps the best way is to think of the set of bells as the 'instrument' and each ringer is a finger of the performer. Try performing a piece of piano music with eight people, each person can only play two notes, then you have something resembling a Handbell performance.

Musical (tuned) Handbells have been in existence since the late 1600s. Popular belief is that following the publication of a thesis by Stedman of Cambridge on the principles of change ringing the demand for handbells grew so that tower bell ringers could practice in a more convivial place than a draughty church tower. Tune ringing soon developed and with the development came the demand for bigger sets of bells up to five chromatic octaves. Many of the houses that Handel visited had sets of handbells which prompted him to refer to Great Britain as "These Ringing Isles". The modern Handbell, tuned to A440 standard, can be used with other instruments or stand alone.

Tune ringing became particularly popular in the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire.   Many villages sponsored a team of ringers, and in the mid 1880s an annual competition, run along brass band competition lines, was held for the first time at Belle Vue, Manchester this competition ran until the 1930s. The competition teams performed using "long sets" of bells i.e. five chromatic octaves with duplicated, triplicate and quadrupled bells anything from one to two hundred bells.

Handbell Ringers of Great Britain (HRGB) was formed in 1967 and continues to cater for the needs of Handbell Ringers by promoting "Workshops, Concerts and Rallies on both a national and regional basis” find details on www.mvw.hrgb.org.uk. The six hundred teams registered with HRGB perform on sets of Handbells ranging from one to six octaves. Chances are that a Handbell Team is located close to you and should the opportunity to hear them come your way please take it, especially if the group perform on a large set of bells. To see and hear the skills of the ringers performing using a five octave set of Handbells is something not to be missed. There are no professional Handbell Ringers or Team in Great Britain. This really is music by the people for the people. Handbell Tune Ringing has become international with Guilds situated in USA, Canada, Australia, Japan and Korea and an International Symposium, attended by at least one thousand ringers, is held every two years in one of the six host nations.

The Saint Wulfram's Handbell Ringers based in Grantham, Lincolnshire perform using one hundred and eighteen Musical Handbells covering a range of five chromatic octaves. The group gives regular concerts and demonstrations, performing a wide spectrum of music from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to a Les Miserables Medley, 2005 is a milestone for the group, being their Fortieth Anniversary and it is hoped to mark this with an Anniversary Concert and other suitable events. In the past they have combined with other Making Music members to present concerts and will be joining with the Grantham Choral Society for their annual Come and Sing Carols being held in The Central Methodist Church, Finkin Street, Grantham on the 13th and 14th December.

Vaughan P Evans- Musical Director Saint Wulfram's Handbell Ringers