Old Orchard and Interview

We had a few days to unwind at Old Orchard Beach in Maine before our final concert in Bellingham, MA.  The water was tested (the ocean as well as the indoor pool), the carnival rides were ridden (mostly by Willis), and the questionable nightlife was avoided; I managed to squeeze in time for a cup of coffee with our director to ask some questions.

Kathy grew up in Bethlehem, PA with a Pennsylvania-Dutch father and a mother near the coal mines in the same state. She was first exposed to handbells and to quality church music at the age of 12 under the direction of a Westminster graduate. Through him, she heard of and pursued studies with Donald Allured at Westminster, who was "the best of the best."

When did you feel called to become a sacred musician?
Because I was raised Roman-Catholic I felt like I was going to Mass every week and saying the same prayers over and over again but I never thought about them.  When I started making music in worship it was a very profound way for me to worship; I understood the Mass and what worship was. I paid more attention, and so I wanted to do that for others.  Even if I didn't go into music, I wanted to help build young lives, people who were going to become doctors and lawyers.  If you have an opportunity to introduce them to the power of music and how important it is, they'll gain that for the rest of their lives.

When did you begin working for Malmark?
When I rang in the choir as a student there was a Westminster alum who was a sales rep for Malmark; he would bring us to the midwest all the time, to Wisconsin, and he thought that I was a very good ringer and excited about handbells.  Everyone in the choir was very close to him, he was a very enthusiastic person. He told me to call Mr. Malta to see if there was a job at Malmark, and so I did, and so I got home from bell choir tour in '85 and started June 1st. And that was that! I was a sales assistant, and in '96 I became director of sales and marketing.  It took me 10 years, but I learned the whole business, as far as manufacturing; you really have to know the whole thing for service. When you're in a small business and you're on the road and there's a bell broken, there's not that many people that can help. You really have to understand the instrument, how to repair them, and how it's tuned.

 When did you first meet Donald Allured?
"I first met him at commencement in 1979 I believe, and then just in classes. He taught Intro to Handbell Leadership Training, as well as Concert I."

What is taught in Handbell Leadership that is not gained from ringing in an ensemble?
What is covered in a handbell leadership course that you don't get in a normal ensemble experience?
I think that every sacred music major should have experience with handbells if they are going to work in a mainline church.  It teaches more background information, how much table space you should have, about the different octaves of bells, about the equipment.  In the ensemble you just ring on what I provide you - these are the tables you ring on, these are the pads you use.  In class I present you with different ideas about equipment for what will work for a church program or a school program. We talk a lot about working with non-music readers and bringing together an intergenerational choir.  What if you have six readers and five non-readers? How are we going to make that work, how are we going to run a rehearsal? We get through all the various ringing techniques that are out there, which we don't always use in all of our music. When you are in a choir, I just teach the techniques that are being used in the piece.  In Intro to Handbell Leadership Training there is a lot more study. We talk about how to assign; we do a lot of assigning as far as the bass goes, we talk a lot about fundraising, the whole gamut.

     
Could you talk about Don Allured's philosophy?
Don Allured was a true technician.  First of all, let's talk about assignments. He was the person who developed the three-octave inner core assignment in keyboard order progression. There are several schools of thought on assignments.  His was that you take two diatonic pitches and their sharps and flats and each ringer get's to bells and it goes straight up the scale.  There is a Westminster grad who is probably the second school of thought, and that's Bob Ivy. He does two diatonic pitches up to F and G5and then at A5 you're assigned A5 and A6, and then it's BC, BE, FG, and then he assigns the B6 and C7 down the octave.  Don Allured and Bob Ivy used to do 10 ringers with 5, 6 and 7 octaves. I got away from that and decided that B6 and C7 should have it's own position because this is the peak of the melody ( in 3-5 octave music in C major) and needs the strength of one hand and not two.

Don's philosphy was all about technique.  How the bell was handled, damping... he did not advocate martellato.  I've bent on that a little bit, we don't use it as much as other choirs do, we treat it more as a dynamic marking.  He was totally against that, he was interested in musicality and musicality alone.  He believed you had to have flawless technique, and had no tolerance for missing and wrong notes.


  My approach to handbell ringing is to treat it more like 4-part writing, like a string quartet.  It used to be that the bass bells were scattered around the 10 ringers on the table - if you rang G3, probably position 2 would ring it because in G major you were the 6th and 7th scale degree and would almost never ring tonic so you could pick up the G3. With all that said, music was always a little bit thinner back then.

And he was doing a lot of Bach.

He was always doing Bach, every semester, because it was the tight ringing and the damping that would build technique. Approaching the bell choir as sections and each having it's own specific technique has created a fuller sound. I think sonority-wise, it works better to have everything in keyboard order. He put the 3-octave range in keyboard order and then scattered everything else; I advocated to have everything in keyboard order.  The core of the music is written for C4-C7 and then the lower bells support what is going on, sometimes there is an extra line, and then the higher bells from C#7 to C9 (or I'll say C8 since that is what most people have) is decorative.

What other repertoire would Don choose?
  He was a composer, so we did a lot of his original works.  I think he chose his repertoire so that the students would learn the bell standards, but there were a lot of sacred music majors in the choir.  This year we only have one sacred piece, the Ubi Caritas. There would have 4 or 5 pieces based on hymn tunes.

 What do handbell directors entering the field today need to know?
They need to know how to ring, and they have to understand the instrument. Many handbell directors don't know that the bell produces two pitches, many don't even know that they're transposed and sound an octave higher than written. They have to know how to produce the sound and understand that ringing the correct note is only the beginning, for many that's the goal. The musicality begins once the tone is made; what you do with the bell after the tone is produced determines the music.

 Does the instrument have a place outside the church, say, in a public education setting?
Chimes do - there are many more chime sets in the world than there are handbell sets.  Chimes can be used in general music education to teach note duration and music reading. They can be used with a text, to teach the melody of a song.  Many school systems have chime ensembles as an extracurricular activity.  Unfortunately it's the plague of the music educator: they have no budget, and any ensemble outside of the chorus or band would be extra-curricular and they would not receive remuneration for it.

 And kids are busy.
Sports are crazy. Sports rule.


If money was no object, where would you take the handbell choir?
  I would start a professional touring choir that was on for 6 weeks, off for 6 weeks. We would tour around the country and go to schools.  This equipment would be very difficult to fly with commercially but we'd have to do it. I would just have a really fine choir with people who loved to ring so we could expose the instrument and ring very musically.

 Any particular countries you would visit?
Well, handbells are really popular in Asia, so I would probably start there, since that would be an easy acceptance.

I thought you were going to say England.
In England, they're not so popular. They were always a secular instrument, not a sacred one, and always had something to do with the local pub.  You would go to Mrs. Smith's house on a Thursday night for tea and ring handbells around her dining room table.  There are very few organized bell groups in England that are housed  by an institution, meaning a church or a school. Most of them are community groups with small sets, maybe two octaves, who get together and ring for the fun of it.  I would start in Asia, and then go on to Europe: Austria, Germany.  I also think bells need dovetail on something to be recognized.

Performing with, say, an orchestra?
Or other instruments. We make these recordings, which are great, they are important, they are good for the school and everything, but I would love for the instrument to have more recognition, and one way to do that is to combine the ensemble with other instruments.

 In a world without music, what profesion would you have chosen?
A lawyer. I'm a critical thinker.

Final thoughts?
I think there's something yet to come with bells.  The instrument needs to collaborate with other instruments. Most community groups wouldn't be happy being an instrument in an orchestra, and I think until we take a step back we won't be able to move forward.


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Today we are back in Princeton, and tomorrow we have a day of recording.  This is the last post for this blog. Thanks for reading!

5-24 to 5-25 - Camden, ME

In 2010 the bell choir toured New England, but its northward trajectory ended in Massachusetts.  Our director and performance managers work to bring the bell choir to the home communities of the bell choir's members, and this year's cohort has two ringers from Maine: Willis Reifsnyder and Sarah Palermo. Willis' hometown of Bar Harbor was deemed to be too far out of the way for this trip, but Camden was within reach: a small port town that balances the quaint, rural feel one expects from northern New England with a bustling tourist-friendly street of shops and restaurants.  It is similar to my hometown in that it is often chosen as a place to retire.  The summer months are busy with visitors, but the shops tend to close early, so be sure to plan accordingly in order to stock up on lobster and moose paraphernalia. I didn't try the lobster ice cream there, but it is a concept that I regard with suspicion.  Maine is also known for its small, tart blueberries that manifest for the shopper in the form of jams and syrups, as well as a popular ingredient in baked goods and desserts. While I am in the vicinity of desserts, I should mention our passing the infamous "Oreo cookie cows:" dark brown save for a white stripe down their middle, they are formally known as the Belted Galloways. One wonders if those with less 'stuffing' suffer from an inferiority complex and submit to the 'alpha-oreo.'  My host joked about killing off the cow with a thin stripe "so it doesn't ruin the breed."

Our six-day run of normal concert routine (pack, drive, ring, eat, sleep) was finally interrupted by an afternoon ride on a schooner in Penobscot Bay.  The Olad was skippered by Aaron Lincoln and another brawny Mainerite, who elicited the assistance of some of our own members during the voyage.  Manny, who claimed to be on his first sailboat ride, hoisted the main with speed and confidence; the subsequent keeling came as a surprise to many (especially Manny) which provided a setting for much-needed choir bonding.  Apart from the wind chill and overcast skies, it seemed to be a good experience for everyone, not to mention the nautical education (Skipper Manny later took the helm) and Aaron's knowledge of the marker islands and local history.  We split off into smaller groups to try the local flavor; the lobster roll had been on my visit-Maine-bucket-list, and I was glad to find that Peter Ott's provided sweet potato fries at no extra charge.  Warm tea by the fireplace helped us regain homeostasis after a damp, chilly venture on the ocean.  The following morning, we attended church.

Sweet potato fries included! 

 Meaghan with the jib, Willis providing moral support.

Heave, Ho! Manny hoisting the main.

Setting up our bell tables at the First Congregational Church of Camden was a tight squeeze, but the choir adjusted to the new arrangement.  The matinee concert went well: the community was excited to hear more of Sarah's music, and also hummed along to America the Beautiful - not as emphatically as the Cape Codders in my opinion, but a solid 2nd place.  Kathy has been particularly pleased with Handel's Passacaglia as of late, and this performance brought it to a higher level of accuracy and musicality.  Ray Nugent and Ryan McCann continued to run and hop about the back tables during Hall of the Mountain King, much to the amusement and (and surprise) of the audience.  All was appreciated, and after a quick reception we were on the road.

Sarah, center stage. 

                                                             Creative cake decorations.

5-22 and 5-23 Cape Cod and Manchester

         

(Relaxing in Plymouth)

          The national tour last year was a spectacular experience, but it was also special, in a selfish way, to go to (or through) my hometown of Bourne on our way to Falmouth, MA. Given our recent visit to the former residence of Katherine Lee Bates, it was coincidental that we were now in her birthplace. Until now, I was not aware of the significance of the road labeled with her namesake that runs parallel to the main stretch of shops on 28a. The things you learn about your hometown when you attend graduate school 5 hours away! 
          Apart from the fact that I was able to ring with the choir for my family and receive a large rooting-for-the-home-team when I announced my geographic origins, the concert at John Wesley United Methodist was unique in that the audience hummed the tune during America the Beautiful. I always took the community sing-along for granted, but as far as our tour is concerned, it seems to be a behavior unique to Cape Codders. 

(I hope they weren't disappointed when only the bell choir showed up)

(Manny and Shalanda getting in some practice time) 

Blah blah blah mushy reflection on going home, etc. (It was actually quite nice).

            Our destination in Manchester, NH was a legitimate "church home" in that one of the education wings led directly to the room of a house that was over 100 years old. There was no immediate cause for alarm, but there was a subconscious discomfort over the abrupt transition of design, decor, and lighting. I am quite sure my inner self was wondering if I had a mental lapse, forgetting that our group had walked outside for a brief moment to some aged benefactor's dwelling. The only analogous experience I can come up with is that of an amusement park, perhaps specifically EPCOT, where you can buy an imitation-Moroccan flute in "Arabia" before heading next door to "Germany" for a frothy stout. The "Manning" house was a wedding gift for the daughter in the family (Congratulations! You found a man! Here's a house with exquisite woodwork and chinaware!) on a property that was eventually donated to the local church. In the 60's the chapel was put on rollers and moved about a mile to its current location, and an additional larger sanctuary was added, as well as education wings and a fellowship hall. 

(The sanctuary that was moved on rollers)

(Mrs. Manning herself)

              (You know you're wealthy when you aren't sure where to go when the doorbell rings.)

5-20 and 21 - Wellesley and Medfield, MA

Rich commended us on our efficient loading of the bells in the morning.  At our first CVS stop, Julia Beckmann led the way to the vacant section of the parking lot with a frisbee in hand, where we 'passed' the time until heading to our next mall stop.  I was not expecting a few hours in the Natick mall to be a memorable experience given yesterday's venture in Buckland Hills, but   our foray into the territory was immediately rewarding.  There was a store entirely dedicated to the new Tesla cars built in California; high-performance vehicles that run completely on electricity and can be recharged at solar-powered stations throughout the country.  Some other features: doorhandles that retreat into the body of the car until touched, the largest LCD screen I have seen in a car (which makes you feel like Captain Kirk when you adjust the all-glass retractable roof), and storage space in the trunk and under the hood.  Such features of course are somewhat gimmicky (save for the extra trunk space) and are not exclusive to electronic cars, but if you sign the dotted line quick enough, the $70,000 might feel justified. It was a fun diversion, and Ryan McCann looked quite at home in the driver's seat.

Our performance at Wellesley Hills Congregational Church was for our smallest audience so far, but we were also competing with the Boston Handbell Festival.  Kathy was very pleased with the look and acoustics of the sanctuary, created by the woodwork and high ceiling.  Wellesly is a town with a rich history; many Nobel Prize winners resided in the area, which made the immediate standing ovation at the end of our program particularly special.  Kathy's inclusion of America the Beautiful in the program must have been a fortuitous moment of clairvoyance, for she admitted she was not aware that we would be ringing at the very church that Katherine Lee Bates attended.

 Bates, whose small yellow home lies adjacent to the church, published the poem 'America the Beautiful' in an issue of The Congregationalist in 1895 with revisions until 1911. The original tune paired with the text was Auld Lang Syne, and later Samuel Ward's Materna became the official tune, even after a contest was held in 1929 for new music.  In the selecting of a national anthem in 1931, America the Beautiful was in second place.
One of the hymnals was published by the denomination and allowed congregations to add their own selections at the beginning.  It also contained informative anecdotes about each hymn; under America the Beautiful it was printed: "Bates, who headed the English department at Wellesley, wrote this hymn on viewing the sunrise from the summit of Pikes Peak.  The 'alabaster cities' is the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago."  A quick google search taught me that Chicago is also known the "White city" (I have never seen it) and that the event Bates attended was a huge carnival celebrating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus (yes, it was a year late).
The sprinkling of patriotism on our program maintains its relevancy: the next day we boarded "the T" at Riverside Station and were jostled about for just under an hour before reaching Park Street in the center of Boston's Freedom Trail and other important landmarks in our nation's history. We took a group photo by the waterless fountain in the commons (inaccessibly stored on my camera) before a group ventured off past the Frog Pond towards the public gardens.  The sun was out, as were the ducks, and the flowers (tulips?) were well maintained.  Childhood memories of riding the swan boats were mixed with my newfound curiosity about the presence of so many willow trees in the middle of a city.  On the way to Faneuil Hall I walked through the site of the Boston Massacre; no snowball fights have occurred there since.  The carillon from Park Street chimed familiar hymn tunes.

          Having grown up and attended college within a reasonable driving distance of the city, I may be unsuccessful in separating my nostalgic relationship with Boston from an objective analysis of my subsequent experiences.  I appreciate walkability in a city, and the historic section near the gardens certainly has that quality, given that it was not designed with cars in mind.  I don't remember ever walking from the gardens to the north end in prior visits; in my mind they were much further apart, but in less than 30 minutes we were seated at an open-windowed Italian restaurant eating fried-tomato caprese salads drizzled with pesto.  The subway system is a little rickety and wobbly, and while I am tempted to write with fond remembrance of its unique character, the public transportation in Paris makes 'the T' feel like the King Kong ride at Universal Studios.  The streets were busy and full of pedestrians, but not chaotically so.  On the train ride back it was clear the sun had taken its toll on us, but everyone seemed to have had a nice time.
The concert at the United Church of Christ of Medfield was particularly memorable in my mind due to Willis Reifsnyder's tender but firm reading of E. Brine's poem "Glory On Their Wings," which served as the inspiration for Julie Stitt's gently flowing composition.

5-19 to Manchester, CT

In the morning, Mr. Taylor was present to express a final congratulations and talk shop with one of our fellow organists, Adam Bergstresser.  The surrounding choir members responded by turning the other way and carrying on some other topic of conversation, desperately trying to avoid the scenario in which they are stuck trying to listen in on an incomprehensible dialogue, occasionally nodding their heads in affirmation but sheepishly avoiding eye contact.  It is a phenomenon well known to tourists who assume the populace of their European destination has converted completely to English, as well as golfers who, after a hot afternoon on the course and several Arnold Palmers, accidentally walk past the barbecue buffet and enter in on a physics convention.  One can only redirect the conversation back to the weather so many times; for the record, it has been ideal and sunny thus far, but also cool.  The forecast for the remainder of the week does not look as inviting, but will nonetheless give us something to talk about should our organists convene and say things like "pedal-coupled cornet faburden-flöte three-and-three-quarters."
Our next destination was the South Methodist Church in Manchester, CT, lying approximately 90 miles northeast of our prior location, just outside of Hartford.  At the first rest stop, the choir could be seen in its natural habitat: drinking Starbucks and creating a circle on the grass for a lively game of hackysack. For lunch we went to the Buckland Hills Mall, allowing us to stock up on forgotten items and release any shopping enthusiasm from mid-semester suppression. Meaghan purchased a watch for Mark for his birthday; when I asked what kind it was, she replied, "the one on his wrist."  For the rest of us, the highlight was probably the fro-yo store near the mall's entrance; I was particularly fond of the caramel-filled chocolate turtles that resided briefly in the swirl of nutella-flavored dairy product.
Located off of a main road, our arrival was heralded by the GPS ("Your destination is on the right"), at which point we gathered our things and began our unloading routine.  The church appeared much older than one would assume from its 1925 construction; the former wooden structure was lost in a fire, and the current stone sanctuary was built in the English style with an east-west transept.  It is in the historic center of town, not far from a street of shops that had difficulty when the mall we visited yesterday first opened.  Also nearby are numerous homes built by the Cheney family, wealthy philanthropists who owned the railroad that ran through town in addition to numerous other businesses. A couple of the houses are owned by the church and served community and rehabilitation functions, while others formerly belonged to kin and houseservants of the Cheneys.  It is said that they treated their employees well, and the church certainly benefited from their generosity.

Organist Chris Walton greeted us, introducing us to his wife Tanya (also a prodigious organist) and Earl, the music director.  In addition to his work in the music ministry, Earl taught middle-school chorus and eventually became a principle; currently he mentors masters students at the University of Hartford in administrative and educational leadership. After a focused rehearsal we enjoyed a lasagna dinner, spreading out among the tables in order to get to know our hosts.  All pieces were well-received; our program was shifted slightly, perhaps to help with pacing, but also to end on a more positive note. The joyous Festival Sanctus replaced the arrangement of the exciting but mysterious In the Hall of the Mountain King that concluded last night's program.  Interest was also high: the church's bell choir sat in one of the side balconies next to the built-in handbell tables, and one audience member thanked Kathy for her enlightening explanations of ringing technique and handbell construction.

5-18 to Ridgefield, CT

Today began our 10-day concert tour of New England.  Spirits seemed high as we loaded the world's largest set of handbells and handchimes into the bus today; the energy was largely feeding off the excitement of last year's cross-country tour that we hope to follow up with more positive memories, but I must give due credit to Mark Laseter's jubilant cartwheeling demonstrations. There was also an eagerness to put our new military-grade bell cases (with rolling wheels!) to the test, which Ray proudly loaded into the cargo bays of our Stout bus; how many hours of tetris were required for him to gain this skill I cannot say, but he certainly deserves a patent.  Perhaps in a few years they'll design cases with 2hp engines for ease of transportation?

It is no secret that the members of Westminster's Handbell Choir travel in luxury; after the usual amusing series of wisecracks from Rich Shaw, our esteemed driver, our small ranks can spread out among the plush seats; fort-building would be a possibility but hasn't been attempted yet as far as I know.  Luggage is consolidated near the front, creating a formidable wall between the ensemble and our fearless leaders, Kathy Ebling-Shaw and Ryan Dalton.

Our first stop was the First Congregational Church in Ridgefield, CT, approximately 2.5 hours from Princeton.  As we neared the church we passed many lovely modern-but-quasi-colonial homes with well-kept yards; the church building itself was a gray stone structure that looked much fresher than one would guess considering its 1888 construction.  As indicated by the sign, the congregation gathered in 1714, so it is a great honor to be invited to give a concert during their tri-centennial celebration.  We were greeted by Edwin Taylor, the church's Director of Music, who graduated from Westminster with degrees in sacred music and organ performance.  He began by congratulating us on our involvement in the commencement activities of the day prior.  He regularly attends the graduation ceremony, he told us, for a renewal of his sense of calling to his profession.  The ministry at FCC seems to be thriving. Services that morning celebrated the involvement of the various choirs of the parish, and our performance was to be the "cherry on the sundae" (or did he mean Sunday?).  My host for the night described Edwin as a great mobilizer and leader for the musical life of the church, and held much esteem for his ability to engage the youth and involve them in the music-making.

After a rehearsal, dinner was held across the street at a lovely home that may have just as well been a museum; two pianos (one of them a Blütner from Leipzig) and a harp were found in what was the location of a variety of in-home recitals and entertainment.  I was immediately reminded of the taste and attention to detail found in the rooms of a Viennese palace.  There was no shortage of decor in the other rooms; artwork, flower displays, and meticulously arranged furniture met the eye at every turn.  Another Westminster alumni, Rosemary, ensured we were well-fed prior to our performance, providing delicious sandwich wraps and pasta salads which we enjoyed on the back patio.

After a time of centering with Kathy, our Director and Conductor, we filed into the sanctuary at 7:30pm to begin our program, entitled Tintinnabulation (Edgar Allen Poe's term).  The centerpiece of our first half was an arrangement of Handel's Passacaglia, followed by a composition of the same name by the modern composer Kevin McChesney. A passacaglia is a musical dance form often containing a repeating bass line with variations above. The second half is marked by two original compositions written by members of choir, Ian Good and Sarah Palermo, with Ian's piece featuring our own Meaghan Metzger on flute. Thanks to Mr. Taylor's publicizing, our audience was comprised of many handbell ringers who enthusiastically received our performance and displayed curiosity about our larger aluminum bells.