I’m a piano teacher with a degree in music, but I have to cover two handbell classes tomorrow and have never even picked one up! Thanks for the crash course! I feel much better about it now.
You're going to be great! The only thing that might be weird for you as a pianist is going to be the fact that they are a transposing instrument, they're pitched an octave above written pitches. Just in case you're playing piano with them in the future, heads up!
Thank you for such a clear and informative explanation! I'll be referring back to this in my saved videos, its been really helpful for my first bell choir practice!
Awesome, glad it was useful. I appreciate you. They're going to be great! Let me know later if any follow-up video topics would be useful to you or necessary for your students. Thanks again, and good luck!
I was asked to join the bell choir, and I didn't know anything about bells. I was placed with the bigger bells, so at first, I couldn't ring them enough to make a sound. It was super stressful lol. This is so helpful and now I feel prepared!! Thank you :)
Happy it was helpful! Yes, the big bells are much slower and harder to ring because they're deceptively heavy! Sometimes I've seen bell choirs put them on what's called a tree (bell tree) and ring them with mallets. Might be a fix if you ever get stationed on big bells in the future and have trouble ringing them. Wishing you success!
Yeah, I know what you're talking about. I mostly just call it "vibrato," most musicians coming from other instruments instinctively know what to do and what I mean when I use that term. And I don't just call for it on final notes, but sometimes long tones as well. I think gyro is specific to endings, although I'll have to double-check. Appreciate you!
@@EnHymn Omg, I was not expecting you to be active and actually do it so quickly on a 4 year old video, that's some dedication right there!!! Thanks so much, you're awesome lol. I'm writing a piece for my bell choir so this is very helpful
I don't see why not! May have to wrap it into a video about bell techniques, otherwise it'll be super short. What is giving you trouble with your shake right now?
Absolutely! Appreciate the feedback, in retrospect I do wish I had started with better markers 😂 If I ever make a part 2 I will not make the same mistake
Great! Two quick tips and some thoughts for how I would go about developing a better swing style, hopefully they're helpful! 1. Make sure we're listening to Swing Music: Immerse yourself in swing music to develop a natural feel for the rhythm. Think Big Band, Jazz. Pay attention to how the instruments, especially the drums and bass, create the swing groove. 2. Understand Swing Feel: Swing rhythm is often described as having a "long-short" feel, where the first note in a pair of eighth notes is longer than the second. This creates that laid-back, syncopated groove that people talk about. I'd start with maybe one bell and see if I could apply what you hear in other swing music and this idea of "long-short", just the rhythm, before moving on to two bells, one in each hand. Pick smaller bells so that you don't get tired out too quickly. The exercise I'm thinking of would essentially be something super simple, Then I would make sure I could do the "long-short" rhythm idea in one hand by itself, switch to the other hand by itself, and then pass the rhythm between hands. Then, and only then, would I start to apply this to my actual music. What I would be looking for when applying this to my actual bell music is any eighth notes, that's really where the swing happens. If the eighth note is on the beat it's a long note, and if it's on the "and" it's a short note. Does that make sense?
Yeah, looking back I catch my breath a little watching me put a thumb down on the casting. Even though I know I cleaned them immediately and they weren't impacted, still feels wrong, should always wear gloves. Shelly and Four-in-hand might be fun to get into for a future video!
Hi do you know where I can get cheap affordable bells with the same handles as the bells u play, I have to improve on my grip as well as my shakes but I can’t bring home the bells from my school
The only places I've found good, inexpensive bells is in the used market. I've found some deals on used bells in only three places: eBay, Facebook, and directly from a church or school that didn't want them anymore. Hope that's helpful!
Couple options, but a lot of it depends on the music scores and the instructions written there. Most of the time, it'll just be a regular shoulder damp, but often with a mart lift you'll see a table damp, especially at the end of a piece. Good question!
Hey Tiffany, thanks for reaching out. I don't want to make any assumptions and would like to give you some valuable advice here. Could you tell me a little about what you want to accomplish? - Maybe what kind of music background you have?
@@EnHymn hi I'm a beginner I play piano and did hand bells once and could keep up music wise .. I just want ones that sound decent for my own enjoyment and the ones necessary . Thank you
@@tswanson23 That's great! I love that you're interested in branching (back) out to Handbells from piano. The best handbell makers are hands down Malmark, Schulmerich, and Whitechapel. In the video in playing a set of Malmark bells. They sound the best and are what bell groups use for performance. HOWEVER... They're stupid expensive ($1,000+) and are hard to get in smaller sets. If you're just doing it for yourself and are on a budget (or just would rather not invest THAT much into a hobby), I've got some ideas for you! I looked it up on Amazon, and there are two pretty promising items I see, although I'm not familiar with either. www.amazon.com/dp/B0046HSTRE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_mLqRBbXQJYA00 These are brass, they're cheap, they seem to sound okay. It's a
Another option to consider: Check Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and EBay for local deals. You might get lucky and catch a church who is getting rid of their HandBells, you never know!
You're starting your mart waaay too high. If you are using ONLY gravity that will work, but most ringers won't control the motion that much. Therefore, you should never start more than a couple of inches above the foam.
Hey Ann. Yes, it would be impractical to start the mart or mart lift that high because it would take too much time to ring. I was exaggerating so everyone could see the basic concept (from so far away), but thanks. In performance, a few inches is the only way to ring, and I would argue against using too much extra force and to allow gravity to do most of the work.
You could maybe use preprinted charts (black on white) with actual copy of what we’d see in music rather than take time to draw on board moving it, erasing it, spell check. Just a thought. We have some displayed on our choir room wall and a printed reference sheet in our music folders. Very helpful. Thank you for your visuals. Very helpful. Handbell ringing is a beautiful art form!
I was asked to join the Advanced Handbells choir, even tho I’ve never read music or played an instrument. really worried but i guess it’s kinda fun. thanks for this🥲
Thanks for watching! What's your favorite technique discussed?
the echo sound good
Frankly Worship yeah, man! We call it "brush" because of the action, but the sound of the echo makes it such a special playing technique!
Shaking is SOOOOO fun! I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that... haha!😆
Its been a few months since this was posted, my fav is still the mallets lol
Love all of these!
I’m a piano teacher with a degree in music, but I have to cover two handbell classes tomorrow and have never even picked one up! Thanks for the crash course! I feel much better about it now.
You're going to be great! The only thing that might be weird for you as a pianist is going to be the fact that they are a transposing instrument, they're pitched an octave above written pitches. Just in case you're playing piano with them in the future, heads up!
Thank you for such a clear and informative explanation! I'll be referring back to this in my saved videos, its been really helpful for my first bell choir practice!
Thanks! We will be practicing along with this tutorial with my beginning handbell class today. (35 BEGINNER students! lol)
Awesome, glad it was useful. I appreciate you. They're going to be great!
Let me know later if any follow-up video topics would be useful to you or necessary for your students. Thanks again, and good luck!
I just joined a handbell choir last night. Only used mallets. So excited. Your video is so informative. Thank you!
Wow! How fun and exciting! I'm so happy for you, if you have any questions along the way reach back out. Happy ringing!
thank you for this! my church just started up handbells again and this will be very helpful I have a feeling
Love that! Hope it proves useful for you!
Thank you so much for demonstrating the different ways of playing the handbells.
Of course, hope it was helpful! Appreciate your encouragement
I was asked to join the bell choir, and I didn't know anything about bells. I was placed with the bigger bells, so at first, I couldn't ring them enough to make a sound. It was super stressful lol. This is so helpful and now I feel prepared!! Thank you :)
Happy it was helpful! Yes, the big bells are much slower and harder to ring because they're deceptively heavy! Sometimes I've seen bell choirs put them on what's called a tree (bell tree) and ring them with mallets. Might be a fix if you ever get stationed on big bells in the future and have trouble ringing them. Wishing you success!
Jumped over after watching the difference between Handbells and Handchimes video today super fun and I learned a lot!
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed them both!
Thanks a lot! What a lovely and dynamic video!! Took my notes!
Thanks for the encouragement Mr. Daniel, glad it was helpful to you today!
Wow thank you so much!
Really helpful and useful:)
Also what about the gyro?
Yeah, I know what you're talking about. I mostly just call it "vibrato," most musicians coming from other instruments instinctively know what to do and what I mean when I use that term. And I don't just call for it on final notes, but sometimes long tones as well. I think gyro is specific to endings, although I'll have to double-check. Appreciate you!
I think I really like the brush technique the best (even though I don't play it just looks cool)
One of my favorites! - and who says you can't play now!?
beautiful instruments, beautiful
Frankly Worship I think so, too! They really have been forgotten and left behind by a lot of churches, I'd love to see them have a resurgence!
Truth!
Yes!
Thank you! Your video hepls me a lot
Appreciate the encouragement, glad it was helpful!
Thank you. Very informative.
Thanks for the encouragement, appreciate you. Glad it helped
Starting playing bells, can't read music, having a hard time, but I do like it...
You’re a superstar, I’m sure! It’s a deceptively difficult instrument to master, especially if you don’t read music! Kudos to you!
Did you have any questions I might be able to help answer? I know you just started
Thank you!
Appreciate you very much
🎉 very good ty everyone good job
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video
This was great.
Appreciate you, glad you enjoyed it. Blessings
Hello En, thank you for sharing. I am new to this instrument. I want to learn but don’t know where to begin. Please advise
Sure thing, love your desire to learn! Do you have any experience with music? Other instruments?
00:20:00 my favorite part!
🤣🤣🤣
👍👍👍
Wow! Hand Bell playing has really gone away in recent years from churches. Perhaps we can bring it back, at least for the children?
I would love to see more people playing bells! Fun to learn, fun to teach!
Good stuff, but timestamps are essential in a 30 min instructional video!!
Appreciate the pointer, it could use the update. Let me see what I can do…
Better? lol
@@EnHymn Omg, I was not expecting you to be active and actually do it so quickly on a 4 year old video, that's some dedication right there!!! Thanks so much, you're awesome lol. I'm writing a piece for my bell choir so this is very helpful
Lol, I get that. Oh, cool! - If you need any help reach out again and I’ll see what I can do. Wishing you well in your composition!
Hi could you make a video on how to shake bells I can’t seem to do it right
I don't see why not! May have to wrap it into a video about bell techniques, otherwise it'll be super short. What is giving you trouble with your shake right now?
Hi better markers please, great information, but sorry the visual is poor.
Absolutely! Appreciate the feedback, in retrospect I do wish I had started with better markers 😂 If I ever make a part 2 I will not make the same mistake
I am trying to learn how to do the swing rhythm with bells. Can you help with this?
Sure! By swing rhythm, what do you mean? - Like swing style, dotted rhythms, or like physically swinging the bell in rhythm?
@@EnHymn swing style, dotted rhythms
Great! Two quick tips and some thoughts for how I would go about developing a better swing style, hopefully they're helpful!
1. Make sure we're listening to Swing Music: Immerse yourself in swing music to develop a natural feel for the rhythm. Think Big Band, Jazz. Pay attention to how the instruments, especially the drums and bass, create the swing groove.
2. Understand Swing Feel: Swing rhythm is often described as having a "long-short" feel, where the first note in a pair of eighth notes is longer than the second. This creates that laid-back, syncopated groove that people talk about.
I'd start with maybe one bell and see if I could apply what you hear in other swing music and this idea of "long-short", just the rhythm, before moving on to two bells, one in each hand. Pick smaller bells so that you don't get tired out too quickly. The exercise I'm thinking of would essentially be something super simple, Then I would make sure I could do the "long-short" rhythm idea in one hand by itself, switch to the other hand by itself, and then pass the rhythm between hands. Then, and only then, would I start to apply this to my actual music.
What I would be looking for when applying this to my actual bell music is any eighth notes, that's really where the swing happens. If the eighth note is on the beat it's a long note, and if it's on the "and" it's a short note.
Does that make sense?
I will try it and let you know. Thanks for your time and consideration.
It’s no trouble, please keep me updated!
🤔😮😱☝🏽Rule #1 Always Wear Your Gloves 🧤! What About Echo, Shelly + Shelly-. Shelly ++ Shelly- -.
Yeah, looking back I catch my breath a little watching me put a thumb down on the casting. Even though I know I cleaned them immediately and they weren't impacted, still feels wrong, should always wear gloves.
Shelly and Four-in-hand might be fun to get into for a future video!
Hi do you know where I can get cheap affordable bells with the same handles as the bells u play, I have to improve on my grip as well as my shakes but I can’t bring home the bells from my school
The only places I've found good, inexpensive bells is in the used market. I've found some deals on used bells in only three places: eBay, Facebook, and directly from a church or school that didn't want them anymore. Hope that's helpful!
How do u dampen after a mart lift
Couple options, but a lot of it depends on the music scores and the instructions written there. Most of the time, it'll just be a regular shoulder damp, but often with a mart lift you'll see a table damp, especially at the end of a piece. Good question!
Hi do you know where I can get some bells and which ones I should start with ?
Hey Tiffany, thanks for reaching out. I don't want to make any assumptions and would like to give you some valuable advice here. Could you tell me a little about what you want to accomplish? - Maybe what kind of music background you have?
@@EnHymn hi I'm a beginner I play piano and did hand bells once and could keep up music wise .. I just want ones that sound decent for my own enjoyment and the ones necessary . Thank you
@@tswanson23 That's great! I love that you're interested in branching (back) out to Handbells from piano.
The best handbell makers are hands down Malmark, Schulmerich, and Whitechapel. In the video in playing a set of Malmark bells. They sound the best and are what bell groups use for performance. HOWEVER...
They're stupid expensive ($1,000+) and are hard to get in smaller sets.
If you're just doing it for yourself and are on a budget (or just would rather not invest THAT much into a hobby), I've got some ideas for you!
I looked it up on Amazon, and there are two pretty promising items I see, although I'm not familiar with either.
www.amazon.com/dp/B0046HSTRE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_mLqRBbXQJYA00
These are brass, they're cheap, they seem to sound okay. It's a
Another option to consider:
Check Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and EBay for local deals. You might get lucky and catch a church who is getting rid of their HandBells, you never know!
Thank you so much ! Yes I enjoy the piano and now the handbells they are so neat.. The Sheet music is similar to the piano so that is nice
You're starting your mart waaay too high. If you are using ONLY gravity that will work, but most ringers won't control the motion that much. Therefore, you should never start more than a couple of inches above the foam.
Hey Ann. Yes, it would be impractical to start the mart or mart lift that high because it would take too much time to ring. I was exaggerating so everyone could see the basic concept (from so far away), but thanks. In performance, a few inches is the only way to ring, and I would argue against using too much extra force and to allow gravity to do most of the work.
Please don’t use a red marker and please do use a clean board! I appreciate your effort, but I can’t see your writing!
Sorry about that, Tresa. When I watch this video back, that is a regret of mine, that the symbols early aren't as visible. Thankful for the feedback.
You could maybe use preprinted charts (black on white) with actual copy of what we’d see in music rather than take time to draw on board moving it, erasing it, spell check. Just a thought. We have some displayed on our choir room wall and a printed reference sheet in our music folders. Very helpful. Thank you for your visuals. Very helpful. Handbell ringing is a beautiful art form!
That’s a great idea, appreciate the feedback
not very good
Appreciate the feedback. What exactly is not very good?
I was asked to join the Advanced Handbells choir, even tho I’ve never read music or played an instrument. really worried but i guess it’s kinda fun. thanks for this🥲