First Reformed Church » bell choir

The Bell Choir will Take a Rest

Erie Beemsterboer — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:11:58 +0000

The Bell Choir played a rendition of “Come O Come Emmanuel” with a small choir. We had some last minute help from alumni choir members, and it all came together. It sounds great in the pews, gathering from people’s comments. Now the Bells will take a rest. Rehearsals will begin again in February.

This is a great time to think about whether your want to join the Bell Choir, we can certainly use a few more players to get us back to playing 3 octaves, which also produces a nice brighter sound. Let me know if you want to join the choir so I can tell you all about it!

Bells Take a Rest

Erie Beemsterboer — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:21:06 +0000

During the summer months. the bells and the ringers will take a rest. Early in September, I will ask for volunteers to give the bells a good polish, so they will be shining and nice when we start rehearsing and playing again. Let me know if you want to play or can help with the cleaning, so I can take all of it into account when planning for the Fall.

It does not take much to be able to play, as long as you can count and follow two notes (if needed, colored for your part) you can try it. We welcome young and old up in the balcony to come and join us on Sunday mornings

Handbells

Erie Beemsterboer — Fri, 06 May 2011 15:51:41 +0000

The bell choir is working very hard on a new piece; it is a challenge for all of us. Some ringers are working on new techniques; most of us are working with a rhythm that is somewhat unfamiliar. When we are practicing, it starts to sound very nice. We will play this during Mother’s Day service, and then work on one more piece before the bells get a summer rest.

Handbells Take a Break

Erie Beemsterboer — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 14:46:35 +0000

The Hand Bell choir played twice during the month of December. We opened the month with an Advent song with the addition of John Coakley on the clarinet. That was a really nice combination.

The month was closed by playing the postlude with the Janet on the piano. We have a nice group of people who are willing to play and or willing to learn how to play, and that shows when we perform. Every time the group consists of different players. We have enough room to play now we have three brand new tables on the balcony. Thanks to Guy Suabedissen, who made the tables! We gave him a nice “thank-you” present, which his wife, Lily, put under the Christmas tree.

Since the sanctuary will not be in use during January and February, we will take a break in January. Our next rehearsal will be on Feb 6th at 9:50a.m., so that we can start preparing for the season of Lent.

Bell Choir Notes

Erie Beemsterboer — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:05:48 +0000

We are all excited in Bell Choir. We have a new practice place! Come in the sanctuary between 9:50 and 10:20 a.m. on a Sunday morning and you can hear us play and practice.

Mr. Guy Suabedissen has made two tables for us which go over the last pew on the balcony. It is a little tight right now, so we have asked him to make another table. Soon we will have enough room in front and behind us as well as enough elbow room.

You will be hearing Christmas music floating down from the balcony when you come in as we are preparing for the Christmas season. If you want to see the tables, you are welcome to come up the stairs and have a look.

Bells Keep Ringing

Erie Beemsterboer — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:48:11 +0000

During the worship of February 7th, the bell choir played a beautiful piece. It was a bit more challenging than the pieces we have played before. For March 14th, we are working on a new piece with some other new techniques for most players. As a choir we are growing nicely towards more intricate pieces. We also have started to work on a song that we will play during the Easter worship service.

With the short rehearsal time we have, the whole choir is very grateful that every week Norma comes a little bit early so the bells are all out and ready for us to play when we come to the music room. Thank you, Norma, for doing this every week for us!

Bell Choir Notes

Erie Beemsterboer — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:52:56 +0000

We received many compliments after our last performance in June. Thank you all for your encouragement.

The setup was new and it seemed that playing closer together really improved the sound. It also makes it easier for the ringers to hear each other. And for me, it improves the overview: it is easier to look at a group of people in three short lines than in one long line.

To reward ourselves for the hard work we have put in our playing this year, on July 27th, we will go on a trip to visit the Schulmerich Bell Factory in Sellersville, PA. There we will see how bells are made and learn a lot more about the bells.

We start rehearsing again on September 13th. A date for our monthly Saturday rehearsal has not been set.

If you are interested in joining the choir let me know!

Bell Choir and Music Room

Erie Beemsterboer — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:59:55 +0000

We have had two performances not too far apart and the choir did really well. Both times I received numerous compliments about how well the choir sounded. I really enjoy hearing these compliments, but without all the great and hard work of the ringers, it would not have been possible. It is not always easy for the group to practice; most of the time someone is absent. And that makes a huge difference in how the piece sounds. Also, the layout and acoustics of our practice room are quite different from the sounds in the sanctuary. Therefore, it is a big accomplishment for the whole group that we did so well. We are starting a few new pieces so that we will keep enhancing the worship services with this beautiful music.

If you have not been in the music room lately, you are in for a surprise! The room is getting a lot of use; two organizations use the room during the week as their office. The choir director and bell choir director use the room to store their music and bells with all the accompanying equipment in the room.

And we do have a lot of music! I have been working for weeks to catalogue what we have. So far, I have worked through most of our single copy music, that is, music with just one song on it, and we have over 700 different pieces of them. I have a few more to go, and then I can start with the multi-copy music — all the different books we have with two or more songs. That requires a little more work as one wants to know more than just the title of the book. So it will be a while before I am finished, but meanwhile we have been using this catalogue already, which makes me happy as it is a lot of work. However, I see it as very useful work.

How can we ever use all (or at least some of) this music if we do not know what we have! The next step, after all the cataloguing, will be to decide which songs we will never use again. And there are definitely candidates for that, but it must be done with a group of people who know more of our church history and of music than I can do on my own. I will let you know when we can start on this part of the project.