Handbell's Exercises

Exercises for Handbell:


Handbell choirs are popular church musical groups and community ensembles, and although handbell technique can become quite advanced, handbells are also easy to introduce to peaople who do not read music. Because creating music with handbells is a collective effort, music education for handbells focuses on teaching ringers how to fit in to the choir. Exercises for handbells begin with basics techniques for producing a quality sound on the instrument and progress through music theory and more advanced ringing techniques.


Exercising Basics Skills


Basic handbell technique should include exercises for handbells that teach ringers multiple basic rhythmic patterns and combinations of note lenghts. Additionally, ringers will need to practice the basic time signatures for the first pieces of music. Basic training should also include exercises for handbells that practice the techniques for producing sound--- the ring and lift--- and for stopping sound--- the damp. Use unison exercises, where everyone practices the same techniques at the same time, and exercises in which each plays a different part.


Rhythm Training


Additional exercises for handbells should include more specific and advanced rhythm training, since rhythm makes up a large handbell ringing. Incorporate and practice new rhythms in your handbell exercises and use repetition to reinforce new concepts.


Coordination Drills


Coodination is another essential skill for handbell technique, and ringers must learn how to coordinate not only with the choir, but also with themselves when using both hands to ring multiple bells. Basic coordination exercises for handbells should simply practice ringing and damping, as well as changing from one hand's bell to the other. Additional coordination exercises for handbells include more advanced drills in fast ringing and changing volume.



Mallet Training


More advanced handbell technique may include the use of mallets on the handbells, so as you begin incorporating mallets into your music education, you will need to include exercises and drills that use the mallets. While ringers may be familiar with rhythms from their handbell exercises, they will need to re-learn how to execute the rhythms using mallets instead of their hands, since the use of mallets changes the timing of rhythms. Ringers will also need  to re-learn coodination skills with basic drills for mallets, repeating rhythms and alternating between playing stopping sound.


Music Theory and Sight Reading



More advanced exercises for handbells should include practice reading notation---the note values, the time signatures and the accidentals---and vocabulary referring to the speed of the music, the volume dynamics and the signs indicating when to repeat and stop. Do sight-reading exercises for handbells by having your handbell choir practice playing through sheet music that contains all of these elements at a level slightly easier than that which you would have them practice to perform.

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Introduction To Handbell

All About Handbell Ensemble:

The handbell is an instrument that is a member of the percussion instrument family. Its name is fairly self explanatory as the bell is held in the hand and wrung. The musician, or ringer as they are sometimes referred to as, holds the bell by the handle, which is usually made of leather or plastic so that it is fairly flexible. The musician or ringer then moves their wrist so that the small ball of metal within the bell strikes the side of the bell once. While there are occasions where a single bell will be rung, they are often heard in tuned sets, where each bell will produce a single note.


It may seem like an instrument that has been around for an exceptionally long time, but the handbell was actually not invented until sometime between the late 1600s and the early 1700s. It is unsure of where or how the creators of the handbells began creating differently tuned bells to be used to create music. Two brothers, named Robert and William Cor created handbells and were also the ones to come up with the ideas of fitting them with hinged clappers that would only move in one place within the bell, which is probably so the bell will only make a single ring to have a crisp, clear sound. It was not until the early 1900s that the handbell finally made it across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States from England. From there, popularity of the handbells grew and has been used ever since.


Originally, the handbell sets only contained six different bells in a set that were tuned to different notes. The first set that arrived in the United States in 1902 contained ten differently tuned bells. There are also different techniques in playing these particular instruments.The original or traditional way a ringer would ring these bells  is to ring two at a time, with one bell in each hand. When it is necessary for a ringer to ring four bells at a time, the ringer will hold two bells in one hand with the clappers at right angles to each other so that they can ring the bells properly. Where the individual needs to ring six bells at a time, with three bells in each hand, they will nee to pck two bells in each hand and then pick up the third.


Of course, this can be a little more difficult and it can take some practice, but experienced ringers have little difficulty. The last technique in ringing bells, known as weaving, is used when the ringer is playing large bass bells. The bells are so large that holding more than one bell in each hand is impossible. The ringer will change between bells by putting abell down on the table and immediately picking up another to play when necessary. It may not be the first thing to cross an aspring musician's mind to play, but playing handbells canbe quite challenging and fulfilling in the end.
This is a bass bell.This is a handbell

Techniques about Handbell

How to hold and play the handbell.

Techniques:

Step 1:Hold the bell so that the insignia on the handle faces you.

Step 2:Grasp in closed fist around the handle, not through the handle's loop.

Step 3:Keep the bell upright, with the bell at the top and the handle pointing downward.

Step 4:When playing, stretch your arm out in front of you, providing enough space to make a circular motion with the entire arm.

Step 5:The size of the circular motion needed to play a note depends on the type of note that is being played.

Step 6:Whole notes require large arms motions, while eighth notes require smaller motions.

Step 7:To stop the soynd once a handbell has been rung, bring the bell back against your chest or silence it on the table. 

How to hold Two Bells Per Hand.

In order to create a handbell choir, it will sometimes be necessary to have one person play more than one bell. It is possible to hold more than one bell in one or both hands and still be able to play both bells. Here is the techniques to hold two bells per hand....... 

Techniques:

Step 1:First, hold one bell in the handbell grip with the bell pointing upright.

Step 2:Place the second bell between the index and the middle finger, so that the bell's handles are perpendicular to each other.

Step 3: The first bell is rung as normal, using a circular motion. The second bell is played by rotating the wrist inward toward the torso and then back up and out, as if knocking on a door with the back of the hand.
Step 4:To create a more secure two- bell technique, the first bell's handle can be placed through the second bell's handle. This will keep the second bell from falling if you lose your grip.

Video About My CCA

This video is about a group of high school students playing handbell.