by J.R. Smith
J.R. Smith
Publications Director
Always Looking for New Content
Instructional Articles
- Rehearsal & Teaching Techniques
- Programming
- Building and Organizing a Program
- Marketing & Communication
- Building/Using Equipment
Music
- Processionals & Fanfares
- Hymn Accompaniments
- Arrangements for Less than a Full Choir
- Learning Pieces
Educational Materials
- Music Lesson Plans
- Rehearsal Exercises
Features
- Human interest stories about the people who make handbells special
- Articles about especially unique handbell events or programs from which someone else could gain ideas
For many people, the sound of handbells is almost inseparable from the Christmas season.
Mention handbells to someone outside our musical community, and chances are their imagination immediately fills with familiar scenes: a candlelit church on Christmas Eve, musicians ringing an arrangement of “Silent Night,” perhaps a festive concert filled with carols, greenery, and red bows.
Whenever I attend an HMA event and take an Uber from the airport to the hotel, the driver will usually ask what brings me to town. One of my favorite responses when mentioning handbells to a driver was, “Oh yeah, that’s the thing the little kids do at Christmas!”
I think handbells are the perfect instrument for Christmas, and we should celebrate it. Christmas may be the best opportunity we have to place our instrument before people who otherwise might never encounter it. Churches are fuller. Community concerts attract larger audiences. Holiday festivals, television programs, social media feeds, and public gatherings are suddenly filled with bells. People who have never attended a handbell concert may happily stop to listen when they hear a familiar Christmas melody.
Those of us who know the instrument understand just how incomplete that picture is. Handbells can perform Bach and Beethoven, jazz and pop, hymns and original compositions, contemporary works and music influenced by cultures from around the world.
We know handbells are not strictly a Christmas instrument. They just happen to be especially popular at Christmas. So instead of fighting the Christmas association, perhaps we should use it.
Every Christmas performance is an opportunity to introduce audiences to something they did not expect. A concert filled entirely with familiar carols may reinforce the idea that this is simply what handbells do. But placing one surprising selection into that program—a classical transcription, an original concert work, a jazz arrangement, or something rhythmically exciting—can cause an audience member to think, “I didn’t know handbells could do that.”
Christmas performances can also become invitations. Programs can mention upcoming spring concerts. Directors can briefly tell audiences that the ensemble rehearses and performs throughout the year. Social media posts featuring holiday music can point followers toward recordings from other seasons. Churches can remind congregations that the bell choir they enjoy on Christmas Eve will also be ringing in the spring and fall.
We can even rethink how we talk about the instrument. Rather than presenting handbells as another piece of holiday decoration, we can present the musicianship behind them. Introduce the musicians. Explain a technique. Share a glimpse of rehearsal. Let audiences see that handbell ringing involves interpretation, coordination, rhythm, physical movement, listening, and considerable musical skill.
Christmas gives us something marketers spend enormous amounts of money trying to create: awareness. For several weeks every year, much of the public is already interested in bells. We should take advantage of it.
Imagine if every person who encountered a handbell ensemble during the Christmas season left not only thinking, “That was beautiful,” but also wondering, “When can I hear them again?”
Let audiences discover us through “Carol of the Bells” and “Silent Night.” Then invite them back for everything else our remarkable instrument can do.
Perhaps the best way to change the perception that handbells are only for Christmas may be to use Christmas itself to prove that they are not.
For many people, the sound of handbells is almost inseparable from the Christmas season.
Mention handbells to someone outside our musical community, and chances are their imagination immediately fills with familiar scenes: a candlelit church on Christmas Eve, musicians ringing an arrangement of “Silent Night,” perhaps a festive concert filled with carols, greenery, and red bows.
Whenever I attend an HMA event and take an Uber from the airport to the hotel, the driver will usually ask what brings me to town. One of my favorite responses when mentioning handbells to a driver was, “Oh yeah, that’s the thing the little kids do at Christmas!”
I think handbells are the perfect instrument for Christmas, and we should celebrate it. Christmas may be the best opportunity we have to place our instrument before people who otherwise might never encounter it. Churches are fuller. Community concerts attract larger audiences. Holiday festivals, television programs, social media feeds, and public gatherings are suddenly filled with bells. People who have never attended a handbell concert may happily stop to listen when they hear a familiar Christmas melody.
Those of us who know the instrument understand just how incomplete that picture is. Handbells can perform Bach and Beethoven, jazz and pop, hymns and original compositions, contemporary works and music influenced by cultures from around the world.
We know handbells are not strictly a Christmas instrument. They just happen to be especially popular at Christmas. So instead of fighting the Christmas association, perhaps we should use it.
Every Christmas performance is an opportunity to introduce audiences to something they did not expect. A concert filled entirely with familiar carols may reinforce the idea that this is simply what handbells do. But placing one surprising selection into that program—a classical transcription, an original concert work, a jazz arrangement, or something rhythmically exciting—can cause an audience member to think, “I didn’t know handbells could do that.”
Christmas performances can also become invitations. Programs can mention upcoming spring concerts. Directors can briefly tell audiences that the ensemble rehearses and performs throughout the year. Social media posts featuring holiday music can point followers toward recordings from other seasons. Churches can remind congregations that the bell choir they enjoy on Christmas Eve will also be ringing in the spring and fall.
We can even rethink how we talk about the instrument. Rather than presenting handbells as another piece of holiday decoration, we can present the musicianship behind them. Introduce the musicians. Explain a technique. Share a glimpse of rehearsal. Let audiences see that handbell ringing involves interpretation, coordination, rhythm, physical movement, listening, and considerable musical skill.
Christmas gives us something marketers spend enormous amounts of money trying to create: awareness. For several weeks every year, much of the public is already interested in bells. We should take advantage of it.
Imagine if every person who encountered a handbell ensemble during the Christmas season left not only thinking, “That was beautiful,” but also wondering, “When can I hear them again?”
Let audiences discover us through “Carol of the Bells” and “Silent Night.” Then invite them back for everything else our remarkable instrument can do.
Perhaps the best way to change the perception that handbells are only for Christmas may be to use Christmas itself to prove that they are not.
J.R. Smith
Publications Director
Always Looking for New Content
Instructional Articles
- Rehearsal & Teaching Techniques
- Programming
- Building and Organizing a Program
- Marketing & Communication
- Building/Using Equipment
Music
- Processionals & Fanfares
- Hymn Accompaniments
- Arrangements for Less than a Full Choir
- Learning Pieces
Educational Materials
- Music Lesson Plans
- Rehearsal Exercises
Features
- Human interest stories about the people who make handbells special
- Articles about especially unique handbell events or programs from which someone else could gain ideas
