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Before Saturday night, I am not sure if I had ever attended a handbell concert before or not. I had a vague mental image of a single row of players each holding two handbells a piece and ringing them at the appropriate time. Whether this was an early childhood memory or just a mental image I conjured up, it in no way prepared me for the show the Virginia Handbell Consort (VHC) put on Saturday night at the Reform Lutheran Church. For one, the VHC has over 200 Schulmerich bells or bell-like instruments. While not all of them are used for every piece, each of the thirteen ringers had four bells and perhaps another percussion device or two in front of them. Some of the higher pitched bell ringers were holding four bells at a time while playing. Wow. I was also completely unaware just how many different ways a bell could be struck to produce the desired sound. Apparently an arranger can call for up to 45 different ringing methods. The VHC demonstrated at least twenty over the course of their twelve songs and encore performances. I was completely blown away by their terrific performance and look forward to their spring concert series. I would highly recommend seeing them in action, they still have a few performances left in their Holiday 2006 season. |
Virginia Handbell Consort
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