Topic: Instrumental Versions - Handbells
Some have seen handbells as ideal instruments for children. Malmark introduced a line of less-expensive bells for elementary schools in 1982. [1] That same year Bob Bergin edited a collection of 8 Note Bell Songs for Rhythm Band Instruments. [2] It included the standard version of "Kumbaya" in 4/4.
Playing any instrument is fun and aids cognitive development. One drawback for handbells is that, like recorders, they are pitched an octave higher than the notation on the sheet music. Thus, children learn to coordinate physical actions to printed symbols, but cannot connect the resulting sounds with the tones the spots on the page generally indicate. The relatively of transposition and the acoustics of octaves are inherent in music, but usually learned by osmosis.
The larger problem with handbells is young children want to make music, not take turns or listen. An instrument like a bell tree would be more to their liking because they could play every note. And, in fact, despite the title of his book, Bergin’s arrangements are marked for chromaharps, a form of autoharp. Rhythm Band Instruments also was selling chime bars that resembled like xylophones. [3]
The difficulties of submerging oneself in the group was obvious in a version of "Kumbaya" performed by the Trinity Youth Choir of Montclair, New Jersey, in 2013. June Jennings had organized an afternoon of choral music in the Presbyterian church that featured groups from the African-American church and the Essex County College Choir.
She selected "Kumbaya" to showcase the very youngest singers, two boys and a girl. They sang the kumbaya verse together, then each sang one stanza as a solo. They were accompanied by a piano that played the melody and simple chords. The older members of the choir sounded the melody with handbells.
The youngsters were old enough to learn and reproduce the song, but only the girl was a confident performer in the concert setting. Jennings needed to give the boys hand-held microphones so the they could be heard. The young girl eyed the floor microphone, took her position, and sang. The audience rewarded her with "amens."
The rest of the youth choir appeared to be middle-school aged. "Kumbaya" has six notes and there were ten members of the group. It looked like most of the girls were ringing, which meant some of the boys were not.
They did not wear gloves, but did hold the bells upright when they shook them. The bells themselves were different colors. The most visible ones were red, yellow, and blue.
Most had learned their parts, but some kept an eye on the sheet music sitting on collapsible stands. They all stood solemnly in place. The formality of the program may have prevented them from smiling or otherwise communicating some pleasure in making music.
After the last solo, Jennings turned to face the audience, who responded to her hand signals by singing a final repetition of the kumbaya verse. The youth choir did not join them, but continued playing the bell accompaniment. The two adult choirs behind them did not join the audience either.
Performers
Vocal Soloists: one girl, two boys
Vocal Group: congregation
Vocal Director: June Jennings
Instrumental Accompaniment: piano, handbells
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
None given
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: my Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: three-verse song, framed by kumbaya
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: moderately slow
Basic Structure: strophic repetition
Singing Style: one note to one syllable except for final "Lord"
Notes on Performance
Occasion: concert, 21 April 2013
Location: Trinity Presbyterian Church. The bell ringers stood between the altar and choir rails.
Microphones: two boys had hand-held mikes; the girl used a floor mike
Clothing: black slacks and white tops
Notes on Movement
The ringers stood in two rows with five girls in one line and five boys in back. The soloists stood in front of the girls. The director was in front on the soloists, and used both forearms symmetrically. While the ringers moved a bit, they were supposed to stand still facing the audience. At the end, they walked back into the audience.
Notes on Audience
Sounds of "amens" followed the girl’s solo. The audience clapped at the end of the third solo, though I don’t know if they were recognizing the boy or the trio. It did not need to be asked to sing; gestures by Jennings were enough. The people in the church applauded at the end; a few stood.
Notes on Performers
Trinity Presbyterian began in 1913 as a Sunday school for local children. [4] Montclair was a bedroom community a rail ride from New York. [5] African Americans were then moving "from Loudon and Fahquier Counties in Northern Virginia" to work for the more affluent families. [6]
Jennings was raised in Montclair where she graduated from Montclair State University. [7] She had taken classes at Julliard and the Westminster Choir College. In 2013, the soprano was studying piano with Richard Alston, who was featured in the concert. The two appeared together the next month in Norfolk, Virginia. [8]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Kathryn Weller on 22 April 2013.
End Notes
1. "Our History." Malmark corporate website.
2. Bob Bergin. 8 Note Bell Songs. Fort Worth: Rhythm Band Instruments,1982.
3. Rhythm Band Instruments included a songbook with their chime bars according to WorldCat. It probably was Bergin’s.
4. "A Centennial Anniversary Historical Perspective (1913-2013)." Church’s website.
5. "Montclair History." Montclair Township website.
6. Patricia Hampson Eget. "Challenging Containment: African Americans and Racial Politics in Montclair, New Jersey, 1920-1940." New Jersey History 126:1-17:2011. 1. Her source was Our Town and the Old Townsmen of Montclair. (Montclair, New Jersey: Townswomen of Montclair, 1952).
7. "About June Jennings." Facebook.
8. Denice Thibodeau. "Calvary Baptist Church Offers Free Concert." The News and Advance website. 1 May 2013.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Jason W. Krug - Kum Ba Yah
Topic: Instrumental Versions - Handbells
One oddity about the composers of handbell arrangements for "Kumbaya" is that few actually play handbells themselves. Anna Laura Page studied organ and piano, [1] while John Wilson wrote most of his music for piano, organ, and four-part chorus. [2]
As keyboard players, they applied the melody with chordal accompaniment model to their arrangements. And, if there’s anything a bell choir can do, it’s play many more notes simultaneously than is possible by a single pair of hands, or even an orchestra. Page sounded 9 bells together at one point. Wilson scored 15 in several places.
Several arrangers didn’t see handbells as a descendent of the carillon, but as another percussion instrument to be used in rhythm ensembles. Even Wilson, provided instructions for tenor drums, shakers, and marimba-type instruments. However, most churches ignored his suggestion and assigned those percussive parts to bells. [3]
Jason Krug was in the marching band at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, [4] where he played trumpet and trumpet in school musicals. [5] When he returned to his native Indianapolis, he joined the bell choir in his family’s Methodist church. [6] His version of "Kumbaya" used a drum and shaker in constant rhythms. [7]
The bells were dominant in a video uploaded by a Fort Lauderdale Methodist church. Most iterations began with a high-pitched bell playing the melody. Several ended with a strong beat from the drum while the ringers put their bells on the table to dampen the sound for a moment of silence.
Krug used progressively more bells at one time, and Christ Church let the overtones die naturally. While the supporting bells often played chords for the melody, in the later repetitions they were rhythmic or long-short rather than the regular strikes on down beats at the beginning.
Performers
Jason Krug
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Group: handbells, 3-6 octaves
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: djembé, shaker
Christ Church
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Group: bell choir
Instrumental Accompaniment: sounded like an organ in one place
Rhythm Accompaniment: drum, shaker
Conductor: Chuck Stanley
Credits
Jason Krug
Jason W. Krug
Based on a traditional African-American spiritual
© 2010 Lorenz Publishing Company
Christ Church
arr. Jason W. Krug
Notes on Lyrics
There were none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5,
Time Signature: 2/2
Tempo: Lively, quarter note = 116 beats per minute
Key Signature: Begins with no sharps or flats
Basic Structure: melody and rhythmic accompaniment
Notes on Performance
Christ Church
Occasion: Sunday service
Location: Altar, next to the choir
Microphones: none
Clothing: white shirts, except one man in yellow; men wore ties; white gloves. The conductor and shaker player wore the blue robes of choir members.
Notes on Movement
Christ Church
The ringers stood in two rows behind tables covered with white clothes. Stanley conducted with his forearms. The older woman playing the shaker made small movements. Music stands were on the table and the ringers turned pages.
Notes on Audience
Christ Church
They applauded at the end.
Notes on Performers
Fort Lauderdale began growing when the navy trained pilots there. [8] It continued expanding in the 1950s when the existing Park Temple Methodist Church organized the new Christ Church congregation in the Coral Ridge neighborhood. The congregation expanded again in 2003 when it merged with the Methodist church in Pompano Beach. [9]
The handbell choir director was then the minister of music at Pompano. Chuck Stanley was raised as a Roman Catholic [10] and began publicly playing organ when he was 14 [11] Armed with a degree in computer science, he worked for the Broward County Schools until he retired. In the evenings and on weekends he played organ and directed choirs in Catholic churches and joined the Nova Singers. [12]
The shaker player probably was Darlene Jones, Christ Church’s pianist. She graduated from the music program at Oklahoma City University, then accompanied "several local theater companies." [13]
The drummer was never shown in the video. Most likely he was sitting to the left of Stanley and was hidden by Stanley’s choir robe. The church’s website indicated Doug Friend was the church’s percussionist. He had played with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra until it folded in 2003. [14]
The Handbell Choir rehearsed once a week to perform once a month. Unlike many churches that said they would train ringers, Christ Church wanted individuals " with experience in bell ringing and an ability to read music." [15]
Availability
Jason Krug
Sheet Music: Dayton: The Lorenz Corporation, 2010.
Christ Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
YouTube: Uploaded by chuckstanleyFL on 31 October 2010.
End Notes
1. For more on Page, see the post for 6 December 2018.
2. "John Floyd Wilson." Hope Publishing website.
3. One exception was the First Congregational Church of Greenville, Michigan. Joy Bells’ director, Trudi Cunningham, used a marimba-like instrument. dreemsnake1 did not credit Wilson when he or she uploaded the video to YouTube on 6 May 2012.
4. "Old Officers." Massachusetts Institute of Technology Marching Band website.
5. MIT Musical Theatre Guild posts on "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" (1998) and "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum" (1999).
6. "Biography." Jason W. Krug website.
7. Technically, this repetition is termed ostinato.
8. Wikipedia. "Fort Lauderdale, Florida."
9. "Our Story." Christ Church website.
10. "Chuck Stanley. LinkedIn. He graduated from Saint Thomas Aquinas High School.
11. "The Nova Singers Directors." Its website. The Nova Singers recorded "Kumbaya" in 1996 on its New Day CD.
12. About Chuck Stanley. Facebook.
13. "Darlene Jones." LinkedIn.
14. Margo Harakas. "Face The Music." [Fort Lauderdale, Florida] Sun-Sentinel website. 4 June 2003.
15. "Worship Arts." Christ Church website
One oddity about the composers of handbell arrangements for "Kumbaya" is that few actually play handbells themselves. Anna Laura Page studied organ and piano, [1] while John Wilson wrote most of his music for piano, organ, and four-part chorus. [2]
As keyboard players, they applied the melody with chordal accompaniment model to their arrangements. And, if there’s anything a bell choir can do, it’s play many more notes simultaneously than is possible by a single pair of hands, or even an orchestra. Page sounded 9 bells together at one point. Wilson scored 15 in several places.
Several arrangers didn’t see handbells as a descendent of the carillon, but as another percussion instrument to be used in rhythm ensembles. Even Wilson, provided instructions for tenor drums, shakers, and marimba-type instruments. However, most churches ignored his suggestion and assigned those percussive parts to bells. [3]
Jason Krug was in the marching band at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, [4] where he played trumpet and trumpet in school musicals. [5] When he returned to his native Indianapolis, he joined the bell choir in his family’s Methodist church. [6] His version of "Kumbaya" used a drum and shaker in constant rhythms. [7]
The bells were dominant in a video uploaded by a Fort Lauderdale Methodist church. Most iterations began with a high-pitched bell playing the melody. Several ended with a strong beat from the drum while the ringers put their bells on the table to dampen the sound for a moment of silence.
Krug used progressively more bells at one time, and Christ Church let the overtones die naturally. While the supporting bells often played chords for the melody, in the later repetitions they were rhythmic or long-short rather than the regular strikes on down beats at the beginning.
Performers
Jason Krug
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Group: handbells, 3-6 octaves
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: djembé, shaker
Christ Church
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Group: bell choir
Instrumental Accompaniment: sounded like an organ in one place
Rhythm Accompaniment: drum, shaker
Conductor: Chuck Stanley
Credits
Jason Krug
Jason W. Krug
Based on a traditional African-American spiritual
© 2010 Lorenz Publishing Company
Christ Church
arr. Jason W. Krug
Notes on Lyrics
There were none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5,
Time Signature: 2/2
Tempo: Lively, quarter note = 116 beats per minute
Key Signature: Begins with no sharps or flats
Basic Structure: melody and rhythmic accompaniment
Notes on Performance
Christ Church
Occasion: Sunday service
Location: Altar, next to the choir
Microphones: none
Clothing: white shirts, except one man in yellow; men wore ties; white gloves. The conductor and shaker player wore the blue robes of choir members.
Notes on Movement
Christ Church
The ringers stood in two rows behind tables covered with white clothes. Stanley conducted with his forearms. The older woman playing the shaker made small movements. Music stands were on the table and the ringers turned pages.
Notes on Audience
Christ Church
They applauded at the end.
Notes on Performers
Fort Lauderdale began growing when the navy trained pilots there. [8] It continued expanding in the 1950s when the existing Park Temple Methodist Church organized the new Christ Church congregation in the Coral Ridge neighborhood. The congregation expanded again in 2003 when it merged with the Methodist church in Pompano Beach. [9]
The handbell choir director was then the minister of music at Pompano. Chuck Stanley was raised as a Roman Catholic [10] and began publicly playing organ when he was 14 [11] Armed with a degree in computer science, he worked for the Broward County Schools until he retired. In the evenings and on weekends he played organ and directed choirs in Catholic churches and joined the Nova Singers. [12]
The shaker player probably was Darlene Jones, Christ Church’s pianist. She graduated from the music program at Oklahoma City University, then accompanied "several local theater companies." [13]
The drummer was never shown in the video. Most likely he was sitting to the left of Stanley and was hidden by Stanley’s choir robe. The church’s website indicated Doug Friend was the church’s percussionist. He had played with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra until it folded in 2003. [14]
The Handbell Choir rehearsed once a week to perform once a month. Unlike many churches that said they would train ringers, Christ Church wanted individuals " with experience in bell ringing and an ability to read music." [15]
Availability
Jason Krug
Sheet Music: Dayton: The Lorenz Corporation, 2010.
Christ Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
YouTube: Uploaded by chuckstanleyFL on 31 October 2010.
End Notes
1. For more on Page, see the post for 6 December 2018.
2. "John Floyd Wilson." Hope Publishing website.
3. One exception was the First Congregational Church of Greenville, Michigan. Joy Bells’ director, Trudi Cunningham, used a marimba-like instrument. dreemsnake1 did not credit Wilson when he or she uploaded the video to YouTube on 6 May 2012.
4. "Old Officers." Massachusetts Institute of Technology Marching Band website.
5. MIT Musical Theatre Guild posts on "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" (1998) and "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum" (1999).
6. "Biography." Jason W. Krug website.
7. Technically, this repetition is termed ostinato.
8. Wikipedia. "Fort Lauderdale, Florida."
9. "Our Story." Christ Church website.
10. "Chuck Stanley. LinkedIn. He graduated from Saint Thomas Aquinas High School.
11. "The Nova Singers Directors." Its website. The Nova Singers recorded "Kumbaya" in 1996 on its New Day CD.
12. About Chuck Stanley. Facebook.
13. "Darlene Jones." LinkedIn.
14. Margo Harakas. "Face The Music." [Fort Lauderdale, Florida] Sun-Sentinel website. 4 June 2003.
15. "Worship Arts." Christ Church website
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
John Wilson - Kum Ba Yah (continued)
Topic: Instrumental Versions - Handbells
Continued from previous post dated 16 December 2018.
Notes on Movement
Hudson Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Six people stood along the table facing the pews, with two at abutting tables to the left and right. The director stood with the ringers at stage right. Music stands were set on the tables covered with red cloths.
Christ Church
Two women and a man stood behind a table facing the director; two men were at the table to his left; a man and a woman were a table to his right. He used his forearms to direct, bent upwards from the elbows. Music stands were set on the tables covered with black cloths.
Grace Lutheran Church
The Joy Ringers were arrayed in a single line along the back of the choir. The female director stood in front of them in the center. Music stands were set on the tables.
Notes on Audience
The congregations applauded at the end of all three performances.
Audience Perceptions
Calvin Institute of Christian Worship recommended this arrangement as an offertory, [1] while the James River Ringers of Mechanicsville, Virginia, included it in the repertoire for a 2-3 Octave Festival in 2010. They warned participants about a "tricky page turn between m.74 and m.75" and that
"a few mixed meter measures pushes this piece to a Level 3 rating, but it’s not out of reach for most choirs." [2]
Other churches that performed Wilson’s arrangement according to their church bulletins were, in chronological order:
First Presbyterian Church. Rochester, Minnesota. Nothing But Angels Handbell Choir. Prelude. 17 March 2008.
Duke University Chapel (United Methodist Church). Durham, North Carolina. Prelude. 5 December 2010.
Grace United Methodist Church. Moorhead, Minnesota. Hand Bell Choir, directed by Sharon Fangsrud. Prelude. 26 March 2015.
Central United Methodist Church. Muskegon, Michigan. Joy Bells. Before scripture lesson. 24 April 2016.
The Church at Litchfield Park. Litchfield Park, Arizona. Heavenly Handbells, directed by Marilyn Chandler. Before scripture reading. 15 May 2016.
First Unitarian Universalist Society. San Francisco, California. Bell Choir, directed by Reiko Oda Lane. 5 March 2017 and 6 December 2017.
Urbandale United Church of Christ. Urbandale, Iowa. Adult Handbells, directed by Bobby Stinnett. Prelude. 11 February 2018.
First Congregational Church. Bloomfield, Connecticut. The Accidentals Handbell Ensemble. Between prayer and first lesson. 18 February 2018.
Community United Methodist Church. Columbia Heights, Minnesota. Before children’s time. 22 April 2018.
Notes on Performers
John Floyd Wilson was born in Youngstown, Ohio, [3] and earned his music degrees from the American Conservatory of Music and Northwestern University. [4] The Moody Bible Institute, where he taught, published his Introduction to Church Music in 1965. In turn, he organized the music and drama camp [5] for Cedar Lake Ministries, which the Moody Church founded in 1914. [6]
Hudson, Ohio, was part of the western extension of Connecticut before the American Revolution, and sold to speculators in 1796. Hudson, itself, was founded in 1799. [7] The Evangelical Presbyterian Church was associated with a group that broke away from the Presbyterian Church in 1981 after it disciplined individuals with dissenting views that did not contradict the Westminster Confession. [8] Donald Fortson said the denomination was in the tradition of the evangelists who broke with the church during the First Great Awakening. [9]
The church had three octaves of Malmark bells. [10] Its handbell choir director was from Evansville, Indiana, where her mother taught instrumental music in the elementary schools. Sarah Norman’s own degrees were in photography and law. [11]
Des Plaines was much like Tinley Park, discussed in the post for 13 December 2018. Its growth in the 1850s was fueled by a railroad, this one on the northwest side to Janesville, Wisconsin, and by German-speaking immigrants. [12] Deutsche Evangelische Christus Gemeinde was established in 1892. It received its first pipe organ and church bell in 1893, and the first "choir was organized in 1894." [13] Christ Church became affiliated with the United Church of Christ in 1957 when the Congregational Church absorbed the Evangelical and Reformed Church. [14]
The Handbell Ensemble rehearsed once a week. Bob Schumm began singing with the church as soon as he was confirmed and remained active for 41 years. [15] He moved to Tallahassee, Florida, where he died a few months ago when he was 55 years old. [16]
Grace Lutheran Church was organized in Tampa, Florida, in 1970 as a member of the Evangelical Lutheran synod. Laurie Sweigart began directing the Joy Ringers in 2016, and was also a member of the church’s praise band. [17] She earned an accounting degree from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. [18]
Availability
John Wilson, 2-3 octave
Sheet Music: Carol Stream, Illinois: Agape, 1993
3-5 octave
Sheet Music: Carol Stream, Illinois, Agape, 2001
Hudson Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Hudson, Ohio
YouTube: three-octave version uploaded by SGNorman on 6 May 2012.
Christ Church, Des Plaines, Illinois
YouTube: uploaded by fozzy1962 on 30 January 2014.
Grace Lutheran Church, Tampa, Florida
YouTube: uploaded by Alison Tietz on 20 February 2018.
End Notes
1. Calvin Institute of Christian Worship website
2. James River Ringers 2-3 Octave Festival brochure, sponsored by Mechanicsville Church of Christ. My copy of the score did not have a page break between the indicated measures.
3. "John Floyd Wilson." Hope Publishing website.
4. John F. Wilson obituary. NWI Times [Munster, Indiana]. 12 November 2014.
5. Northwestern University commencement program, 13 June 1960.
6. Doug Ross. "From Profane Park to Sacred Ground." NWI Times [Munster, Indiana] website.
7. Wikipedia. "Connecticut Western Reserve."
8. Wikipedia. "Evangelical Presbyterian Church (United States)."
9. S. Donald Fortson. The Presbyterian Creed: A Confessional Tradition in America. Milton Keynes, England: Paternoster Press, 2008. Cited by Wikipedia, EPC.
10. Sarah Norman. Notes for "Hudson Presbyterian EPC: ‘A Mighty fortress is our God’." Uploaded to YouTube by SGNorman of 5 November 2017.
11. Sarah Norman. "About Me: Who I Am and What I Have Done." 12 September 2011. Facebook.
12. Wikipedia. "Des Plaines, Illinois."
13. Denise Fleischer. "Christ Church Celebrates 125th Anniversary." Journal & Topics Online [Des Plaines, Illinois] website. 15 September 2017.
14. Wikipedia. "United Church of Christ."
15. Holly Schmidt. "Handbell Ensemble Director at Christ Church Retires." Chicago Suburban Daily Herald website. 24 June 2015.
16. Obituary for Robert A. Schumm. Chicago Suburban Daily Herald website. 6 July 2018.
17. "Laurie Sweigart." Grace Lutheran website.
18. "Laurie Sweigart." LinkedIn.
Continued from previous post dated 16 December 2018.
Notes on Movement
Hudson Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Six people stood along the table facing the pews, with two at abutting tables to the left and right. The director stood with the ringers at stage right. Music stands were set on the tables covered with red cloths.
Christ Church
Two women and a man stood behind a table facing the director; two men were at the table to his left; a man and a woman were a table to his right. He used his forearms to direct, bent upwards from the elbows. Music stands were set on the tables covered with black cloths.
Grace Lutheran Church
The Joy Ringers were arrayed in a single line along the back of the choir. The female director stood in front of them in the center. Music stands were set on the tables.
Notes on Audience
The congregations applauded at the end of all three performances.
Audience Perceptions
Calvin Institute of Christian Worship recommended this arrangement as an offertory, [1] while the James River Ringers of Mechanicsville, Virginia, included it in the repertoire for a 2-3 Octave Festival in 2010. They warned participants about a "tricky page turn between m.74 and m.75" and that
"a few mixed meter measures pushes this piece to a Level 3 rating, but it’s not out of reach for most choirs." [2]
Other churches that performed Wilson’s arrangement according to their church bulletins were, in chronological order:
First Presbyterian Church. Rochester, Minnesota. Nothing But Angels Handbell Choir. Prelude. 17 March 2008.
Duke University Chapel (United Methodist Church). Durham, North Carolina. Prelude. 5 December 2010.
Grace United Methodist Church. Moorhead, Minnesota. Hand Bell Choir, directed by Sharon Fangsrud. Prelude. 26 March 2015.
Central United Methodist Church. Muskegon, Michigan. Joy Bells. Before scripture lesson. 24 April 2016.
The Church at Litchfield Park. Litchfield Park, Arizona. Heavenly Handbells, directed by Marilyn Chandler. Before scripture reading. 15 May 2016.
First Unitarian Universalist Society. San Francisco, California. Bell Choir, directed by Reiko Oda Lane. 5 March 2017 and 6 December 2017.
Urbandale United Church of Christ. Urbandale, Iowa. Adult Handbells, directed by Bobby Stinnett. Prelude. 11 February 2018.
First Congregational Church. Bloomfield, Connecticut. The Accidentals Handbell Ensemble. Between prayer and first lesson. 18 February 2018.
Community United Methodist Church. Columbia Heights, Minnesota. Before children’s time. 22 April 2018.
Notes on Performers
John Floyd Wilson was born in Youngstown, Ohio, [3] and earned his music degrees from the American Conservatory of Music and Northwestern University. [4] The Moody Bible Institute, where he taught, published his Introduction to Church Music in 1965. In turn, he organized the music and drama camp [5] for Cedar Lake Ministries, which the Moody Church founded in 1914. [6]
Hudson, Ohio, was part of the western extension of Connecticut before the American Revolution, and sold to speculators in 1796. Hudson, itself, was founded in 1799. [7] The Evangelical Presbyterian Church was associated with a group that broke away from the Presbyterian Church in 1981 after it disciplined individuals with dissenting views that did not contradict the Westminster Confession. [8] Donald Fortson said the denomination was in the tradition of the evangelists who broke with the church during the First Great Awakening. [9]
The church had three octaves of Malmark bells. [10] Its handbell choir director was from Evansville, Indiana, where her mother taught instrumental music in the elementary schools. Sarah Norman’s own degrees were in photography and law. [11]
Des Plaines was much like Tinley Park, discussed in the post for 13 December 2018. Its growth in the 1850s was fueled by a railroad, this one on the northwest side to Janesville, Wisconsin, and by German-speaking immigrants. [12] Deutsche Evangelische Christus Gemeinde was established in 1892. It received its first pipe organ and church bell in 1893, and the first "choir was organized in 1894." [13] Christ Church became affiliated with the United Church of Christ in 1957 when the Congregational Church absorbed the Evangelical and Reformed Church. [14]
The Handbell Ensemble rehearsed once a week. Bob Schumm began singing with the church as soon as he was confirmed and remained active for 41 years. [15] He moved to Tallahassee, Florida, where he died a few months ago when he was 55 years old. [16]
Grace Lutheran Church was organized in Tampa, Florida, in 1970 as a member of the Evangelical Lutheran synod. Laurie Sweigart began directing the Joy Ringers in 2016, and was also a member of the church’s praise band. [17] She earned an accounting degree from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. [18]
Availability
John Wilson, 2-3 octave
Sheet Music: Carol Stream, Illinois: Agape, 1993
3-5 octave
Sheet Music: Carol Stream, Illinois, Agape, 2001
Hudson Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Hudson, Ohio
YouTube: three-octave version uploaded by SGNorman on 6 May 2012.
Christ Church, Des Plaines, Illinois
YouTube: uploaded by fozzy1962 on 30 January 2014.
Grace Lutheran Church, Tampa, Florida
YouTube: uploaded by Alison Tietz on 20 February 2018.
End Notes
1. Calvin Institute of Christian Worship website
2. James River Ringers 2-3 Octave Festival brochure, sponsored by Mechanicsville Church of Christ. My copy of the score did not have a page break between the indicated measures.
3. "John Floyd Wilson." Hope Publishing website.
4. John F. Wilson obituary. NWI Times [Munster, Indiana]. 12 November 2014.
5. Northwestern University commencement program, 13 June 1960.
6. Doug Ross. "From Profane Park to Sacred Ground." NWI Times [Munster, Indiana] website.
7. Wikipedia. "Connecticut Western Reserve."
8. Wikipedia. "Evangelical Presbyterian Church (United States)."
9. S. Donald Fortson. The Presbyterian Creed: A Confessional Tradition in America. Milton Keynes, England: Paternoster Press, 2008. Cited by Wikipedia, EPC.
10. Sarah Norman. Notes for "Hudson Presbyterian EPC: ‘A Mighty fortress is our God’." Uploaded to YouTube by SGNorman of 5 November 2017.
11. Sarah Norman. "About Me: Who I Am and What I Have Done." 12 September 2011. Facebook.
12. Wikipedia. "Des Plaines, Illinois."
13. Denise Fleischer. "Christ Church Celebrates 125th Anniversary." Journal & Topics Online [Des Plaines, Illinois] website. 15 September 2017.
14. Wikipedia. "United Church of Christ."
15. Holly Schmidt. "Handbell Ensemble Director at Christ Church Retires." Chicago Suburban Daily Herald website. 24 June 2015.
16. Obituary for Robert A. Schumm. Chicago Suburban Daily Herald website. 6 July 2018.
17. "Laurie Sweigart." Grace Lutheran website.
18. "Laurie Sweigart." LinkedIn.
Sunday, December 16, 2018
John Wilson - Kum Ba Yah
Topic: Instrumental Versions - Handbells
Change ringers in England, who were mentioned in the post for 9 December 2018, learned they produced the loudest tones when the bells began facing upward and sung in a full circle. From there, they made technological changes to the bells’ superstructures so they could make the clappers connect to the bells at predictable times. [1]
The English, however, did not move beyond playing permutations to performing recognizable tunes. That step was taken in the Netherlands where carillons were developed. Today, a distinction is made between a carillon that has at least 23 bells and a chime that has fewer, but then the term was still generic. They were played with keys, levers, and/or pedals connected by wires to the bells. [2]
Jacob van Eyck isolated the overtones produced by bells so they could be forged to sound in harmony. Then, in 1645, he began working with Pieter and François Hémony who, independently, had cast a tuned set of bells the prior year. [3] This was the height of the Dutch East India trade and the newly "rich mercantile towns of the lowlands exhibited their status by installing fine carillons in their church towers." [4]
The Hémonys had no successors and their casting secrets died with them in 1680. Interest in bells themselves waned with the French Revolution, [5] only to be revived by wealthy Americans at the end of the nineteenth century. In Hudson, Ohio, a man who made his money from coal mines paid for a clock tower with four chimes in 1912. [6]
The development of handbells paralleled that of carillons. Van Eyck had a small keyboard with 30 bells installed in his home for practice and teaching students in 1631. [7] Nicolas Jullien established what became the Petit and Fritsen bell foundry in the Netherlands in 1690. Since this was before Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, it used the overtones of the time, which differed from those that would develop in England after William of Orange ascended the British throne in 1689. [8]
Like carillons, handbells are held in an upright position to produce the maximum sound. Instead of a superstructure controlling the motion, handbells have internal mechanisms that direct clappers to the optimal strike points. [9] Unlike tower bells, the duration of the sound can be limited by "damping the bell with a hand or on the body or a padded surface." [10]
The Encyclopædia Britannica noted the music that adapted the best to carillons was from the period when they first were developed, the Baroque. Romantic music that developed after the French Revolution had to "be chosen selectively." However, it said improvisations on "folk songs and other familiar themes" also worked. [11]
The most popular handbell arrangement of "Kumbaya" was published in 1993 by John Wilson for two or three octaves. He was the executive editor of Hope, a Chicago religious publisher closely associated with Methodists. Its founder, Henry Sheperd Date, had attended the organizational meeting of the Epworth League in 1889. [12]
By the end of the twentieth century, Hope and its Agape subsidiary had expanded their marketing to meet demands from other denominations. Wilson himself had worked for Methodists, Anabaptists, and the Moody Church. [13] He reissued his version of "Kumbaya" for three to five octaves in 2001.
Wilson emphasized the melody throughout, usually scoring it in octaves. The other instruments played chords like a piano accompaniment that required precision attacks by the players. Toward the end, the higher bells had a descant, but the sheet music advised players to "bring out melody."
The time signature varied, but the bell choirs played every melodic section slowly enough that the overtones dissipated between strokes. The clamor of Middletown’s Congregational Church [14] was eschewed, either by structural acoustics or technique.
One of the groups who uploaded a video to YouTube was in Hudson, Ohio, and the other two had origins in German churches. Two played "Kumbaya" during the collection.
Four who mentioned the arrangement in church bulletins indicated it was a prelude, and three that it was played before a scripture reading. Only one perceived it as a children’s song to be scheduled before their segment of the service. [15]
Performers
John Wilson
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Group: handbells
Rhythm Accompaniment: TD/PI/Mallet; Sk; RT
Hudson Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Instrumental Group: Bell Choir, 10 ringers
Conductor: Sarah Norman
Christ Church
Instrumental Group: Handbell Ensemble, 7 ringers, 3 women, 4 men
Conductor: Robert Schumm
Grace Lutheran Church
Instrumental Group: Joy Ringers Handbell
Conductor: Laurie Sweigart
Credits
John Wilson, 2-3 octaves
African American Spiritual
Arranged by John F. Wilson
Copyright © 1993 by Agape
3-5 octaves
Copyright © 1993 and this Arr. 2001 by Agape
Notes on Lyrics
There were none
Notes on Music
John Wilson
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: Slowly and expressively, quarter note = c.80 beats per minute; changes to rhythmically, quarter notes = 126
Key Signature: 1 sharp, changing to no flats or sharps
Notes on Performance
Hudson Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Occasion: It looked like a rehearsal since few were in the audience, and people moved about while they were playing.
Location: around the altar table
Microphones: none
Clothing: White shirts and gloves
Christ Church
Occasion: Collection during service, 26 January 2014
Location: Altar, behind the altar table
Microphones: none
Clothing: White shirts and black slacks, black gloves
Grace Lutheran Church
Occasion: Collection during service
Location: Behind the choir
Microphones: none
Clothing: The choir wore white robes with maroon stoles; the Joy Ringers wore white shirts and long maroon scarves with white gloves
To be continued in next post
End Notes
1. Ron Johnston. "A Most Public of Musical Performances: The English Art of Change-Ringing." GeoJournal 65:17-31:2006. 18-19. Cited by Robert Adam Hill. "The Reformation of the Bells in Early Modern England." PhD. Simon Fraser University, summer 2012. 175.
2. "Carillon." Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 July 1998; last updated 11 May 2016 by Mic Anderson.
3. Aryeh Oron. "Jacob van Eyck (Composer)." Bach Cantatas website. August 2006.
4. "Carillon History." Guild of Carillonneurs in North America website. 30 March 2012.
5. Guild.
6. "History of the Hudson Clock Tower." Hudson, Ohio, website.
7. Oron.
8. Wikipedia. "Handbell."
9. Nancy Kirkner. "Buying Bells: Choosing a Brand." Handbells website. 10 December 2012.
10. Daniel K. Moore "Technique-ly Speaking: The Basic Ringing Stroke/Shoulder Damp." Overtones: The Official Journal of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers 44: 10-11:May-June 1998. Cited by Wikipedia.
11. Britannica.
12. Camp Songs, Folk Songs. 547.
13. John F. Wilson obituary. NWI Times [Munster, Indiana]. 12 November 2014. He worked for the Anabaptist Mountain View Bible College and Fort Wayne Bible College, as well as the Moody Bible Institute and Indiana Wesleyan University.
14. The Middletown Church bell ringers were discussed in the post for 6 December 2018.
15. For more on my source for church bulletins, see the post for 6 December 2018.
Change ringers in England, who were mentioned in the post for 9 December 2018, learned they produced the loudest tones when the bells began facing upward and sung in a full circle. From there, they made technological changes to the bells’ superstructures so they could make the clappers connect to the bells at predictable times. [1]
The English, however, did not move beyond playing permutations to performing recognizable tunes. That step was taken in the Netherlands where carillons were developed. Today, a distinction is made between a carillon that has at least 23 bells and a chime that has fewer, but then the term was still generic. They were played with keys, levers, and/or pedals connected by wires to the bells. [2]
Jacob van Eyck isolated the overtones produced by bells so they could be forged to sound in harmony. Then, in 1645, he began working with Pieter and François Hémony who, independently, had cast a tuned set of bells the prior year. [3] This was the height of the Dutch East India trade and the newly "rich mercantile towns of the lowlands exhibited their status by installing fine carillons in their church towers." [4]
The Hémonys had no successors and their casting secrets died with them in 1680. Interest in bells themselves waned with the French Revolution, [5] only to be revived by wealthy Americans at the end of the nineteenth century. In Hudson, Ohio, a man who made his money from coal mines paid for a clock tower with four chimes in 1912. [6]
The development of handbells paralleled that of carillons. Van Eyck had a small keyboard with 30 bells installed in his home for practice and teaching students in 1631. [7] Nicolas Jullien established what became the Petit and Fritsen bell foundry in the Netherlands in 1690. Since this was before Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, it used the overtones of the time, which differed from those that would develop in England after William of Orange ascended the British throne in 1689. [8]
Like carillons, handbells are held in an upright position to produce the maximum sound. Instead of a superstructure controlling the motion, handbells have internal mechanisms that direct clappers to the optimal strike points. [9] Unlike tower bells, the duration of the sound can be limited by "damping the bell with a hand or on the body or a padded surface." [10]
The Encyclopædia Britannica noted the music that adapted the best to carillons was from the period when they first were developed, the Baroque. Romantic music that developed after the French Revolution had to "be chosen selectively." However, it said improvisations on "folk songs and other familiar themes" also worked. [11]
The most popular handbell arrangement of "Kumbaya" was published in 1993 by John Wilson for two or three octaves. He was the executive editor of Hope, a Chicago religious publisher closely associated with Methodists. Its founder, Henry Sheperd Date, had attended the organizational meeting of the Epworth League in 1889. [12]
By the end of the twentieth century, Hope and its Agape subsidiary had expanded their marketing to meet demands from other denominations. Wilson himself had worked for Methodists, Anabaptists, and the Moody Church. [13] He reissued his version of "Kumbaya" for three to five octaves in 2001.
Wilson emphasized the melody throughout, usually scoring it in octaves. The other instruments played chords like a piano accompaniment that required precision attacks by the players. Toward the end, the higher bells had a descant, but the sheet music advised players to "bring out melody."
The time signature varied, but the bell choirs played every melodic section slowly enough that the overtones dissipated between strokes. The clamor of Middletown’s Congregational Church [14] was eschewed, either by structural acoustics or technique.
One of the groups who uploaded a video to YouTube was in Hudson, Ohio, and the other two had origins in German churches. Two played "Kumbaya" during the collection.
Four who mentioned the arrangement in church bulletins indicated it was a prelude, and three that it was played before a scripture reading. Only one perceived it as a children’s song to be scheduled before their segment of the service. [15]
Performers
John Wilson
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Group: handbells
Rhythm Accompaniment: TD/PI/Mallet; Sk; RT
Hudson Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Instrumental Group: Bell Choir, 10 ringers
Conductor: Sarah Norman
Christ Church
Instrumental Group: Handbell Ensemble, 7 ringers, 3 women, 4 men
Conductor: Robert Schumm
Grace Lutheran Church
Instrumental Group: Joy Ringers Handbell
Conductor: Laurie Sweigart
Credits
John Wilson, 2-3 octaves
African American Spiritual
Arranged by John F. Wilson
Copyright © 1993 by Agape
3-5 octaves
Copyright © 1993 and this Arr. 2001 by Agape
Notes on Lyrics
There were none
Notes on Music
John Wilson
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: Slowly and expressively, quarter note = c.80 beats per minute; changes to rhythmically, quarter notes = 126
Key Signature: 1 sharp, changing to no flats or sharps
Notes on Performance
Hudson Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Occasion: It looked like a rehearsal since few were in the audience, and people moved about while they were playing.
Location: around the altar table
Microphones: none
Clothing: White shirts and gloves
Christ Church
Occasion: Collection during service, 26 January 2014
Location: Altar, behind the altar table
Microphones: none
Clothing: White shirts and black slacks, black gloves
Grace Lutheran Church
Occasion: Collection during service
Location: Behind the choir
Microphones: none
Clothing: The choir wore white robes with maroon stoles; the Joy Ringers wore white shirts and long maroon scarves with white gloves
To be continued in next post
End Notes
1. Ron Johnston. "A Most Public of Musical Performances: The English Art of Change-Ringing." GeoJournal 65:17-31:2006. 18-19. Cited by Robert Adam Hill. "The Reformation of the Bells in Early Modern England." PhD. Simon Fraser University, summer 2012. 175.
2. "Carillon." Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 July 1998; last updated 11 May 2016 by Mic Anderson.
3. Aryeh Oron. "Jacob van Eyck (Composer)." Bach Cantatas website. August 2006.
4. "Carillon History." Guild of Carillonneurs in North America website. 30 March 2012.
5. Guild.
6. "History of the Hudson Clock Tower." Hudson, Ohio, website.
7. Oron.
8. Wikipedia. "Handbell."
9. Nancy Kirkner. "Buying Bells: Choosing a Brand." Handbells website. 10 December 2012.
10. Daniel K. Moore "Technique-ly Speaking: The Basic Ringing Stroke/Shoulder Damp." Overtones: The Official Journal of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers 44: 10-11:May-June 1998. Cited by Wikipedia.
11. Britannica.
12. Camp Songs, Folk Songs. 547.
13. John F. Wilson obituary. NWI Times [Munster, Indiana]. 12 November 2014. He worked for the Anabaptist Mountain View Bible College and Fort Wayne Bible College, as well as the Moody Bible Institute and Indiana Wesleyan University.
14. The Middletown Church bell ringers were discussed in the post for 6 December 2018.
15. For more on my source for church bulletins, see the post for 6 December 2018.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Trinity Lutheran Church - Kum bah yah
Topic: Instrumental Versions - Handbells
Protestant reformers dismantled organs and banished secular instruments from churches during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward I. They sold bells from closed monasteries, [1] then redefined how churches could use them.
Their greatest ire was reserved for ringing a small handbell during the Eucharist at the exact moment when the wine and bread were transformed into the blood and body of Christ. [2]
Robert Hill thought more than a theological dispute between transubstantiation and consubstantiation was involved. He believed the ritual association with Christ’s death was rooted in beliefs that bells could speak to spirits of the dead. Thus, like a death toll, the sacring bell was rung at the moment of Christ’s reenacted transition between spheres. [3]
Sacring bells weren’t all destroyed. Instead, they were rung just before the sermon to direct the attention of parishioners to the speaker. [4] As Hill noted, they had the same function of announcing "the most solemn and significant event" of the service. In newly formulated "reformed service" that was "the sermon." [5]
When organs were reintroduced by men like Thomas Hastings and Charles Finney, [6] they were used to supplement sung words. The few times instruments were heard alone were ones when people were making noise and no sacred words were being sung or spoken: the prelude when they were settling in their seats, the postlude when they were preparing to leave, and the offertory when ushers were passing collection plates.
Handbell choirs usually were scheduled during one of these traditional instrumental interludes, but especially during what some called the gathering of tithes. By coincidence, in many services that occurred between the explication of the scripture readings and the sermon, the time of the sacring bell. [7]
The moving heads of individuals were seen below the balcony in the video of Middletown’s Heart in Hand Bell choir discussed in post for 6 December 2018. And, as mentioned, in the same post, two other church’s that used Anna Laura Page’s of "Kumbaya" also scheduled it during this noisy period.
Trinity Lutheran Church’s Senior Bell Choir played a different version of "Kumbaya" in a Tinley Park, Illinois, service in 2013. As they started a man walked by them with a wooden collection plate.
The version was deceptively simpler than that of the Congregational church. Seven people stood behind tables placed in a side aisle. Four more stood abeam, two at each end. The tables most likely were covered with foam to keep the bells from rolling. [8] The instruments were arrayed from smallest at the left to largest.
At a signal from Karen Gustafson the seven raised both bells into striking positions. They were wearing white gloves to protect the bronze from oils in their skin that can cause it to tarnish. [9]
Two people began playing the melody in what sounded like unison. Since it was unlikely the church had duplicate bells, it meant the arrangement was exploiting the overtones produced by the bells to create a single sound. American bells are tuned to produce an overtone that is a twelfth above the sounded note, so a composer could get special effects by manipulating fifths. [10]
On the third line, the group began playing the parallel thirds that normally are scored for the song.
The second repetition used a marimba-like instrument that played chords, while the bells continued to sound the melody. They continued into the third iteration, which introduced the deeper-sounding bells at the right end.
The final variation included both the highest and lowest pitched bells, along with what sounded like an organ. This time the melody was less obvious.
Gustafson said the group rehearsed once a week, and once spent months on one song. [11] The results showed in the precision required to get several bells to sound as if they were one. Their skill was more obvious in the variations that included a quick run in the third line.
The differences between this version and that of Middletown were magnified by the acoustics of the sanctuaries. What could be seen behind the Connecticut church choir were white plastered walls with large window openings that reflected sounds to create the illusion of overlapping chords for people seated below.
The Illinois group stood in front of a bare brick wall that absorbed some of the sounds produced just a little above the level of the parishioners’ ears. Gustafson chose a slow tempo that allowed overtones to dissipate so single sounds in a melodic line could be heard.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Soloists: eleven bell players, nine women, two men
Instrumental Accompaniment: two marimbas played by bell players in the second iteration; something that sounded like an organ in the final repetition
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Conductor: Karen Gustafson
Credits
None given
Notes on Lyrics
There were none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: slow enough so overtones faded between lines
Basic Structure: four repetitions with variations in instrumentation
Notes on Performance
Occasion: Sunday service during collection
Location: in the side aisle of the church
Microphones: none
Clothing: informal clothing worn to church, usually slacks and tops. Everyone wore white gloves.
Notes on Movement
The ringers stood behind tables in an aisle that defined their configuration. No one was seated in the pews in front of the group. Gustafson used both forearms to conduct; her upper arms were close to her sides. Music stands were set on the tables.
Notes on Audience
There was silence when they finished, followed by the resumption of the service.
Notes on Performers
Settlers began moving into Bremen Township, southwest of modern Chicago, in the 1830s. By 1850, 40% of the population was German speaking and 20% was Irish. Migration increased when the Rock Island Rail Road completed a line to Joliet. [12] What would become Trinity Lutheran was organized in 1859 with the second floor of the pastor’s home serving as a church and school. [13]
In 1884, Alfred Andreas reported the community of New Bremen had only the one church, and most of the children attended its school. [14] The village incorporated in 1890 with the name Tinley Park, but remained rural until the post-World War II expansion of Chicago suburbs. [15] Dreieinichkeit Evangelische Lutheranische Gemeinde was still offering services in German until 1960, when it officially changed its name. [16]
Gustafson earned her bachelor’s degree from Concordia University of River Forest, [17] and was teaching in the school in 1986 when the church asked her to take over the handbell choir. She knew how to play piano and organ, but taught herself the rudiments of bell playing. She learned more when the choir joined the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers. [18]
The Senior Handbell Choir "always plays the Sunday before Christmas," [19] and otherwise plays for "for the various seasons of the church year and for special occasions as the need arises." [20]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Linda Burns on 14 May 2013.
End Notes
1. Robert Adam Hill. "The Reformation of the Bells in Early Modern England." PhD. Simon Fraser University, summer 2012. 115.
2. Hill. 63.
3. Hill. 64. The post for 9 December 2018 described reformers’ attitudes towards beliefs that bells had supernatural powers.
4. Hill. 29. His discussion was prompted by observations of Christopher Marsh in The Family of Love in English Society: 1560-1630. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 34.
5. Hill. 111.
6. Their contributions were mentioned in the post for 3 September 2017.
7. Coincidence may not be the correct word to describe the continuity in the order of service that allowed the re-invention of earlier elements.
8. Wikipedia. "Handbell."
9. Nancy Kirkner. "Gloves." Handbells website. 21 September 2011.
10. Wikipedia. "The overtones on an English handbell are a 12th (an octave and a perfect fifth) above the fundamental."
11. Karen Gustafson. Interviewed by Donna Vickroy. "Handbell Choir Rings in Trinity’s Anniversary." Southtown Star [Tinley Park, Illinois]. 18 October 2009. 7. This arrangement used four octaves.
12. "History of Tinley Park, Illinois." Tinley Park Public Library website.
13. "A History of Trinity Lutheran Church and School." Church website.
14. A. T. Andreas. History of Cook County, Illinois. Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1884. Reprinted by Ray Brown as "History of Bremen, Il." on Rays-Place website.
15. Tinley Park History.
16. Trinity Lutheran History.
17. "About Karen Gustafson." Facebook.
18. Vickroy.
19. Vickroy.
20. "Music Ministries." Church website.
Protestant reformers dismantled organs and banished secular instruments from churches during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward I. They sold bells from closed monasteries, [1] then redefined how churches could use them.
Their greatest ire was reserved for ringing a small handbell during the Eucharist at the exact moment when the wine and bread were transformed into the blood and body of Christ. [2]
Robert Hill thought more than a theological dispute between transubstantiation and consubstantiation was involved. He believed the ritual association with Christ’s death was rooted in beliefs that bells could speak to spirits of the dead. Thus, like a death toll, the sacring bell was rung at the moment of Christ’s reenacted transition between spheres. [3]
Sacring bells weren’t all destroyed. Instead, they were rung just before the sermon to direct the attention of parishioners to the speaker. [4] As Hill noted, they had the same function of announcing "the most solemn and significant event" of the service. In newly formulated "reformed service" that was "the sermon." [5]
When organs were reintroduced by men like Thomas Hastings and Charles Finney, [6] they were used to supplement sung words. The few times instruments were heard alone were ones when people were making noise and no sacred words were being sung or spoken: the prelude when they were settling in their seats, the postlude when they were preparing to leave, and the offertory when ushers were passing collection plates.
Handbell choirs usually were scheduled during one of these traditional instrumental interludes, but especially during what some called the gathering of tithes. By coincidence, in many services that occurred between the explication of the scripture readings and the sermon, the time of the sacring bell. [7]
The moving heads of individuals were seen below the balcony in the video of Middletown’s Heart in Hand Bell choir discussed in post for 6 December 2018. And, as mentioned, in the same post, two other church’s that used Anna Laura Page’s of "Kumbaya" also scheduled it during this noisy period.
Trinity Lutheran Church’s Senior Bell Choir played a different version of "Kumbaya" in a Tinley Park, Illinois, service in 2013. As they started a man walked by them with a wooden collection plate.
The version was deceptively simpler than that of the Congregational church. Seven people stood behind tables placed in a side aisle. Four more stood abeam, two at each end. The tables most likely were covered with foam to keep the bells from rolling. [8] The instruments were arrayed from smallest at the left to largest.
At a signal from Karen Gustafson the seven raised both bells into striking positions. They were wearing white gloves to protect the bronze from oils in their skin that can cause it to tarnish. [9]
Two people began playing the melody in what sounded like unison. Since it was unlikely the church had duplicate bells, it meant the arrangement was exploiting the overtones produced by the bells to create a single sound. American bells are tuned to produce an overtone that is a twelfth above the sounded note, so a composer could get special effects by manipulating fifths. [10]
On the third line, the group began playing the parallel thirds that normally are scored for the song.
The second repetition used a marimba-like instrument that played chords, while the bells continued to sound the melody. They continued into the third iteration, which introduced the deeper-sounding bells at the right end.
The final variation included both the highest and lowest pitched bells, along with what sounded like an organ. This time the melody was less obvious.
Gustafson said the group rehearsed once a week, and once spent months on one song. [11] The results showed in the precision required to get several bells to sound as if they were one. Their skill was more obvious in the variations that included a quick run in the third line.
The differences between this version and that of Middletown were magnified by the acoustics of the sanctuaries. What could be seen behind the Connecticut church choir were white plastered walls with large window openings that reflected sounds to create the illusion of overlapping chords for people seated below.
The Illinois group stood in front of a bare brick wall that absorbed some of the sounds produced just a little above the level of the parishioners’ ears. Gustafson chose a slow tempo that allowed overtones to dissipate so single sounds in a melodic line could be heard.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Soloists: eleven bell players, nine women, two men
Instrumental Accompaniment: two marimbas played by bell players in the second iteration; something that sounded like an organ in the final repetition
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Conductor: Karen Gustafson
Credits
None given
Notes on Lyrics
There were none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: slow enough so overtones faded between lines
Basic Structure: four repetitions with variations in instrumentation
Notes on Performance
Occasion: Sunday service during collection
Location: in the side aisle of the church
Microphones: none
Clothing: informal clothing worn to church, usually slacks and tops. Everyone wore white gloves.
Notes on Movement
The ringers stood behind tables in an aisle that defined their configuration. No one was seated in the pews in front of the group. Gustafson used both forearms to conduct; her upper arms were close to her sides. Music stands were set on the tables.
Notes on Audience
There was silence when they finished, followed by the resumption of the service.
Notes on Performers
Settlers began moving into Bremen Township, southwest of modern Chicago, in the 1830s. By 1850, 40% of the population was German speaking and 20% was Irish. Migration increased when the Rock Island Rail Road completed a line to Joliet. [12] What would become Trinity Lutheran was organized in 1859 with the second floor of the pastor’s home serving as a church and school. [13]
In 1884, Alfred Andreas reported the community of New Bremen had only the one church, and most of the children attended its school. [14] The village incorporated in 1890 with the name Tinley Park, but remained rural until the post-World War II expansion of Chicago suburbs. [15] Dreieinichkeit Evangelische Lutheranische Gemeinde was still offering services in German until 1960, when it officially changed its name. [16]
Gustafson earned her bachelor’s degree from Concordia University of River Forest, [17] and was teaching in the school in 1986 when the church asked her to take over the handbell choir. She knew how to play piano and organ, but taught herself the rudiments of bell playing. She learned more when the choir joined the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers. [18]
The Senior Handbell Choir "always plays the Sunday before Christmas," [19] and otherwise plays for "for the various seasons of the church year and for special occasions as the need arises." [20]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Linda Burns on 14 May 2013.
End Notes
1. Robert Adam Hill. "The Reformation of the Bells in Early Modern England." PhD. Simon Fraser University, summer 2012. 115.
2. Hill. 63.
3. Hill. 64. The post for 9 December 2018 described reformers’ attitudes towards beliefs that bells had supernatural powers.
4. Hill. 29. His discussion was prompted by observations of Christopher Marsh in The Family of Love in English Society: 1560-1630. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 34.
5. Hill. 111.
6. Their contributions were mentioned in the post for 3 September 2017.
7. Coincidence may not be the correct word to describe the continuity in the order of service that allowed the re-invention of earlier elements.
8. Wikipedia. "Handbell."
9. Nancy Kirkner. "Gloves." Handbells website. 21 September 2011.
10. Wikipedia. "The overtones on an English handbell are a 12th (an octave and a perfect fifth) above the fundamental."
11. Karen Gustafson. Interviewed by Donna Vickroy. "Handbell Choir Rings in Trinity’s Anniversary." Southtown Star [Tinley Park, Illinois]. 18 October 2009. 7. This arrangement used four octaves.
12. "History of Tinley Park, Illinois." Tinley Park Public Library website.
13. "A History of Trinity Lutheran Church and School." Church website.
14. A. T. Andreas. History of Cook County, Illinois. Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1884. Reprinted by Ray Brown as "History of Bremen, Il." on Rays-Place website.
15. Tinley Park History.
16. Trinity Lutheran History.
17. "About Karen Gustafson." Facebook.
18. Vickroy.
19. Vickroy.
20. "Music Ministries." Church website.
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Saint-Pierre de Wolfisheim - Kumbaya
Topic: Instrumental Versions - Handbells
Handbells and church tower bells are the same type of instrument distinguished primarily by size. Early Protestant reformers in England saw them differently. They banned the ones as devices used in masses and kept the others because they served necessary civic purposes.
In 1571 Heinrich Bullinger suggested one permissible use in Zürich was the fire bell that was rung at night to warn people "to be careful of their fires." [1] This commonly was called the curfew, and existed when I was a child in Michigan in the 1950s when the town sounded a reminder at 10 pm to people under age 16 to stay indoors.
Bullinger proscribed ringing a bell in storms because it was linked to a belief Satan was responsible and the sound would scare him into calming the weather. [2] However, the need to warn people of danger survived with the tornado warnings and alarms installed in schools for fire drills in my hometown.
Before clocks and watches were commonly available, bells were used to mark time. Bullinger objected to the monastic use of bells that announced the canonical hours, but allowed them to be used to call meetings and to signal the ends of work days. [3]
In my hometown, one of the local factories blew a steam whistle just before the start of the morning and afternoon shifts. The junior and senior high schools used an electric bell at the starts and ends of classes. My summer camp simply substituted bugles.
The most fraught customs for Protestant reformers were those associated with death. Priests rang hand bells when they were on their way to deliver the last rites, and public bells were rung to announce deaths. Many believed these bells kept the spirits from danger on their journey to purgatory where they would remain until their ultimate fate was decided. Many believed those spirits could hear bells, and their ringing kept them calm. Bells were rung for hours on the night before All-Soul’s Day, our Halloween. [4]
Robert Hill believed the priest’s use of a bell was banned because it was a private, rather than public rite. [5] He cited John Hooper, a follower of Bullinger, as an authority. [6] In 1551, the Bishop of Gloucester [7] transformed it into a public tolling "while the sick is in extremes, to admonish the people of their danger, and by that means to solicitate the hearers of the same to pray for the sick person." [8] When the person died, Hooper allowed a bell to ring once as an announcement. [9]
All these practices were dependent on the ability of sound waves to carry long distances. High or low pitch was important, but not the quality of the sound itself. The first reference Hill found in church records to the tone of a bell came from Saint Mary at the Hill in London. In 1510 it asked the reeve to listen to the fourth bell "to determine whether or not it was in tune." [10]
This indication that musicality was becoming important was supported by entries in the church’s records for "stays for the bell wheels" [11] Hill concluded "this was a community which heard the bells’ rings as structured and musical sounds. While they were surely rung to signify liturgical, ceremonial, and civil events, they were also meant to produce sounds that were pleasing to the ear." [12]
What the English called change ringing involved ringing bells in mathematical sequences that explored what was becoming known about the physics of sound some two hundred years before Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. It began as a ritual sponsored by the wealthy to commemorate the deaths of family members, and was acceptable to the church because it assuaged the grief of the living rather than communicated with the dead. [13]
Change ringing evolved into a secular pastime during the first reign of the Stuarts. [14] Once begun it was only a matter of time before the concept of tune was wedded to the activity. A church in Alsace played "Kumbaya" on its five bells in 2016.
Its version differed from Anna Laura Page’s handbell arrangement described in the post 6 December 2018. The ringer or ringers only played the melody. There was no attempt to add a simultaneous harmonic accompaniment or counter tune.
The ringers were attuned to the sounds of their bells and paused between the two iterations, so the listener could hear the start of the second repetition. Page’s version had no cessation of sound in its 58 measures, so the congregation in Middletown’s Congregational church in 2016 simultaneously heard the chords being struck and the accumulated overtones.
The bells at Saint-Pierre were installed in 1723, [A] when the idea of a chromatic scale was still new. Three of the church’s bells matched the 1-3-5 triad that began "Kumbaya." It also had a bell pitched slightly higher that was used in the refrains of lines 1 and 3 that went 6-6-5. It had one lower bell that was used in the second and fourth lines that used 4-3-2 and 4-3-1-2-2-1. [15]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Soloist: five bells
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
None given
Notes on Lyrics
There were none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5, but played with five, not six, tones
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: two iterations
Notes on Performers
The tower in Wolfisheim was erected in 1492, probably for defense. In the first part of the Reformation, the church became Protestant in 1525, but was returned to the Catholics in 1559. [16] Following the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which had guaranteed some freedom to French Calvinists, Huguenots fled to Wolfisheim [17] on the French frontier.
In 1692 the Saint-Pierre church was declared a simultaneum, [18] which meant it was shared by Catholics and Protestants. [19] It reverted to Lutherans in 1962, when the Catholics built their own church. [20] The congregation rang the bells every Saturday evening to remind townsfolk the next day was Sunday. [21]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by UAG - TV on 3 July 2016.
End Notes
1. Heinrich Bullinger. "Das Glockenläuten, 1571." 462-481 in Heinrich Bullinger, Schriften. Edited by Emidio Campi, Detlef Roth, and Peter Stotz. Zürich: Theologischer Verlag Zurich, 2006. 471-472. Cited by Robert Adam Hill. "The Reformation of the Bells in Early Modern England." PhD. Simon Fraser University, summer 2012. 101. His translation of Bullinger was made by Dick Derksen. Bullinger succeeded Huldrych Zwingli as head of the Protestant church in Zürich [22] where Hill argued he had a strong influence on English Protestant reformers.
2. Bullinger. 475. Cited by Hill. 102.
3. Bullinger. 471-472. Cited by Hill. 102.
4. Hill used the work of Alain Corbin to explicate the funereal uses. Village Bells. London: Papermac, 1999.
5. Hill. 144.
6. Hill. 107. He cited Carrie Euler. Couriers of the Gospel: England and Zurich, 1531-1558. Zürich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 2006.
7. Wikipedia. "John Hooper (Bishop)." It mentioned his ties to Bullinger.
8. John Hopper. Injunctions of 1551. Reprinted in Visitation Articles and Injunctions of the Period of the Reformation. Edited by Walter Howard Frere and William McClure Kennedy. London: Longmans, Green and Company, 1910. 2:287. Quoted by Hill. 153.
9. Hooper. 2:287. Cited by Hill. 145.
10. Hill. 84. His source was Henry Littlehales. Medieval Records of a London City Church. London: Early English Text Society, 1905. 273-275.
11. Hill. 85.
12. Hill. 86.
13. Hill. 150. He was discussing the ideas of Claire Gittings. Death, Burial and the Individual in Early Modern England. London: Routledge and Kegan Hall, 1988.
14. Hill. 171. He was discussing John Bunyan’s admission he had enjoyed change ringing as a youth. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. London: George Larkin, 1666.
15. "Wolfisheim, paroisse luthérienne." Wiki-Protestants website.
16. "Eglise protestante Saint-Pierre à Wolfisheim." Patrimoine-de-France website.
17. Donatus Düsterhaus. "Religion in a Time of War: The Case of Lower Alsace, 1789-1794." 313-330 in War in an Age of Revolution, 1775-1815. Edited by Roger Chickering and Stig Förster. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 317.
18. Patrimione.
19. Wikipedia. "Simultaneum."
20. Patrimione.
21. YouTube notes.
22. Wikipedia. "Heinrich Bullinger."
Handbells and church tower bells are the same type of instrument distinguished primarily by size. Early Protestant reformers in England saw them differently. They banned the ones as devices used in masses and kept the others because they served necessary civic purposes.
In 1571 Heinrich Bullinger suggested one permissible use in Zürich was the fire bell that was rung at night to warn people "to be careful of their fires." [1] This commonly was called the curfew, and existed when I was a child in Michigan in the 1950s when the town sounded a reminder at 10 pm to people under age 16 to stay indoors.
Bullinger proscribed ringing a bell in storms because it was linked to a belief Satan was responsible and the sound would scare him into calming the weather. [2] However, the need to warn people of danger survived with the tornado warnings and alarms installed in schools for fire drills in my hometown.
Before clocks and watches were commonly available, bells were used to mark time. Bullinger objected to the monastic use of bells that announced the canonical hours, but allowed them to be used to call meetings and to signal the ends of work days. [3]
In my hometown, one of the local factories blew a steam whistle just before the start of the morning and afternoon shifts. The junior and senior high schools used an electric bell at the starts and ends of classes. My summer camp simply substituted bugles.
The most fraught customs for Protestant reformers were those associated with death. Priests rang hand bells when they were on their way to deliver the last rites, and public bells were rung to announce deaths. Many believed these bells kept the spirits from danger on their journey to purgatory where they would remain until their ultimate fate was decided. Many believed those spirits could hear bells, and their ringing kept them calm. Bells were rung for hours on the night before All-Soul’s Day, our Halloween. [4]
Robert Hill believed the priest’s use of a bell was banned because it was a private, rather than public rite. [5] He cited John Hooper, a follower of Bullinger, as an authority. [6] In 1551, the Bishop of Gloucester [7] transformed it into a public tolling "while the sick is in extremes, to admonish the people of their danger, and by that means to solicitate the hearers of the same to pray for the sick person." [8] When the person died, Hooper allowed a bell to ring once as an announcement. [9]
All these practices were dependent on the ability of sound waves to carry long distances. High or low pitch was important, but not the quality of the sound itself. The first reference Hill found in church records to the tone of a bell came from Saint Mary at the Hill in London. In 1510 it asked the reeve to listen to the fourth bell "to determine whether or not it was in tune." [10]
This indication that musicality was becoming important was supported by entries in the church’s records for "stays for the bell wheels" [11] Hill concluded "this was a community which heard the bells’ rings as structured and musical sounds. While they were surely rung to signify liturgical, ceremonial, and civil events, they were also meant to produce sounds that were pleasing to the ear." [12]
What the English called change ringing involved ringing bells in mathematical sequences that explored what was becoming known about the physics of sound some two hundred years before Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. It began as a ritual sponsored by the wealthy to commemorate the deaths of family members, and was acceptable to the church because it assuaged the grief of the living rather than communicated with the dead. [13]
Change ringing evolved into a secular pastime during the first reign of the Stuarts. [14] Once begun it was only a matter of time before the concept of tune was wedded to the activity. A church in Alsace played "Kumbaya" on its five bells in 2016.
Its version differed from Anna Laura Page’s handbell arrangement described in the post 6 December 2018. The ringer or ringers only played the melody. There was no attempt to add a simultaneous harmonic accompaniment or counter tune.
The ringers were attuned to the sounds of their bells and paused between the two iterations, so the listener could hear the start of the second repetition. Page’s version had no cessation of sound in its 58 measures, so the congregation in Middletown’s Congregational church in 2016 simultaneously heard the chords being struck and the accumulated overtones.
The bells at Saint-Pierre were installed in 1723, [A] when the idea of a chromatic scale was still new. Three of the church’s bells matched the 1-3-5 triad that began "Kumbaya." It also had a bell pitched slightly higher that was used in the refrains of lines 1 and 3 that went 6-6-5. It had one lower bell that was used in the second and fourth lines that used 4-3-2 and 4-3-1-2-2-1. [15]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Soloist: five bells
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
None given
Notes on Lyrics
There were none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5, but played with five, not six, tones
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: two iterations
Notes on Performers
The tower in Wolfisheim was erected in 1492, probably for defense. In the first part of the Reformation, the church became Protestant in 1525, but was returned to the Catholics in 1559. [16] Following the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which had guaranteed some freedom to French Calvinists, Huguenots fled to Wolfisheim [17] on the French frontier.
In 1692 the Saint-Pierre church was declared a simultaneum, [18] which meant it was shared by Catholics and Protestants. [19] It reverted to Lutherans in 1962, when the Catholics built their own church. [20] The congregation rang the bells every Saturday evening to remind townsfolk the next day was Sunday. [21]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by UAG - TV on 3 July 2016.
End Notes
1. Heinrich Bullinger. "Das Glockenläuten, 1571." 462-481 in Heinrich Bullinger, Schriften. Edited by Emidio Campi, Detlef Roth, and Peter Stotz. Zürich: Theologischer Verlag Zurich, 2006. 471-472. Cited by Robert Adam Hill. "The Reformation of the Bells in Early Modern England." PhD. Simon Fraser University, summer 2012. 101. His translation of Bullinger was made by Dick Derksen. Bullinger succeeded Huldrych Zwingli as head of the Protestant church in Zürich [22] where Hill argued he had a strong influence on English Protestant reformers.
2. Bullinger. 475. Cited by Hill. 102.
3. Bullinger. 471-472. Cited by Hill. 102.
4. Hill used the work of Alain Corbin to explicate the funereal uses. Village Bells. London: Papermac, 1999.
5. Hill. 144.
6. Hill. 107. He cited Carrie Euler. Couriers of the Gospel: England and Zurich, 1531-1558. Zürich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 2006.
7. Wikipedia. "John Hooper (Bishop)." It mentioned his ties to Bullinger.
8. John Hopper. Injunctions of 1551. Reprinted in Visitation Articles and Injunctions of the Period of the Reformation. Edited by Walter Howard Frere and William McClure Kennedy. London: Longmans, Green and Company, 1910. 2:287. Quoted by Hill. 153.
9. Hooper. 2:287. Cited by Hill. 145.
10. Hill. 84. His source was Henry Littlehales. Medieval Records of a London City Church. London: Early English Text Society, 1905. 273-275.
11. Hill. 85.
12. Hill. 86.
13. Hill. 150. He was discussing the ideas of Claire Gittings. Death, Burial and the Individual in Early Modern England. London: Routledge and Kegan Hall, 1988.
14. Hill. 171. He was discussing John Bunyan’s admission he had enjoyed change ringing as a youth. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. London: George Larkin, 1666.
15. "Wolfisheim, paroisse luthérienne." Wiki-Protestants website.
16. "Eglise protestante Saint-Pierre à Wolfisheim." Patrimoine-de-France website.
17. Donatus Düsterhaus. "Religion in a Time of War: The Case of Lower Alsace, 1789-1794." 313-330 in War in an Age of Revolution, 1775-1815. Edited by Roger Chickering and Stig Förster. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 317.
18. Patrimione.
19. Wikipedia. "Simultaneum."
20. Patrimione.
21. YouTube notes.
22. Wikipedia. "Heinrich Bullinger."
Thursday, December 6, 2018
First Church of Christ, Middletown - Kum Ba Yah
Topic: Instrumental Versions - Handbells
The interest in liturgy provoked by Vatican II didn’t just lead to the introduction of popular music into religious services. Some congregations returned to the reforms of the Oxford Movement that had revived pre-Reformation elements like boys’ choirs in the Anglican service. [1]
One result was the establishment of handbell choirs. So far, I haven’t found anyone who has written a history of these ensembles, [2] but trends can be deduced from the histories of the two companies that manufactured instruments in the United States.
Schulmerich began producing bells designed by Jake Malta in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, in 1963, [3] the same year the Vatican Council authorized changes in the mass. Before that, any handbell player imported instruments from England or the Netherlands. [4] After a 1972 corporate reorganization, Malta left Schulmerich and formed his own company the following year in the same Bucks County town. [5]
He employed Willard Markey, who launched an aggressive marketing campaign. One can assume handbell choirs had begun to proliferate when Malmark opened a new production facility in 1978. It expanded again in 1985. [6] By 2012, sales at Schulmerich were stagnant, [7] and Malmark had added cajones to its product mix. [8]
Handbells were sold in octave sets so a church could add to its range if it attracted more members to its choir. Today, two octaves from Malmark cost $6,305. The third brings the price to $10,545. [9]
Anna Lara Page used 15 of the 24 bells for her two-octave arrangement of "Kumbaya," and 22 of the 36 for her three-octave version. Since each person generally was assigned two bells, that meant eight or eleven people were needed in an ensemble.
A photograph of First Christ Church’s Heart in Hand Bell Choir showed eleven people. [10] When it played Page’s three-octave version in 2016, Shari Lucas supplemented the group by holding two bells while she was directed them.
The acceptance of handbell choirs may have varied by theology. The 22 churches who uploaded versions of "Kumbaya" to YouTube were pretty evenly divided among four older denominations: six were Lutheran, six were Methodist, five were United Church of Christ, and four were Presbyterian. The other was a Baptist church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. [11]
The Middletown, Connecticut, UCC congregation was organized by Puritans in 1668. [12] Its current building was finished in 1873 with an organ [13] and choir loft that still exists. The ringers stood in a single line behind a low wall near peaks in the tall, Gothic windows. It had a tower that reached above the roof where a bell could have been mounted, and a steeple rising high above that louvered area. However, the minister at the time did not mention a bell.
The chamber’s acoustics and the relative locations of the ringers and the camera microphone meant the higher pitched bells were heard more clearly on the YouTube video. When Page transferred the melody to the lower range, the combined overtones of all the bells made them sound like a organ continuo instead.
Performers
First Church of Christ
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Group: Heart in Hand Bell Choir
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Conductor: Shari Lucas
Anna Laura Page
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Group: 15 bells for two-octave arrangement; 22 for three-octaves
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
First Church of Christ
arr. Anna Laura Page
Anna Laura Page
Arranged by Anna Laura Page
Copyright © MMV by Alfred Publishing Co., Inc.
Notes on Lyrics
There were none.
Notes on Music
Anna Laura Page
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: gently; quarter note = 96 beats per minute
Key Signature: 1 sharp
Dynamics: alternated between mezzo forte and mezzo piano
Basic Structure: Page used parallel chords that usually involved four to six bells, with only quarter and half notes.
Notes on Performance
First Church of Christ
Occasion: Sunday service, probably during the collection
Location: choir loft
Microphones: none
Clothing: In their web-page photograph, the choir was wearing white shirts, black slacks, and red ties or long scarves. In the video, they wore black gloves to handle the bells, while the director wore white gloves. All that could be seen above the balcony’s low wall were the director’s hands, some white shirts, and a red tie.
Notes on Movement
First Church of Christ
Choir members stood, and held their bells upright to sound them. The director stood in front with both arms raised from the elbows to conduct. They had music stands.
Audience Perceptions
Page’s arrangement was used by the Tone Chimes in the Buford, Georgia, United Methodist Church on 15 March 2015. Youth Handbells performed it 19 February 2017 in the Westminster Presbyterian Church of Dubuque, Iowa. Both played during the collection period. [14]
Notes on Performers
The Congregational church owned a four-octave set of Malmark bells. The Heart in Hand Bell Choir met once a week to prepare music for special times of the year. [15] Lucas earned music degrees from Baldwin Wallace and Yale, where her primary instrument was organ. [16]
Page was raised in Louisville where she studied piano and organ. [17] She collaborated with Jean Anne Shafferman on a collection of spirituals that combined "Kum Ba Yah" with "Let Us Break Bread" when both worked for Alfred Publishing. [18] The graduate of the University of Kentucky moved to Sherman, Texas, where her husband was president of the local Presbyterian college. [19]
Availability
First Church of Christ, Middletown, Connecticut, Heart in Hand Bell Choir
YouTube: uploaded by First Church on 23 May 2016.
Anna Laura Page
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 16-19 in 5 Spirituals for Beginning Ringers. Van Nuys, California: Alfred Publishing Company, 2005.
End Notes
1. The Oxford Movement was mentioned in the post for 29 September 2017.
2. Handbell Musicians of America provides a history of its organization from 1902 on its website.
3. Crissa Shoemaker DeBree. "Sellersville’s Schulmerich Bells Celebrates 50 Years, Looks for Growth." Burlington County [New Jersey] Times website. 2 July 2013.
4. Whitechapel Bell Foundry produced handbells in London until it closed in 2017. Petit and Fritsen manufactured handbells in Netherlands until it was bought by another company in 2014. (Wikipedia. "Whitechapel Bell Foundry" and "Petit & Fritsen.")
5. "Our History." Malmark company website.
6. Malmark, History.
7. DeBree.
8. "Cajons." Marmark company website.
9. "Malmark Handbells." Handbell World website. Each additional octave has a higher price because the larger the bell the more it costs to produce.
10. "Music" tab. Church website.
11. A similar pattern existed among churches that mentioned handbell arrangements of "Kumbaya" in Sunday bulletins uploaded to the internet: seven were Methodist, three were UCC, three were Presbyterian, one was Unitarian-Universalist, and one was independent. Other factors may have skewed my data. For instance, many churches have abandoned printed bulletins for electronic screen displays, while some denominations that sponsored choirs may not have chosen to use YouTube or didn’t include "Kumbaya" in their repertoires.
12. Azel Washburn Hazen. A Brief History of the First Church of Christ in Middletown, Connecticut for Two Centuries and a Half, 1668-1918. Middletown, Connecticut: 1920. 8.
13. Hazen. 99-100. The current organ was installed in 1968 according to the church’s website.
14. Sunday service bulletins posted to the internet by the churches, and available 10-11 August 2018.
15. "Music" tab. Church website.
16. "About" tab. Church website.
17. "Anna Laura Page." Lorenz Corporation website.
18. Anna Laura Page and Jean Anne Shafferman. "Kum Ba Yah/Let Us Break Bread." 7-9 in
My First Spirituals. Van Nuys, California: Alfred Publishing Co, Inc, 2004. Shafferman’s combination of "Kumbaya" and "Peace Like a River" was discussed in the post for 5 August 2018.
19. Lorenz. Oscar C. Page was president of Austin College until his retirement.
The interest in liturgy provoked by Vatican II didn’t just lead to the introduction of popular music into religious services. Some congregations returned to the reforms of the Oxford Movement that had revived pre-Reformation elements like boys’ choirs in the Anglican service. [1]
One result was the establishment of handbell choirs. So far, I haven’t found anyone who has written a history of these ensembles, [2] but trends can be deduced from the histories of the two companies that manufactured instruments in the United States.
Schulmerich began producing bells designed by Jake Malta in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, in 1963, [3] the same year the Vatican Council authorized changes in the mass. Before that, any handbell player imported instruments from England or the Netherlands. [4] After a 1972 corporate reorganization, Malta left Schulmerich and formed his own company the following year in the same Bucks County town. [5]
He employed Willard Markey, who launched an aggressive marketing campaign. One can assume handbell choirs had begun to proliferate when Malmark opened a new production facility in 1978. It expanded again in 1985. [6] By 2012, sales at Schulmerich were stagnant, [7] and Malmark had added cajones to its product mix. [8]
Handbells were sold in octave sets so a church could add to its range if it attracted more members to its choir. Today, two octaves from Malmark cost $6,305. The third brings the price to $10,545. [9]
Anna Lara Page used 15 of the 24 bells for her two-octave arrangement of "Kumbaya," and 22 of the 36 for her three-octave version. Since each person generally was assigned two bells, that meant eight or eleven people were needed in an ensemble.
A photograph of First Christ Church’s Heart in Hand Bell Choir showed eleven people. [10] When it played Page’s three-octave version in 2016, Shari Lucas supplemented the group by holding two bells while she was directed them.
The acceptance of handbell choirs may have varied by theology. The 22 churches who uploaded versions of "Kumbaya" to YouTube were pretty evenly divided among four older denominations: six were Lutheran, six were Methodist, five were United Church of Christ, and four were Presbyterian. The other was a Baptist church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. [11]
The Middletown, Connecticut, UCC congregation was organized by Puritans in 1668. [12] Its current building was finished in 1873 with an organ [13] and choir loft that still exists. The ringers stood in a single line behind a low wall near peaks in the tall, Gothic windows. It had a tower that reached above the roof where a bell could have been mounted, and a steeple rising high above that louvered area. However, the minister at the time did not mention a bell.
The chamber’s acoustics and the relative locations of the ringers and the camera microphone meant the higher pitched bells were heard more clearly on the YouTube video. When Page transferred the melody to the lower range, the combined overtones of all the bells made them sound like a organ continuo instead.
Performers
First Church of Christ
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Group: Heart in Hand Bell Choir
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Conductor: Shari Lucas
Anna Laura Page
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Group: 15 bells for two-octave arrangement; 22 for three-octaves
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
First Church of Christ
arr. Anna Laura Page
Anna Laura Page
Arranged by Anna Laura Page
Copyright © MMV by Alfred Publishing Co., Inc.
Notes on Lyrics
There were none.
Notes on Music
Anna Laura Page
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: gently; quarter note = 96 beats per minute
Key Signature: 1 sharp
Dynamics: alternated between mezzo forte and mezzo piano
Basic Structure: Page used parallel chords that usually involved four to six bells, with only quarter and half notes.
Notes on Performance
First Church of Christ
Occasion: Sunday service, probably during the collection
Location: choir loft
Microphones: none
Clothing: In their web-page photograph, the choir was wearing white shirts, black slacks, and red ties or long scarves. In the video, they wore black gloves to handle the bells, while the director wore white gloves. All that could be seen above the balcony’s low wall were the director’s hands, some white shirts, and a red tie.
Notes on Movement
First Church of Christ
Choir members stood, and held their bells upright to sound them. The director stood in front with both arms raised from the elbows to conduct. They had music stands.
Audience Perceptions
Page’s arrangement was used by the Tone Chimes in the Buford, Georgia, United Methodist Church on 15 March 2015. Youth Handbells performed it 19 February 2017 in the Westminster Presbyterian Church of Dubuque, Iowa. Both played during the collection period. [14]
Notes on Performers
The Congregational church owned a four-octave set of Malmark bells. The Heart in Hand Bell Choir met once a week to prepare music for special times of the year. [15] Lucas earned music degrees from Baldwin Wallace and Yale, where her primary instrument was organ. [16]
Page was raised in Louisville where she studied piano and organ. [17] She collaborated with Jean Anne Shafferman on a collection of spirituals that combined "Kum Ba Yah" with "Let Us Break Bread" when both worked for Alfred Publishing. [18] The graduate of the University of Kentucky moved to Sherman, Texas, where her husband was president of the local Presbyterian college. [19]
Availability
First Church of Christ, Middletown, Connecticut, Heart in Hand Bell Choir
YouTube: uploaded by First Church on 23 May 2016.
Anna Laura Page
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 16-19 in 5 Spirituals for Beginning Ringers. Van Nuys, California: Alfred Publishing Company, 2005.
End Notes
1. The Oxford Movement was mentioned in the post for 29 September 2017.
2. Handbell Musicians of America provides a history of its organization from 1902 on its website.
3. Crissa Shoemaker DeBree. "Sellersville’s Schulmerich Bells Celebrates 50 Years, Looks for Growth." Burlington County [New Jersey] Times website. 2 July 2013.
4. Whitechapel Bell Foundry produced handbells in London until it closed in 2017. Petit and Fritsen manufactured handbells in Netherlands until it was bought by another company in 2014. (Wikipedia. "Whitechapel Bell Foundry" and "Petit & Fritsen.")
5. "Our History." Malmark company website.
6. Malmark, History.
7. DeBree.
8. "Cajons." Marmark company website.
9. "Malmark Handbells." Handbell World website. Each additional octave has a higher price because the larger the bell the more it costs to produce.
10. "Music" tab. Church website.
11. A similar pattern existed among churches that mentioned handbell arrangements of "Kumbaya" in Sunday bulletins uploaded to the internet: seven were Methodist, three were UCC, three were Presbyterian, one was Unitarian-Universalist, and one was independent. Other factors may have skewed my data. For instance, many churches have abandoned printed bulletins for electronic screen displays, while some denominations that sponsored choirs may not have chosen to use YouTube or didn’t include "Kumbaya" in their repertoires.
12. Azel Washburn Hazen. A Brief History of the First Church of Christ in Middletown, Connecticut for Two Centuries and a Half, 1668-1918. Middletown, Connecticut: 1920. 8.
13. Hazen. 99-100. The current organ was installed in 1968 according to the church’s website.
14. Sunday service bulletins posted to the internet by the churches, and available 10-11 August 2018.
15. "Music" tab. Church website.
16. "About" tab. Church website.
17. "Anna Laura Page." Lorenz Corporation website.
18. Anna Laura Page and Jean Anne Shafferman. "Kum Ba Yah/Let Us Break Bread." 7-9 in
My First Spirituals. Van Nuys, California: Alfred Publishing Co, Inc, 2004. Shafferman’s combination of "Kumbaya" and "Peace Like a River" was discussed in the post for 5 August 2018.
19. Lorenz. Oscar C. Page was president of Austin College until his retirement.
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Prelude-Denouement Format - Come by Here
Topic: Early Versions
The Prelude-Denouement format of "Come by Here" was developing just as "Kumbaya" was beginning its slow journey into the camp song repertoire. As discussed in the post for 2 August 2017, the form was composed of two parts, a prelude that asked the Lord to come, and a denouement that dramatized his materialization.
Much of the meaning was conveyed by the progression of the music. The texts for the preludes usually had a set form, often with four lines that rhymed, either AABB or ABCB. They used the words "come by here" and "needs you."
Some singers became more specific in a transition that itemized the reasons the Lord’s presence was needed. This usually was done with sentences or phrases that might use incremental repetition or end rhyme, but did not adhere to a stanzaic format.
Once the Holy Spirit was present, the singer repeated lines, then phrases or words, in an improvised manner. Some performers included testimonials.
Not every artists included every part in a three-minute recording. The versions from 1953 emphasized the prelude and transition. The Hightower Brothers used a very short prelude, and a long denouement in 1958. Their performance was discussed in the post for 1 September 2017.
Five African-American men from Texas and Louisiana [1] recorded "Come by Here" in Los Angeles in 1953. The Chosen Gospel Singers began by repeating "come by here" six times. After coaxing Him with reminders they needed Him as a "guide" by their "side," they repeated "come by here."
Instead of a denouement that would have changed the pace of the music, they moved into the transition where they became more specific about their needs, repeating a commonplace expression twice: "sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down." They also repeated a warning to themselves that even if they were "worried," they should not be in a "hurry." [2]
Edna Gallmon Cooke, recorded a similar version the same year. Like the men, she began by repeating "come by here" and reminded Him she couldn’t get along without His Holy Spirit. In the transition she sang "somebody needs you," then "all of us needs you," and the more specific allusion to a wife waiting in tears. Her denouement testified she’d gone down on her knees in the wilderness and He had saved her with His grace. [3]
She grew up in Washington, DC, where her father preached in church formed by migrants from Edgefield, South Carolina. [4] The Blind Wonders of Washington, DC also recorded "Come by Here" in 1953, but so far I haven’t found a version of it. [5]
End Notes
These versions will be discussed in more detail in future posts.
1. Opal Louis Nations. "The Chosen Gospel Singers." RB April/Mary 1997:40-41.
2. Chosen Gospel Singers. "Come By Here." Specialty Records. Hollywood. 11 November 1953. Not issued.
3. Edna Gallmon Cooke. "Come by Here." Republic 7086. Nashville. 1953.
4. Donya Williams. "Two Cities, Two Churches, One Bond." Springfield Baptist Church E-Newsletter [Washington, DC]. February-March 2013
5. Blind Wonders of Washington DC. "Come By Here." Red Robin 3030. August 1953.
The Prelude-Denouement format of "Come by Here" was developing just as "Kumbaya" was beginning its slow journey into the camp song repertoire. As discussed in the post for 2 August 2017, the form was composed of two parts, a prelude that asked the Lord to come, and a denouement that dramatized his materialization.
Much of the meaning was conveyed by the progression of the music. The texts for the preludes usually had a set form, often with four lines that rhymed, either AABB or ABCB. They used the words "come by here" and "needs you."
Some singers became more specific in a transition that itemized the reasons the Lord’s presence was needed. This usually was done with sentences or phrases that might use incremental repetition or end rhyme, but did not adhere to a stanzaic format.
Once the Holy Spirit was present, the singer repeated lines, then phrases or words, in an improvised manner. Some performers included testimonials.
Not every artists included every part in a three-minute recording. The versions from 1953 emphasized the prelude and transition. The Hightower Brothers used a very short prelude, and a long denouement in 1958. Their performance was discussed in the post for 1 September 2017.
Five African-American men from Texas and Louisiana [1] recorded "Come by Here" in Los Angeles in 1953. The Chosen Gospel Singers began by repeating "come by here" six times. After coaxing Him with reminders they needed Him as a "guide" by their "side," they repeated "come by here."
Instead of a denouement that would have changed the pace of the music, they moved into the transition where they became more specific about their needs, repeating a commonplace expression twice: "sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down." They also repeated a warning to themselves that even if they were "worried," they should not be in a "hurry." [2]
Edna Gallmon Cooke, recorded a similar version the same year. Like the men, she began by repeating "come by here" and reminded Him she couldn’t get along without His Holy Spirit. In the transition she sang "somebody needs you," then "all of us needs you," and the more specific allusion to a wife waiting in tears. Her denouement testified she’d gone down on her knees in the wilderness and He had saved her with His grace. [3]
She grew up in Washington, DC, where her father preached in church formed by migrants from Edgefield, South Carolina. [4] The Blind Wonders of Washington, DC also recorded "Come by Here" in 1953, but so far I haven’t found a version of it. [5]
End Notes
These versions will be discussed in more detail in future posts.
1. Opal Louis Nations. "The Chosen Gospel Singers." RB April/Mary 1997:40-41.
2. Chosen Gospel Singers. "Come By Here." Specialty Records. Hollywood. 11 November 1953. Not issued.
3. Edna Gallmon Cooke. "Come by Here." Republic 7086. Nashville. 1953.
4. Donya Williams. "Two Cities, Two Churches, One Bond." Springfield Baptist Church E-Newsletter [Washington, DC]. February-March 2013
5. Blind Wonders of Washington DC. "Come By Here." Red Robin 3030. August 1953.
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