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.