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
Showing posts with label Page Anna Laura. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Page Anna Laura. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
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.
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