Thurso II (Donald Thomson): Week 7 – 18 March

I doubt that many of you will have played handbells.  Over the past 15 or so years I’ve come across them and had a go, mostly at taster sessions run at other courses I was attending.  About seven years ago, in an attempt to Get Out and Meet More People, I contacted one of the local handbell ‘teams’.  Making music on a regular basis was also a factor in Getting Out.  The local orchestra wasn’t a possibility, as I didn’t play an orchestral instrument.   Eventually I also joined a handbell group in Thurso. 

Handbells

Ringing handbells takes a bit of getting used to.  With most music, you’re able to play the tune or at least a continuous line.  But with handbells, you’re lucky if you play two consecutive notes.  If you can recall the version of ‘Jingle Bells’ with barking dogs, and if you can imagine that each dog can bark two notes, then you’ll get a vague idea.  The ‘dog’ on the left of you is playing E and F, you’re playing G and A, and the ‘dog to the right plays B and C. Expand this to two or three octaves, and there are enough notes to play tunes and harmony. The next thing to get accustomed to is playing  at the right time and for the correct length of time.  This is of course the same as any music, but it requires more concentration when you’re only playing two notes scattered throughout the piece.  You need to keep track of where you are, and damp (stop the bell ringing) at the right time.  A sense of rhythm helps immensely, as well as being able to count up to at least 5.

Celandine

There’s also a technique involved in ringing a bell so it sounds its best, all quickly learnt. Other ringing techniques include shakes – the equivalent of a trill, but on one note, and thumb damping – placing your thumb on the bell while it rings, for a staccato effect.  All in all, it’s good fun.  It’s a team effort, a real community, where each ringer depends on the others to keep the music going.

Waves by the Lighthouse

Why am I wittering on about handbells?  This past Saturday, the Assembly Rooms in Wick was the venue for the Scottish Regional Rally of the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain.  From morning to late afternoon, ringers from teams from all over the UK rang their bells en masse and as individual teams.  Including the local teams from Wick and Thurso, there were about 65 ringers there, from as far south as Hereford and as far north as Orkney.  At the end of the day, there was a brief concert featuring the pieces we’d practiced during the day. 

Consequently, there was no time to knit that day.  But the keen-eyed among you will see that the yoke has been reached, after the long slog up the foothills of the stockinette body.  The yoke pattern is in process of calculation and will be done soon.