News

SONORAN BELLS MINI-TOUR NORTH TO PRESCOTT, AZ FROM TUCSON, AZ.
------By Bob Tucker

We arrived in Prescott, AZ, early Saturday afternoon, March 21, and unloaded the U-Haul at American Evangelical Lutheran, where we were met by James Klein, their minister of music (who directs several handbell choirs himself). AEL has their handbells set up permanently behind the chancel in the sanctuary, and we were invited to use them for the church services.They have five octaves of 18+ year-old Malmarks, marvelously refurbished and maintained (and seven octaves of chimes!), which were a delight to rehearse and play on. The only down-side to that location is the visual beauty of ringing handbells is interrupted by the table and lecterns on the chancel.

On Sunday morning we offered three pieces (John Muschick’s arrangement of a Bach Prelude, Arnold Sherman’s In the Beauty of Holiness, and Fred Gramann’s Fantasy on ‘King’s Weston’) for each of three morning services. Despite the early hour of the first service, the tiring day before, and less than ideal sleep in strange beds, everyone was in a good mood and all went smoothly. Afterward there were a number of appreciative comments from members of the congregation and the church staff.

Our concert was on Sunday afternoon, again in the sanctuary, except that we set up our own tables, bells, chimes, etc. in front of the chancel. The afternoon program included Festive Praises (Gramann), Badinerie
from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No.2 (arr. Norris), Textures (Hilty), Aria (Allured), Jesus We Want to Meet (Peery), Nocturne in A Minor (Buckwalter),
Misty (Sherman setting), & The All-American Hometown Band (arr. Wood).

Surprise: it turns out that Prescott is inhabited by fervid handbell enthusiasts. The audience response was an order of magnitude more interactive than
anything we typically encounter in Tucson. We were “jazzed” to say the least.

On Monday morning we took an abbreviated concert to Lincoln Elementary School and in the afternoon more of the same to Franklin Phonetic, a fine arts school (K – 8) in neighboring Prescott Valley. The reception at each was warm; the children were great fun and impressed us with their musical savvy. At the end of each program we played “name that tune”—ringing simplified versions of Twinkle-Twinkle, Do-Re-Me (Sound of Music), and We will Rock You. To our delight, the children knew all three well enough to began singing along almost immediately.

All in all, a tiring but rewarding mini-tour.

Sonoran Bells Ringers before the concert.

From left to right: JoAnn Luther, Cindy
Curtis, & Karen Fowler prepare for the
afternoon concert at American Evangelical
Lutheran Church. -- Photo by Leisl Jaberg.

This article was published in the April 2009 Area XI newsletter: http://area11.org/news/0904news.pdf