Three Easy Handbell and Handchime Choir Methods Mean Everyone Can Direct and Ring!

Here they are, children to seniors, those of sound mind and body and those with disabilities and challenges, those with music-reading ability and those with none. They want to help start a handchime or handbell choir. How do you describe those moments when they first gather, start ringing a recognizable tune with harmonious bell or chime tones, and discover in the first ten minutes that they can make beautiful music together? How do you explain the obvious joy and excitement they feel? How do you describe your own delight when you, with or without musical training or music reading ability, find that you are able to give them this moving experience?  One director describes this moment as “magical”, another who works in a religious setting writes, “The way I see it, for some reason handbells attract involvement and involvement brings growth for the participant. Soli Deo Gloria! Praise God with handbell choirs!”

There are at least three Methods for starting and running successful handbell and handchime choirs for ringers who do not, and may never be able to read music, by directors who also may have no music reading ability or previous musical training. Although an “official” designation may exist for these Methods, since they seem to be described by many varying terms, I will use the following designations.

1.) The STB Method:

We’ll begin with very young children: Can three-year-olds be included in a children’s handbell choir?  Standing in with a group of four- and five-year-olds, three-year-olds do very well with what I’ve dubbed the “Shake Those Bells”, or STB, Method. (I have seen this Method called  “ShakyBells”, which, while an apt description of what children do to create this handbell performance, might not be the best choice of term if this Method were to be used by a group of frail elderly for music therapy.) The STB Method simply requires that each child watch the director’s number, color or picture card book, shaking a bell in each hand whenever his or her card is shown. The resultant harmonies blend both notes and rhythm with a professional accompaniment CD (or recorded piano or synthesizer piece if the director has that ability), producing a very praiseworthy performance by the youngest age group.

While the STB Method works for the very young, with this Method children hear only the harmony of the entire musical piece. Unfortunately, since they cannot hear how their own individual bells contribute to this harmony due to the overall jingle of sound, they lose one of the greatest benefits of being a bell choir member.  For this reason, I do not recommend this Method for older children, let alone for cognitively impaired elders in a therapeutic setting, since the important feeling of making a worthwhile contribution to the whole group is lost on them when they cannot hear their part.

2.) The Melody Method:

In essence, the Melody Method simply makes use of color-coded bells and note cards. Colored bells match melodies shown with large, easy to read colored notes. Children ring whenever the director shows their color cards.