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Hi folks!
Remember me, your Past Chair? I may have seemed pretty quiet since I passed the bell to our Fearless Leader, Laurie, but my friends and I, your Board and volunteers, have been working our fannies off to bring you the best Area 12 conference in 2014!
And I'm happy to report that I can now make some pretty exciting announcements!
For one thing, we got a fabulous venue: Embassy Suites, in beautiful San Luis Obispo, California. This is a hotel and conference center all in one - my fave way to do a conference because you can just hop up to your room in between tracks. Not only that, but all rooms are suites! Your room can sleep up to four and every room includes a delicious, hot, cooked-to-order breakfast served in a gorgeous atrium. It's a short hop to the beach too, but I have a feeling nobody's gonna set foot out of the hotel because we have too much fun stuff planned for you! I should also mention that the Area 12 conference has not been on the Central Coast in forever! It was a challenge to find a venue, but we really wanted to serve folks who call that home. So, if you're in the Central Coast area, this one is special for you!
We're keeping our very popular Track System, and continuing to tweak it so it's better and better.
Our theme is Percussion, and this conference is called "Shake, Rattle & Ring!" Not only will we be playing incredibly fun bell music, but for the first time, at any bell event I know of, we are also offering a Percussion Track taught by professional drum/ percussion teachers! Now you can grab a djembe and get some real skills! (We're bringing 40 drums in just for the occasion!) And you can learn mallet and stick techni-ques from a professional drummer/percussionist!
We have scored you a team of incredible conductors, a couple of whom haven't been on the West coast in ages! Yes, you will be working up close and personal under the batons of:
Kevin McChesney
Michele Sharik
Jason Wells
You'll see the return of Handbell Theatre, the Conference Choir, and a new approach to classes. All our clinicians will be working as teams, so every class in a track will be integrated with every other class.
And so much more....
It's always a good idea to sign up early for a conference (and get your early bird discount), but this time, it's IMPERATIVE as we expect it to fill up fast! This is going to be one of the most innovative and exciting conferences ever, so start your bake sales NOW, and get ready to sign up as soon as we open enrollment. We're hoping for January 1. Stay tuned for more info in future newsletters.
Anyway, below are the basics, and much more info, including repertoire, will be coming in the next couple of months!
:-)
Rima Greer
Area 12 Past Chair
In case you didn't get all that, here it is in a nutshell!
Dates: June 19-22, 2014
Place: Embassy Suites 333 Madonna Rd
San Luis Obispo, CA
Theme: Shake, Rattle & Ring!
Conductors:
Kevin McChesney
Michele Sharik
Jason Wells
SAVE THE DATE,
and GET READY TO
Check the October edition
of The Twelfth Tone
repertoire and registration.
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WestCoast
Handbell Supply
 For
Handbell Music,Supplies, and Service
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Norm Heitz and Carol Scheel present
 A full service handbell store: music, equipment and maintenance items, bell tree, solo, ensemble music, Malmark bells, Choirchimes® and products
www.heitzhandbells.com
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Area 12 Board
Elected Officers
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Our National
Organization
David R. Davidson
Composition Contest
Handbell Musicians of America announces the third David R. Davidson Composition Contest. The David R. Davidson Composition Fund was created in October 2009 to encourage the composition of original works for advanced handbell ensembles. Works selected for awards from this fund will illustrate the high musical standards embodied by Maestro David Davidson.
click here for more info  Jan. 31 - Feb. 3, 2014 Cincinnati Airport Marriott |
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Calendar of Events
September - October
9/7/13 7:30 pm Bell Appeal plays the Modern Musicals in "This Ain't Rodgers and Hammerstein"
Pacific School of Religion
Chapel of the Great Commission
1798 Scenic Avenue
Berkeley, California
Wine & cheese reception
Suggested Donation $15
Bell Appeal plays the Modern Musicals in "This Ain't Rodgers and Hammerstein"
Bethany United Methodist Church
1270 Sanchez Street
San Francisco, California
Suggested Donation $15
Bell Appeal plays the Modern Musicals in "This Ain't Rodgers and Hammerstein"
Trinity Episcopal Church
Angus Hall
330 Ravenswood Avenue
Menlo Park, California
Wine & cheese reception
Suggested Donation $15
9/20-21/13 TBA
Area 12 Board Meeting
Grace Lutheran Church
Palo Alto, California
For information, contact your
regional coordinator or
LA Metro Fall Workshop
Lake Avenue Church
393 North Lake Avenue
Pasadena, California
Clinician: P.L. Grove
For information, contact
Ringing' in the Red Zone
Concert Saturday at 4:30 pm
in conjunction with
Redding Handbell Festival
Simpson University
Heritage Life Center
2211 College View Drive
Redding, California
Director: Larry Sue
For information, contact
10/12/13 8:00 am Redding Handbell Festival Simpson University Heritage Life Center 2211 College View Drive Redding, California Final concert begins at 4:30 pm Clinician: Barbara Meinke For information, contact
Your event can appear here!
To view all the events on the
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Area 12 Bell Loan Program
Teachers, would you like the use of a 3-octave set of handbells or handchimes to add interest and a new dimension to your music class? Area 12 encourages schools and other educa-tional institutions, both public and private, to develop educational pro-grams using handbells and handchimes. To support the development of such pro-grams, Area 12 has two sets of 3-octaves of handbells and three sets of 3-octaves of handchimes for loan. Deadlines for applications are 5/31 for the Fall Semester and 10/30 for the Spring Semester. To learn more about the respon-sibilities and procedures for participating in this pro-gram, click here.
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Advertising Rates for the 2013 Publishing Year
The Twelfth Tone is published the first of each month, except July, by Area 12 of the Handbell Musicians of America (The Guild). The Guild is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the musical art of handbell/handchime ringing through education, community, and communication. The editor of this publication reserves the right to reject or modify copy.
Advertising Rates:
We offer two different ad types
1.(a) Ad designed and formatted by you that is exactly 100 pixels X 300 pixels and sent in a jpeg or gif file. The ad will by hyperlinked to your website.
$10/issue $54/6 issues $94/11 issues
1.(b) Ad designed and formatted by you that is exactly 100 pixels X 600 pixels and sent in a jpeg or gif file. The ad will by hyperlinked to your website.
$18/issue $97/6 issues $168/11 issues
2.(a) 1.5" X 4" ad which can contain a picture or logo sent as a jpeg or gif file and will be hyperlinked to your website. You provide the text to be formatted by the editor.
$15/issue $81/6 issues $140/11 issues
2.(b) 1.5" X 8" ad which can contain a picture or logo sent as a jpeg or gif file and will be hyperlinked to your website. You provide the text to be formatted by the editor.
$27/issue $146/6 issues $252/11 issues
Payment is due before publication. Submission DEADLINE is the 24th
Please submit your ads via email to
Make checks payable to AGEHR Area 12 and send to:
Kathy Arnold, Treasurer
1228 Isabelle Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94040
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Greetings!
It may not feel like fall outside yet, but there are plans to make and bells to ring! This newsletter has special features (read about how our bell loan program helped a school in Vista, CA) and the news you all have been waiting for... 2014 festival conference information! Don't miss a bit of all the buzz and share it with a friend!
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| Message from the Chair - Laurie Sanders |
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Ready? Set. GO!
It's that time again - time for back to school and back to rehearsals! I don't know about you, but I'm still in "vaca-tion" mode and not quite ready to pick up bells. But hearing such wonderful music at Bay View Week of Handbells really started me thinking that maybe, MAYBE I could be ready in a week. :-) So I'm off to the filing cabinets in a few days to try and find a few more pieces to ring for Christmas. It's difficult to think of Christmas when it's almost 90 outside but we all know if we don't start early we'll be scrambling to put together that program on Dec 1. I'll be looking for a few difficult pieces, ones that will require some concerted effort to polish up and then a few that are fairly simple. It's always good to have a few of those "instant success" pieces, ones the group can pick up and ring through and not have to work too much on to sound accomplished. What are your favorites? Send me one or two and I'll put together a list for next month's Twelfth Tone! We can all use a little help and having a list of easily mastered pieces would be handy!
I'd also like to remind you our semiannual board meeting is coming up September 20-21 at Grace Lutheran Church in Palo Alto, California. If there are items you want us to consider or topics you'd like to see at our next conference or at a workshop near you, please email your Regional Coordinator! We want to know what you want from YOUR guild!
I look forward to hearing from YOU! Together we can make Area 12 an area of great handbell ringing!
Laurie Sanders
Chair
chair.area12@handbellmusicians.org
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Communiqué - Barbara Meinke
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Fall is nearly here and many of us find ourselves needing someone or some-thing to fill a need, inspire our plan-ning, or take us to the next level. Area 12 and Handbell Musicians of America have many resources for helping you get who and what you need. Need a ringer or a place to ring? A new director or a clinician to bring in a new perspective? A workshop to motivate your ensemble? Help with a problem or a new piece of music? Here are a few places to look!
1. Click on the  icons in the regional articles below to take a look at ringer and director wanted ads in those regions.
4. Check out the Guild page for Handbell Networking for performing groups, clinicians and massed ringers conductors, and soloists.
5. Go to the Guild page for Handbell Musician Resources for TONS of information for many handbells settings...Faith Based, Community, and Educational.
6. Visit our advertisers in the left column and AGEHR Music for music selections for all occasions.
7. Area 12 has a new Facebook page!
If you have not already established a login to access some of the above information on the Guild site, create one using your membership information. If you are a participant in a member organization, you can get a sub-membership for only $10 per year which gives you personal access to all the online resources, including the online version of Overtones, our guild journal.
I hope you find just what you're looking for! Holler if I can help!
Barbara Meinke
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Special Report - Bell/Chime Loan Program
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Area XII Handbell Loan Program Report
Faith Lutheran School, Vista
At my school, Faith Lutheran School in Vista, we have a 3-octave set of Malmark Handbells and a 3-octave set of Malmark chimes. Several years ago, Lois Harry and I offered two ringing choirs: a chime choir for students in 1st - 3rd grades (directed by Lois), and a bell choir for students in 4th - 8th grades (co-directed by Lois and myself). We had a good turnout in both choirs those first few years and as the bell/chime program grew, we were producing kids that not only LOVED ringing, but were telling their friends about the program, who were then joining the ranks of ringers. We have students who are currently in middle school that started on chimes in 2nd grade and have been ringing for five or six years!
 After a few years, Lois chose to return to school to earn her California teaching credential, and was unable to continue the chime choir, and my schedule did not allow me to take it over (since I was taking over the bell choir full time). Although we are no longer able to offer the chime choir, the older bell choir, affectionately called the "JuBELLation Ringers," lives on and is more popular than ever. Students who are in 1st - 3rd grades constantly tell me they cannot wait to get to 4th grade so they can join bells! I've always told the students that, because we only have 3 octaves of bells, we need to limit the choir to 11 ringers. Up until last year, I've never had trouble with keeping the choir to 11 ringers. Last year, I received 14 permission forms back: 9 new ringers and 5 returning ringers and you know I couldn't turn those extra three students away! For the first few weeks, while we were doing ringing, coordination, and dynamic exercises, I was having the three "extra" students double on chimes. This worked for a while, but these kids wanted to get their hands on bells! I contacted Tess Houston and we borrowed a 2-octave set of Malmark bells from Area XII so all 14 students could ring bells (some students doubled parts and I often put more experienced ringers with newer ringers on the same part to help coach and lead).
We spent the major-ity of the fall learn-ing and reviewing proper ringing tech-niques, left/right ex-ercises, etc. (The more experienced ringers were my assistant coaches to the newer ringers.)
I used Venita MacGorman's book "Basic Training for Bells" as my curriculum. In addition to working in this book, we were learning our first piece to play at Christmastime: Kathleen Wissinger's "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing." The first performance was a success, and the congregation even applauded when we finished!
During the spring, we continued to work through "Basic Training for Bells" while supplementing with songs for church. The good thing was that as everyone got more confident and experienced, learning songs went much more quickly! We used Douglas Wagner's "Handbell Hymns" as our repertoire for church during the Lent and Easter seasons. For our end of the year Spring Musical Showcase,
the ringers wanted a challenge. I played for them a recording of Doug Wagner's "Mallet Madness" and they unanimously agreed that this is the one they wanted to do for the Musical. Except for one or two ringers forgetting to watch the director during the three fermata quarter notes at the end of the third page, the ringers performed it wonderfully at the Spring Musical and it was a great way to end the year.
The bell program continues to grow at Faith Lutheran School. For the upcoming 2013-2014 school year, we added a new bell choir: the Genesis Ringers. The Genesis Ringers is now for new ringers, while the JuBELLation Ringers is for returning ringers. And the students already know that both choirs are limited to 11 ringers each! Handbells are such a fun and unique way to introduce music
into the lives of children, and they have no trouble embracing it and showing others how much fun music and ringing can be.
Timothy M. Degen
Director of Music Ministries
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NorCal - Nancy Schmitt, Regional Coordinator
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 Dear Handbell Musicians,
Fall is right around the corner. Some of you may have already begun your ring-ing and some of you will be starting soon. So to help you along I made up a check list to help you begin a great ringing season.
* Have bells serviced if needed
* Air out bell cases
* Polish bells (have a pizza party or ice cream party)
* Recruit new ringers
* Share your experiences from the National Seminar or another workshop with your fellow ringers
* Sight read through potential songs for the coming year
* Establish goals for your bell group or yourself for 2013-2014
* Review basic ringing techniques
* Become a member or sub-member of Handbell Musicians of America
* Register for a fall festival, such as the Redding Handbell Festival, Oct. 12. There will be massed ringing, a bronze choir, quartets, and duets. Also classes on score study, hand and finger damping, 8 bell duets, percussion, 4-in-hand for novices, and a mystery class.
Redding Handbell Festival
Saturday, October 12, 2013
9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Simpson University Heritage Life Center
Guest Conductor: Barbara Meinke
Redding, CA
and attached to the festival is
Ringin' in the Red Zone Bronze Choir
Friday, October 11, 2013
6:00 p.m.
Simpson University Heritage Life Center
Guest Conductor: Larry Sue
 Redding, CA For the registration forms, please visit the Northern California page The deadline to register is Sept. 20 After you submit your registration, sit back and enjoy the rest of your summer! Ringcerely, NorCal Regional Coordinator
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Hawaii - Karen Carlisle, Regional Coordinator
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Aloha Hawaii,
So summer is coming to the end and many choirs are gearing up to start the new season. Our community group has even already started with Handbell Bootcamp (and a new ringer!) and yes, Christmas music!
Fall season, here we come! And with that comes the arrival of Tim Waugh to do another pair of workshops! Friday, October 25 - Workshop for Directors place and time to be announced Saturday, October 26 - Festival for Ringers 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (set up at 8 a.m.) Harris United Methodist Church Mahalo! Karen Carlisle Hawaii Regional Coordinator
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SoCal - Vacant, Regional Coordinator
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SO CAL SPRING RING 2014
Mark your calendar now!
April 5, 2014
Temecula, CA
Conductor - Tessique Houston
San Bernardino, Riverside, Imperial
and San Diego Counties need YOU!
Contact Laurie Sanders or Michele Sharik to learn more about how you can serve our Southern California Region!
Could Be You!
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LA Metro - Pearl Marshall, Regional Coordinator
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September Greetings,
LAMetro Ringers and Directors!
I hope your new season is off to a great start!
Last August 10, SoCal and LAMetro Regions sponsored a wonderful workshop with Kimberlee Strepka. We learned
many artistic moves to enhance our ringing. Many thanks to the staff and students of Concordia University-Irvine for hosting this event and making possible such an enriching experience.
LA Regional Events 2013-2014:
Information and Registration forms are available for fall events! FALL RINGERS WORKSHOP October 5, 2013 Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena
Massed Conductor, P.L. Grove YOUTH HANDBELL FESTIVAL November 2, 2013 Los Altos United Methodist Church in Long Beach Massed Conductor, Tess Houston *Please note, Youth Festival registration includes lunch. This is a change from the first posted draft of the flyer. We are also replacing the Basics Revisited class with music activities you wish you had time to do in rehearsals.
FEBRUARY "FOCUS" WORKSHOP
Saturday, February 8, 2014 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.
St. Mel Church in Woodland Hills
We are still open to ideas for our "focus" topic. Here's your chance to dream! If you had 3 hours to focus on one skill, what would it be? Email me with any suggestions. We can make it happen!
SPRING RING March, 2014 We are very close to having a venue and date ready to share. Stay tuned.... Christmas Performance RequestsWe have already started getting requests for handbell groups to perform around the area during December. Please let me know if you'd like to be informed when such requests arise. These are wonderful opportunities to present handbell ringing to new audiences. We'd love to have a list of groups who would be interested in providing performances in the community.
Ring on! Pearl Marshall LA Metro Regional Coordinator |
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CenCal - Lori Smith, Regional Coordinator
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Hello CenCal Ringers,
As the new ringing season is upon us, what new endeavors will be in your line up? Will you be changing your routine by ringing bass bells instead of the high trebles? Is this your year to learn four-in-hand? Perhaps percussion will be added by playing castanets or djembe?
Director Kathie Mackie and Good Shepherd Bells of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Turlock have discovered that ringing bells with the choral anthem was received well by the congregation and the musicians last year. Kathie is working with their choir director to repeat this success with several combined pieces for upcoming worship services during the year. And they're also looking forward to a combined music program of Lessons & Carols in December.
Bells of Trinity (Trinity Lutheran Church) in Paso Robles is facing the challenges of fewer ringing members. Director Shirley Werner took a class this summer on ringing 12 bells with 6 ringers. They are working with the "Twelve Bells" series by Patricia Cota. As of this writing, the group has already had two rehearsals and they're all feeling quite enthusiastic about their progress with "As The Deer" and several more pieces for the future.
Christmas music is the focus for Advent Herald Handbells at Modesto Central Seventh Day Adventist Church. Director Marvin Bort will rehearse the group in four new pieces and four pieces already in their library. There is particular excitement about two of the new pieces. "That Night in Bethlehem", a traditional Celtic carol arranged by Charles Peery, employs the "singing bell" technique and calls for bells, chimes, flute, and Celtic lever harp. And it just happens that two of their ringers play flute and harp! The other piece (sorry, I don't have the title) incorporates a bell tree solo (14 bells). So far, they're looking at borrowing a couple ringers and 14 bells to accomplish the feat. Luckily, Modesto has several resources for extra ringers and bells!
So, what treats are in store for you to take your ringing to the next level?
Happy ringing!
Lori Smith
CenCal Regional Coordinator
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Bay Area - Julie Vaquilar, Regional Coordinator
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Hello, Bay Area Ringers!
Resort? Spa? Handbells?
Yes, I have one more summer handbell adventure to report. Expeditions Handbells event took place at the Firesky Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona, in early August. It was the inaugural event under this title organized by Kay Cook (of Desert Bells International) and her gracious family (Tom and Tedi).
It featured classes with clinicians William Payn and David Weck, a guided tour about and a visit inside of the Pinnacle Presbyterian Church tracker organ, an engaging organ concert by Jane Holstein, ringing/reading sessions of lots of music, a handbell store, and sessions such as drum percussion (with Cuban and African drums).
Janet Ty and some members of her Las Vegas choir at Expedition Handbells
The event was very hands-on and intimate compared to other handbell festivals as ringers were divided into the advanced choir with Bill Payn and the advanced/intermediate choir with David Weck. The event culminated with a concert of both choirs on Saturday afternoon. Well done, ringers and clinicians. Bravo, Kay Cook.
Happy Ringing!
Julie Vaquilar
Bay Area Regional Coordinator
bayarea.area12@handbellmusicians.org
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Nevada - Barb Walsh, Regional Coordinator
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Email me if you are interested in information about our Fall Event!
October 5th
South Reno United Methodist Church
Send me your Nevada news
and watch it appear here!
Barbara Walsh
Nevada Regional Coordinator
nv.area12@handbellmusicians.org
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