bell choirs

Tue, 13 Nov 2001 23:18:59 -0600

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Terri Hart had developed a pretty good hand bell choir when I came on board
at Richmond State School.  Joe Pinson also had one at Denton State School
when he was there.  None of us are at state schools now.

Terri cued our adult developmentally delayed choir through hand signals by
pointing at the person's hand when it was time to ring that bell.  She used
sign language A for right hand, B for left hand and C for both hands.  This
worked very well. Barbara Talley who I replaced at RSS, Terri, myself, and
interns all arranged handbell pieces for the choir.  It was an enjoyable
performing group and we all had a pretty good time.

Joe had a pretty involved lighting system to cue folks when to play in his
choir.  He would flip switches and they would play when their light came on.
He also used a color coded poster board to cue them at times.  I think the
lighting system may have been less portable.  With the poster board you can
do more harmony, but I think maybe faster melody with the hand signal
system.

Terri and Joe could explain it to you better perhaps.  I think they're on
the list.  Oh, both choirs used the real handbells.  The expensive ones.

I have done things since then with Suzuki tone bar chimes (cheaper).  And
even seen an activity therapist use more toy looking type of bells.  The
ones with bells of different colors with springs inside them.  There is a
company that creates background music and cue cards to use with the colored
bells.  Personally I liked what Terri and Joe did MUCH better.  And the
arranging was fun too.

Oh one other thing, we simplified melodies.  We "reduced melodies to their
more basic structural tones" (Serafine in Radocy & Boyle 2nd edition p. 166)
:) in our arrangements.

Hope this helps,

Dirk

>From: Terpsichore100@cs.com

> anybody have any success (or non-success) stories of bell choirs with
> moderately developmentally delayed children?  what kinds of resources are out
> there musically?  and how did you deal with non-readers?   were you able to
> adapt the music enough?
>
> i'd be interested to hear....
>
> thanks,
>
> marybeth gunning, mt-bc
> worcester ma
> 

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<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>re: bell choirs</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR=3D"#FFFFFF">
<TT>Terri Hart had developed a pretty good hand bell choir when I came on b=
oard 
at Richmond State School. &nbsp;Joe Pinson also had one at Denton State Sch=
ool 
when he was there. &nbsp;None of us are at state schools now. 
 
Terri cued our adult developmentally delayed choir through hand signals by<=
BR>
pointing at the person's hand when it was time to ring that bell. &nbsp;She=
 used 
sign language A for right hand, B for left hand and C for both hands. &nbsp=
;This 
worked very well. Barbara Talley who I replaced at RSS, Terri, myself, and<=
BR>
interns all arranged handbell pieces for the choir. &nbsp;It was an enjoyab=
le 
performing group and we all had a pretty good time. 
 
Joe had a pretty involved lighting system to cue folks when to play in his<=
BR>
choir. &nbsp;He would flip switches and they would play when their light ca=
me on. 
He also used a color coded poster board to cue them at times. &nbsp;I think=
 the 
lighting system may have been less portable. &nbsp;With the poster board yo=
u can 
do more harmony, but I think maybe faster melody with the hand signal 
system. 
 
Terri and Joe could explain it to you better perhaps. &nbsp;I think they're=
 on 
the list. &nbsp;Oh, both choirs used the real handbells. &nbsp;The expensiv=
e ones. 
 
I have done things since then with Suzuki tone bar chimes (cheaper). &nbsp;=
And 
even seen an activity therapist use more toy looking type of bells. &nbsp;T=
he 
ones with bells of different colors with springs inside them. &nbsp;There i=
s a 
company that creates background music and cue cards to use with the colored=
 
bells. &nbsp;Personally I liked what Terri and Joe did MUCH better. &nbsp;A=
nd the 
arranging was fun too. 
 
Oh one other thing, we simplified melodies. &nbsp;We &quot;reduced melodies=
 to their 
more basic structural tones&quot; (Serafine in Radocy &amp; Boyle 2nd editi=
on p. 166) 
:) in our arrangements. 
 
Hope this helps, 
 
Dirk 
 
&gt;From: Terpsichore100@cs.com 
 
&gt; anybody have any success (or non-success) stories of bell choirs with<=
BR>
&gt; moderately developmentally delayed children? &nbsp;what kinds of resou=
rces are out 
&gt; there musically? &nbsp;and how did you deal with non-readers? &nbsp;&n=
bsp;were you able to 
&gt; adapt the music enough? 
&gt; 
&gt; i'd be interested to hear.... 
&gt; 
&gt; thanks, 
&gt; 
&gt; marybeth gunning, mt-bc 
&gt; worcester ma 
&gt; 
</TT>
</BODY>
</HTML>

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