Katie Barrick
By Haley Barrick, Guest Commentary -- barrick11@up.edu
I grew up ringing bells. It's always been a part of who I am. I never thought of myself as a child prodigy or anything when I started playing bells at 8 years old, I just enjoyed doing it and my abilities grew.
Handbells gave me the opportunity to discover music beyond turning up the radio and singing along. Even when I tried to sing in choir, somewhere between reading the music on the page and making a noise, it was as though the message jumped the track and it wouldn't work right. This wasn't a problem with bells. If I didn't have the right notes in my hand, I could change one of them and continue ringing without another problem.
If you ever have the chance to play for a religious community, you should. They are the most forgiving audience and there is an incomparable feeling of support from the congregation that you can't quite get when you perform in other arenas. The listeners seem to appreciate your gift for music as something that God has given you to share with others. If you make a mistake it's not the end of the world, you just might be tempted to blame the mistake on another ringer in the group.
But Handbell group members do rely on each other for more than mistake cover-ups. Music is fun and social. You grow as a person by being a part of these groups.
My first choir had 14 children playing together without the faintest idea how to read music. At first, our director took the time to mark up each position's bells throughout the music; all we had to do was to count and remember the color-coded note system our director used.
Over the years we would travel across the country to meet other choirs and perform with them at conferences. I grew to love the wonderful people in my choir. No matter the stress in my life, I always had the bell choir to comfort me. It was quite the feat in our young lives when we were able to grow up in the choir and ring more challenging pieces like "Stars and Stripes Forever".—without our notes circled on the page!
I'd like to invite you to come to our next practice and see if handbells might be your creative outlet, reverent activity or simply a social time. Any and all ability levels are welcome to join in on our fun. I try to teach bells in the simplest way I know, with the most support that I can give each ringer. Let me assure you, if you can count to eight, you can be a handbell ringer. I hope to see you on Tuesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher.
