Living Water - Dissertations - Bass Ringer's Notebook - Ringing A Bell

Ringing A Bell

Now that you have the bell off the table, you have to ring it! But before you do, there are a number of physiological considerations germane to bass bells:

• Use the "katana grip".

• Use your wrist as a pivot or connector, not a fulcrum. We've had a number of ringers with RSI's (Repetitive Strain Injuries), such as carpal tunnel syndrome, over the years, probably because we haven't taught them how to ring in physically safe ways. In particular, the common beginning approach to ringing which emphasizes grasping the handle with the entire hand forces the wrist to be a fulcrum for the action of ringing the bell. If you haven't noticed, our wrists aren't made to bend efficiently in this direction - but if you insist on gripping the bell with all fingers, then you have no choice.
  If you, however, use the "katana grip", then the bell is as free to move as your "loose grip" fingers allow, and - this is the important observation - your wrist never has to bend. That means you could save yourself going through a lot of RSI misery sometime down the line.

• Make artful circles. I've been in, and seen, bell ensembles where "making a circles" is a point of constant positive comment. It improves the sound by giving it extra richness, and reminds the audience that at least half of bell ringing is of a visual nature.
  When we teach "full grip", our circles are produced by bending our wrists in bad directions, and by compounding the problem of generating a circular motion by keeping the bell directly in front of our shoulders. If you try this without a bell, you'll find that it's fairly difficult to move your hand in the prescribed circle because it's a nontrivial problem to coordinate wrist, elbow, and shoulder to make your hand move circularly. Add the difficulty of doing this with an eight-pound bass bell (more in the case of some manufacturers...), and now you also have a recipe for pain because of the stress it puts on your arm... and in case you haven't noticed, using the wrist to tip that much weight outward has the potential not just to strain muscles, but to break arms (and I understand that this has actually happened).
  If you move your elbow away from your body a few inches, however, making the circle is easy because you can use your large shoulder muscles to move your arm in a natural way. The big bonus is that your wrist doesn't need to tip outward, and as you bring the bell back, your hand probably will turn with it - and then if it bends, it'll be in the "knock" direction, which is the way God made wrists to bend well.

• Keep your body upright. Good posture applies to lots of things we do, and this definitely is true of ringing. The spine is built to transfer weight from the upper body to the legs, but can only do so if we're standing the way we're supposed to. Lean over to one side, and add a large bell at arm's length, and you have a recipe for eventual back strain. Stay upright, and at the very least you have a fighting chance to make it through the latest Dobrinski piece. Helpful hint: Don't be afraid to use your other arm for counterweight because balance is a good thing - just don't flail out to the side and hit your neighbor!

• Use your legs for balance, counterweight, and mobility. Ringing is a whole-body activity! Check out the article on footwork for more information.

Now that we've discussed the physiological considerations (with, of course, the intention of keeping you in handbells for a long, long time), we can go faster. To ring the bell you're holding safely:

• Start with the bell tipped slightly into your body. This makes it possible to give the clapper enough forward momentum to strike the casting without having to tip it dangerously far forward.

• Push the bell forward with your arm. When you do this, the entire casting is headed forward without rotation, so your wrist doesn't do any bending.

• Use the "loose grip" fingers and, if necessary, the arm to pull the bell back toward you and snap the clapper into the casting. Once again, your wrist is acting as a connector rather than a fulcrum. If you've pulled back with the right amount of force, you get a bonus because after the clapper strike the casting will tip backward toward you into a safe position!

• Use your arm to make the circle. I've found that pulling the bell nearly straight back doesn't look all that different from the standard circle, and that it's easier on the wrist, arm, and shoulder. Take your pick.

There are a few additional bits of information which apply; here they are in no particular order:

• For softer dynamic levels, use a slightly upward initial motion for better control. This simply uses gravity to slow the clapper, and thereby to lessen its striking force. For stronger dynamic levels, pull back with more power rather than starting with a downward motion which tips the bell outward (a bad wrist move, remember?).

• For larger bells, also use less pull from the "loose grip" fingers to reduce the clapper arc.

• Do not allow the bell to get out of control, particularly in the "forward tip" direction. In practice, you'll find that the bell tips forward a little now and then... but don't worry about it. If you're ringing correctly, the clapper will have already struck, and all you have to do is push the handle back underneath the casting.

• If you need more power than your "loose grip" fingers can muster, add your arm. That's another reason for moving your elbow a bit away from your body - it allows you to add arm strength to the ringing motion. A couple of very useful - and safe! - alternatives are to 1) use both hands on the handle, and 2) use your other hand to throw the clapper into the casting.