Living Water - Dissertations - Bass Ringer's Notebook - Smarts

Smarts

Ringing, like many other things we do, has a physical component which relies on our strength and speed. Ultimately, though, it's all controlled by the brain and whatever's inside it in the form of natural talent, training, and experience, so it's an absolute fact that you should be using your gray matter (and all the other stuff inside it) to play well

Pay Attention

• Pay attention to the score. That's where you get the pitches, their durations, articulations, dynamics, and a lot of other useful information.
• Pay attention to the director. That's where your performance tempo, cues, and dynamics - in short, the interpretation of the music on the page - originates. Printed scores in themselves are black and white (usually...), but it's up to people to make them into music, and it's up to your director to unify your group's expression of that interpretation.
• Pay attention to the other ringers. This is true of any ensemble environment, but it's especially true of handbells. The reason for this is that the ideas of "line", "expression", "flow", and "dynamics" are dependent on many different hands. If you want to make it work, you must hear and act on what the other ringers are doing. It's the difference between being a group of great ringers and a great group of ringers.

Pace Yourself

• Know your limits. We bass ringers, most of all, are guilty of being bell hogs. Our tendency is to think that we can get that "one last bell" that no one's playing at the moment. But if we do this to too great an extent, we can actually affect our own playing negatively because we've so horribly diluted our concentration on our original part. Actually, it's far better to stick to a more modest assignment rather than going after the entire clef.
• Know your choir's limits. If you're next to fellow hogs, they don't particularly like you trying to glom up all their toys. Diplomacy is a good thing to exercise - sure, if you can play that bell and they can't, then you might see whether they're willing for you to cover it for them. But use a little tact, and demonstrate suitable humility; maybe they'll ask you if you can take the note for that one measure for them!
• Know your director's limits. Don't push. Don't try to run the group. It's okay to suggest things off-line, and sometimes during rehearsal, but you still have to be fair and tactful.
• Know when to back off. This isn't only with respect to interpersonal relations, but also with respect to the "body checks" you should be doing on a regular basis through rehearsal or performance. If you're getting a hot spot or a blister, take a moment to tape it. If you're straining a muscle, find a way to rest it or stretch it before it becomes more of a problem. It's better to miss a couple of notes rather than make it difficult or impossible to ring for the next four months; I know - I've been there.

Use that brain!