Enchanting echo reverberates after 50 years

Moonlight shone against the stained glass windows of Bay View United Methodist Church on a brisk November night. Inside the cozy confines, the church’s handbell choir talked and joked behind skirted tables as they gently set their polished bells on plush blue padding. They arranged their sheet music stands, preparing for their evening rehearsal. Handbell choir director Mark Humphrey took position with the conductor’s baton in hand while his dog, Corky, anxiously scampered among the pews.

With sheer concentration and flick-of-the-the wrist techniques, the musicians practiced Christmas favorites such as “Carol of the Bells” and “Auld Lang Syne,” sending an enchanting echo throughout the church.

The choir perfected Christmas carols being recorded that evening for 95.7 FM WRIT, for the radio station’s holiday format.

Since 1959, the Bay View United Methodist handbell choir has been captivating people of all ages with its majestic chimes. In a handbell choir, the bells are arranged chromatically and each ringer is typically assigned specific notes, but accidentals are shared and sometimes other bells are shared as well.

“It’s played by a dozen or more people, but it is one single instrument. Think about an organ with all the pipes, or a piano with all the keys…” said Humphrey, “it is one instrument played by a dozen people.”

Ringing History

Loretta Cotton, the church’s longtime music minister and also a piano teacher who had taught many students in Bay View, originally ordered four and one-half octaves of handbells in 1958 with money from a fundraiser, Humphrey explained. These bells were delivered in 1959 from the historic Whitechapel Bell Foundry in England. The lower five handbells were ordered between 1982 and 1984 and all were received in August 1984.

The handbell choir then was mostly a youth choir and Cotton directed it until 1980, Humphrey said. Diane Evans took over and directed until 1993. During Evans’ stint at the helm, the choir was mostly adults and the church completed the five-octave set, purchasing the largest base bells. Humphrey took over as interim director in September 1996 and has been the director ever since.

“Around 1999, realizing many of those ringing had been doing so for a long time, and while they were getting better, we lacked any method of bringing youth into the program,” he said. “Trinity Handbells was formed about the same time as a new children’s singing choir was formed and both groups met on Wednesdays as part of the Wednesday Night Live program. Since that time, about several dozen youth have participated.”

About Handbells

Musical handbells originated in England as a developmental instrument to assist tower bell ringers.

“If you were practicing [ringing church bells] everyone could hear you practicing, so the foundries created these smaller bells so they could practice their patterns before they’d ring them,” Humphrey said.

Musical handbells are tuned in sets and have hinged clappers that move only back and forth, instead of free-swinging clappers like in other bells. The handles are leather-looped straps. Handbell choir members stand behind long tables equipped with sheet music stands and protective cloths for the bells to rest on. This also prevents the bells from rolling off the table.

Sharing Talents

Most of the Methodist choir members play other instruments. Handbell choir member Patty Thompson also plays the oboe and sings. A longtime Bay View resident, she became involved with the handbell choir in 1993 when she filled in for another member who was off one evening.

Thompson said there was a level of comfort, as she knew everyone in the choir. She’s been involved in the church’s music programs ever since, including singing in the church choir.

The bell choir is not limited to just the holidays. They’ve performed at several Humboldt Park Fourth of July parades, the South Shore Farmers Market, and at the Bay View Historical Society. Neighborhood events are important to those in the handbell choir, as Thompson noted the handbell choir is “doing double-duty” by providing entertainment as well as doing community outreach. An upcoming performance at Clare Heights Senior Apartment Homes is also planned.

“My family had ties with the church all my life,” said Sally Warkaske, who has been a member of the handbell choir for 10 years. She also sings, and said that being in the handbell choir has gotten her more involved with the church.

Sue Neiderheiser, a percussionist, has played with the handbell choir for six years, and also got her start by stepping in for an absent member, playing tympani.

“It’s fun to do,” Neiderheiser said.

“It’s a very unique instrument and it’s a very good group, a very talented group,” Humphrey said. “For me, it’s very, very satisfying.”

Humphrey is compiling a list of everyone who ever rang handbells at BVUMC. Contact the church at (414) 744-4036.