From the most epic clash of good and evil to the reverberations of the tiniest individual decision, the message of the upcoming Concordia concert handbells tour rings clear even in its title — “Good Shall Prevail.”
The music selections in the program fit too, drawing from an eclectic assortment of Broadway musicals and movies, both popular and a bit more obscure. Songs for the theatre-lovers include “For Good” from “Wicked,” “I Dreamed a Dream” and “Can You Hear the People Sing” from “Les Misérables,” and “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” from “Hair.” The film side of the program includes “Rainbow Connection” from “The Muppet Movie,” “A Million Dreams” from “The Greatest Showman,” and themes from “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,” “Mission: Impossible,” and more.
“I've wanted to do a show-tunes themed concert for a number of years,” said Jessica Westgard Larson, conductor of the Concordia concert handbells. “The ringers I have right now have some big and fun personalities, and several have choral and theatre backgrounds, so it felt like the right year.”
The group is big this year as well, with 21 participating ringers, up from a more typical count of around 14. Rather than splitting up, the student musicians stayed together as a group, doubling up a few parts and rotating rehearsals. As such, the beefed-up array of bells includes not just Concordia’s five full octaves of Malmark Handbells and six octaves of Choirchimes, but also Westgard Larson’s own bells, used as duplicates and to expand the group’s treble range all the way up to G8.
Handbell choirs are an unusual type of ensemble, requiring a great deal of close coordination.
“Each person only plays approximately two notes in a musical line,” Westgard Larson explained. “It takes immense teamwork to learn how your neighbors ring to create a fluid line, and we heavily depend on each other. Our music can look like piano music for someone with 30 to 40 fingers, and the complexity and sound we can produce when everyone plays at once is pretty amazing.”
Because the notes are spread out among so many musicians, handbells are also relatively easy to learn to play. More than half of the concert handbells ensemble hadn’t played bells before arriving at Concordia, Westgard Larson said.
“Handbells have an ever-expanding list of techniques we can use to make one instrument create dozens of different sounds,” she added, noting that handbells are also a very physical instrument that can be a real workout to play.
And there’s a lot more to it than simply swinging a bell up and down. Handbells can also be laid down and plucked, shaken, swung in a wide arc, damped with a thumb, rung two at a time, thumped onto the foam, or even struck with mallets.
“A musical ensemble with 15 to 20 people is like hanging out with a great group of friends or a big group of cousins at every rehearsal — small enough to know everyone well and big enough to feel like you’re part of a group,” Westgard Larson said. “Handbells have been a significant part of my life for the past 25 years or so and, in that time, I’ve created a vast network of handbell friends all over the country and world who have become some of my closest friends. We also pride ourselves on being a very welcoming musical medium that can’t wait to help the next person pick up a bell for the first time!”
Tour concerts will take a freewill offering to offset travel expenses and support Concordia’s handbell program.
Tour Schedule
7 p.m. Friday, April 10
First Lutheran Church
402 S. Court St., Fergus Falls, Minnesota
2 p.m. Saturday, April 11
Easter Lutheran Church
4545 Pilot Knob Road, Eagan, Minnesota
7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 11
Zion Lutheran Church
1200 Highway 25 South, Buffalo, Minnesota
2 p.m. Sunday, April 19
Christianson Recital Hall, Hvidsten Hall of Music, Concordia College
Moorhead, Minnesota
More
- Play handbells at Concordia
- Study music at Concordia