Students perform in handbell ensemble
Members of the Department of Music performed in the department’s latest Handbell Ensemble on Tuesday, Oct. 23, in Ruth Lilly Performance Hall in the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center.
The concert incorporated different sized bells and styles with an underlying hymn theme.
Director and Coordinator of the Handbell Ensemble Peter Nichols noted the major themes throughout the 13-song ensemble.
“The theme was based on a church hymn, with a sense of fun mixed within,” Nichols said.
The concert was split between the two different ensembles in the Department of Music, the beginning ensemble and the advanced ensemble.
The beginning ensemble incorporated the “UIndy Alma Mater,” “And He Never Said a Word,” “Standing on the Promises,” “They’ll Know We Are Christians” and “I’m Just a Poor Wayfaring Stranger.”
“The best piece played for the beginning ensemble was ‘And He Never Said a Word,’” Nichols said.
The advanced ensemble played a different variety of bells, in a complicated synthesis.
The advanced ensemble performed songs including a solo with piano accompaniment called “Psalm of Love.” Other songs included “Jericho,” “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho,” “Gypsy Song,” “Prelude on Thaxted,” “Tarantella” and the “UIndy Fight Song.”
“The best piece that was played by the advanced ensemble was ‘Jericho,’” Nichols said.
Junior Community Health major Kathryn Line attended the event and said she did not know what to expect from the handbell performance.
“It was an unconventional approach to playing music. I really had no expectations but was pleasantly surprised by the different performances,” Line said.
UIndy offers two different courses for handbells. The courses are offered Tuesdays and Thursdays every semester.
The Department of Music also offers a Spring Term course focused on the introduction to handbells. The course will be offered next spring.
