Handbell-Glossary

Term/Abbreviation	Explanation
AGEHR	The American Guild of English Handbell Ringers is an union of american handbell ringers. Meanwhile the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers changed their name into Handbell Musicians of America.
Bells	There are all kind of bells. The handbell is one of them.
CD	The handbell music is also available in form of a CD form many handbell choirs.
Chimes or Handchimes	The Chimes are presented on an own page.
Church Bells	The big brothers of the handbells. However, they are no longer so handy and portable.
Concert	After many rehearsals you can enjoy the handbell music at a concert.
Cowbells	Some people think of cowbells when they hear about handbells for the first time. As you know after studying these pages here, there are big differences.
Dependability	This is an important prerequisite for the interaction, because it depends on each individual tone. Therefore, all players should always be present during the rehearsals. With a piano in which a few keys are removed, it is impossible to play very well. At least the playable repertoire would be severely limited.
Direction	Also a handbell choir needs direction, so that everything works.
Foam	The foam padding on the tables protects the bells from the hard table top and also serves to dampen the bells. In some playing techniques, the handbells are played or muted on the table.
Footprint	For our 4-octave handbell choir, we need about 7 meters of table space to place the bells. The exact space requirement also depends on whether the Chimes are used.
Founding a handbell choir	This step is the basis for this overview over handbell choirs to grow. In the plan to start a handbell choir, I am happy to help with advice.
Gloves	The gloves protect the bell castings from the hands of the ringers. This prevents fingerprints and prevents the metal from being attacked by the sweat of the hands.
Handbell Compendium	The Handbell Compendium by Michael Jedamzik is an extensive book in electronic form about everything what has to do with the topic handbells. It includes some scientific papers about handbells as well.
Handbell	The hand bell is not a loner, it is mainly in the group. That is why we usually speak of handbells in the plural.
HMA	The Handbell Musicians of America, formerly AGEHR, is a union of handbell ringers in the US.
Handbells	The instrument it is all about at this website. An own page is dedicated to the handbells.
Handbells.eu	The domain in the internet, where you find more about handbells and handbell choirs in Germany, Europe and beyond.
HRGB	The Handbell Ringers of Great Britain is a union of handbell ringers in Great Britain.
Internet	Handbells can also been found in the internet for several years.
Joy	Playing handbells personally gives me a lot of joy, especially when the sometimes quite laborious rehearsals will lead to a successful concert.
LV (Let Vibrate)	The handbell is not dampened at the end of the note but instead remains sounding.
Malmark	The company Malmark from the USA is a manufacturer of handbells and ChoirChimes. Malmark was founded in the mid-seventies by Jacob H. Malta, a former employee of Schulmerich.
Mistake	Handbell ringers are also normal (?) people. So we make mistakes and play our tone at the wrong moment or accidentally forget it at all. The trick is to do this so unobtrusively that the audience does not notice.
Pitch Range	The range depends on the number of available handbells. The smallest handbell set comprises two octaves with 25 bells. Usually, however, the handbell choirs have three to five octaves handbells with correspondingly 37 to 61 handbells.
Pluck	Staccato effect: The handbell is muted, so that the sound can not last long. For the smaller handbells, a finger is placed on the bell casting while playing. For lower bells this is not possible or sufficient to dampen the sound. Here, the handbell is placed on the table and the clapper is operated directly.
Polishing	A less popular but necessary activity to care for the handbells and preserve the shine. Fingerprints should be removed immediately so that the metal is not attacked. Therefore, the players also wear gloves.
Schulmerich	The company Schulmerich from the US was a manufacturer of church bells, electronic bells, handbells and MelodyChimes. A few years ago, there was a restructuring. The products Handbells and MelodyChimes are still available from Schulmerich. The church bells section was added to the Verdin Company, which is already making church bells.
Time	Like so much, even a handbell concert costs a lot of time. This is first time in the form of regular rehearsals, and then in addition to the actual concert the travel as well as the set up and break down, where we have to adapt each time to the specific local conditions in order to have enough space for the bells.
Training	To play the larger, lower bells, a dumbbell workout would be recommended.
up-to-dateness	I try to keep the list of upcoming events as up-to-date as possible, but I am dependent on being informed about upcoming concerts. If you know of a handbell choir that is not listed here, I would appreciate your message.