- Playing
- The 2009 Boston Handbell Festival
- From
- Jackson Braider
Handbell ringers have an unusual approach to musicmaking -- as one choir director put it, "It's like synchronized swimming." In anticipation of the third annual Boston Handbell Festival, which takes place on May 19 at Old South Church on Copley Square in Boston, independent producer Jackson Braider delves in how these people make those incredible sounds.
More from Jackson Braider
Stravinsky @ 1-2-5: Three Glances at the Composer's Mirror
(01:00:25)
From: Jackson Braider
Three essays about different aspects of Stravinsky's life and work
#6: Igor Stravinsky: The End of the End
(00:17:29)
From: Jackson Braider
Igor Stravinsky's Requiem Canticles, from the beginning to the end
#5: Igor Stravinsky and the Art of the Miniature
(00:16:24)
From: Jackson Braider
Beloved for his full-length ballets, Stravinsky also created a surprising array of very short pieces for orchestra
#4: Toute Suite: Stravinsky, from the Ballet Theater to the Concert Hall
(00:13:53)
From: Jackson Braider
How -- and why -- Stravinsky revised theatrical pieces for the concert hall
#3: Hang Time with Igor at Post 43
(00:16:18)
From: Jackson Braider
The unusual setting where Igor Stravinsky conducted many of his recordings -- Hollywood Post 43 of the American Legion
#2: The Rite of Spring, or when Lenny met Igor
(00:13:16)
From: Jackson Braider
Few musical works have inspired so many stories as Stravinsky's 1913 hit, The Rite of Spring. These are just three or four of them.
#1: The Birth, Reversion, and Rebirth of "The Soldier's Tale"
(00:29:00)
From: Jackson Braider
The 46-year history behind a new release of Stravinsky's "The Soldier's Tale"
You Are Here: 1000 years of mapmaking history in one brief segment
(00:08:50)
From: Jackson Braider
A short introduction to the wonderful world of maps
Tales of an Irish M.D.
(00:59:03)
From: Jackson Braider
A collection of diverse tales told in 1962 by a Dublin heart doctor.
Michael and the Silver Fox
(00:04:08)
From: Jackson Braider
Michael, a fisherman's gilly in the County Mayo, uses all his wits to get a rare pelt.
Related Pieces
Piece Description
Handbell ringers have an unusual approach to musicmaking -- as one choir director put it, "It's like synchronized swimming." In anticipation of the third annual Boston Handbell Festival, which takes place on May 19 at Old South Church on Copley Square in Boston, independent producer Jackson Braider delves in how these people make those incredible sounds.
Transcript
Host intro:
On Tuesday, May 19, one hundred or so handbell ringers are going to be descending on Old South Church on Copley Square to perform in the Third Annual Boston Handbell Festival. Independent producer Jackson Braider offers the skinny on what listeners can expect to hear at this unusual event.
(ACT: Salvation Army kettle bell)
Bells -- there is something insistent, something even alarming about them. You hear them at Christmas,
(ACT out, crossfade; ACT: Kent Treble Bob)
You hear them ringing from a church tower; their tintinnabulation famously drove Edgar Allen Poe to distraction.
Or they can electrify you with their sheer otherworldliness.
(ACT: Assembled bells)
These are the massed ringers at last year's Boston Handbell Festival playing Gaudemus by Arnold Sherman.
My question is this: how do they make that sound?
(ACT: Lavender Blue on glockenspiel)
My early m...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:On Tuesday, May 19, one hundred or so handbell ringers are going to be descending on Old South Church on Copley Square to perform in the Third Annual Boston Handbell Festival. Independent producer Jackson Braider offers the skinny on what listeners can expect to hear at this unusual event.
OUTRO:The Boston Handbell Festival happens at 8pm on Tuesday, May 19, at Old South Church on Copley Square in Boston.
Among the groups at this year's Festival: the New England Ringers, the Old South Ringers, the Merrimack Valley Ringers, and the Back Bay Ringers. The Hancock Carillon from Lexington, Massachusetts are this year's special guests.
You can find links to the Boston Handbell Festival at our website.
Jackson Braider is an independent radio producer and music journalist based in Boston.
Related Website
Of 1 purchasers of this piece...
- 1 also bought:
The Hula Lesson (00:57:26) - 1 also bought:
- 1 also bought:
The Missing Beatle (00:07:18) - 1 also bought:
Don't Take The Colors Apart (00:26:09) - 1 also bought:
Nightfall in Chester County (00:29:29)
