I think a lot of the reactions to flamboyant ringers relates back to a more basic question about bellringing: Is it music or entertainment? Or perhaps better put, where on the spectrum between music and entertainment do you want your particular handbell performance to fall?
I say spectrum because in my experience, at some point when you focus too much on the entertainment, the musicality begins to suffer, and likewise if you put all your emphasis on the music, the entertainment value decreases. Different choirs fall at very different points along this spectrum, with Campanile and Sonos near the extremes, and most choirs somewhere in between.
My point is not to judge groups on where on this spectrum they fall (for me the coolest thing about Sonos's joint concerts with Campanile is precisely the great distance between us on this spectrum) but that the flamboyance of the ringers needs to suit the kind of performance you're trying to give.
Trying to cover a large number of bells, and using whatever technique is necessary to do so works perfectly at, and in fact is an integral part of, a Campanile concert. But I've seen flamboyant ringers (both bass and treble) trying to cover lots of notes at concerts where the overall effect seemed to be targeted much further along the spectrum toward the musical end, and these ringers were a distraction which took away from the overall effect of the music. They broke the spell that the rest of the choir was trying so hard to weave.
I've been talking about choirs falling at a particular point on the spectrum, but the more I think about it its more individual pieces which fall at different points. While much of Sonos's concerts lean heavily away from the entertainment end of the spectrum, we love doing pieces like the Hoe Down from Copland's Rodeo which features much more "showy" ringing from most of the table than is otherwise our somewhat staid norm.
So I guess for me, the bottom line is, make sure your ringing style matches the kind of performance the choir as a whole is trying to achieve with each given piece. You can never be too flamboyant if the rest of the group is right there with you!
Written by:
Mark Decker
Decker@segasoft.com
17 Mar 1997
Archived original can be found at: Flamboyant Ringers (bass or otherwise)