Handbell Advocate Helps Churches Ring In Music
Blanche Kangas raises the conductor’s baton over her head.
The 11-members of the De Colores handbell choir place their gloved hands lightly on the handles of their bells.
“Make it a nice crescendo, then drop it down to nothing,” Kangas instructs, lowering her slender baton smoothly to illustrate.
She gives a nod, and pure notes, like drops of rain, fill the fellowship hall at Sacred Heart Parish on the South Hill.
With precision the ringers raise and lower their bells on cue, some slowly, others quickly.
“It’s the ultimate in teamwork,” said Joel Zellmer, a South Hill resident who has been ringing bells for 18 years.
Churches are seizing on bell choirs as a way of encouraging more involvement. Parents and children can learn handbell ringing together.
Kangas is an expert handbell conductor with a rich background in music education and 30 years of ringing.
She is also the owner of Bell Buggy Express, a combination office-shop-storehouse on West Garland Avenue on the North Hill.
She’s the largest supplier of handbells and handbell accessories between Long Beach, Calif. and Minneapolis.
Her business, which has been growing steadily for eight years, grew by 52 percent last year “We’re not one of Spokane’s best-kept secrets anymore,” she said.
Handbell ringing, according to Kangas, is the fastest-growing musical art in the country. She sells bells and supplies throughout the country, in Canada, and eight other foreign countries.
In brilliant contrast to the precision of the bell choir, her office is a jumble of boxes, papers, sheet music and bins. Five years ago a pipe burst. The shop was flooded and has never quite recovered.
Rows of black file cabinets, 80 drawers in all, are filled alphabetically with sheet music.
Red, white, blue and black plastic bins climb toward the ceiling, overflowing with gloves, polishing cloths and small wood mallets wrapped in yarn.
Kangas is tucked in a corner. Two makeshift desks wrap around her like a barricade against the surrounding clutter.
Anybody can ring a bell, she explains. Anyone can read the music.
The art comes in ringing the right note, at the right time, at the right volume.
“That takes as much coordination as any sport,” Kangas said.
Handbell sets, which are made of copper, are usually bought from memorial money left to churches, colleges and other institutions. The sets are rarely sold or traded.
A three-octave set costs $6,300. A full six-octave set, such as the one used by De Colores, includes 73 bells and costs $24,000.
Kangas said she knows of 37 sets of handbells in the greater Spokane area.
Kangas said fifth- and sixth-grade students in Canada learn handbell ringing as part of their music education. There is even money in the Calgary, Alberta, school construction budget to buy handbells for each new school.
Kangas’ own fascination with handbells started 30 years ago when she attended a camp for band directors. Someone brought handbells and easily persuaded her and several others to learn “Climb Every Mountain” for a performance.
“I was hooked,” she said.
Now she travels 30 weekends a year presenting handbell workshops. In 1987 she spent 10 days in Japan playing and displaying handbells.
She will return to Japan this summer for an international symposium where she will perform solo, teach and conduct.
But De Colores is her ministry. Its dedicated members, many of whom live on the South Hill, share her passion for ringing.
“It’s addictive; something makes you want to keep doing it,” said Andrea Bisordi, who rings the tiniest bells with the highest tones in the choir.
“With bells, more things can go wrong,” she said. “But nothing is more glorious than when it goes right,” said Jan Marshall.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo