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A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle – traditionally made of leather, but often now made of plastic – and moves the arm to make the hinged clapper strike the inside of the bell. An individual handbell can be used simply as a signal to catch people's attention or summon them together, but handbells are also often heard in tuned sets.
Originally, tuned sets of handbells, such as the ones made by the Cor brothers, were used by change ringing to rehearse outside their towers. Tower bell ringers' enthusiasm for practising the complicated algorithms of change ringing can easily exceed the neighbours' patience, so in the days before modern sound control, handbells offered them a way to continue ringing without causing annoyance. It was also more pleasant for the ringers to learn and practise in the warmth of the local pub rather than in a cold tower in winter. (1983). 9780193181038, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780193181038 The handbell sets used by change ringers had the same number of bells as in the towers – generally six to twelve, tuned to a diatonic scale.
During the nineteenth century, handbell ensembles became common in England, particularly in the north. Major competitions, such as an annual competition held at Belle Vue Zoological Gardens between 1855 and 1925, and the Yorkshire Hand-Bell Ringers Association's contests, which they sponsored most years between 1904 and 1932, were a central feature of this era of handbell performance. The competition at these events was intense and drew large crowds of up to 20,000 spectators. (2026). 9780953829064, Donald A. and Philip Bedford, Handbell Music Publishers. ISBN 9780953829064
Handbells were first taken to the United States by the Lancashire Bell-ringers, who contracted with P. T. Barnum to tour the United States from 1844 to 1847 as "Swiss Bell-ringers." Handbell ringing then became popular in Vaudeville and Chautauqua Circuit variety acts until these venues faded in importance during the early twentieth century.
Handbells were reintroduced to the United States from England by Margaret Shurcliff in 1902. She was presented with a set of 10 handbells in London by Arthur Hughes, the general manager of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, after completing two separate two-and-a-half-hour change ringing in one day. Shurcliff organized the Beacon Hill Ringers in 1923, which was mostly made up of her own children and their friends. From there, handbell ringing spread throughout New England and eventually the United States, resulting in the organization of the New England Guild of English Handbell Ringers in 1937 and the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers in 1954.
The post-WWII American boom of interest in English handbell ringing also spread and inspired parallel movements in other countries, creating an international community of English handbell ringers. The Handbell Ringers of Great Britain (HRGB) was officially organized in 1967. American missionaries and educators introduced handbells to Japanese Christian schools in the 1970s, where the instrument quickly caught on. The Handbell Ringers of Japan was established in 1976 and remains one of the largest handbell organizations outside the United States. This international growth of interest in handbell ringing led to the establishment of the International Handbell Symposium, a biennial gathering that rotates between eight member nations or communities: Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United States.
In the United Kingdom, there is a distinction between "American handbells" and "English handbells"; English handbells are traditional, with leather clapper heads and handles (such as the bells Whitechapel makes), while American handbells use modern materials, such as plastic and rubber, to produce the same effect (such as those produced by Malmark and Schulmerich). In America, however, they are all called English handbells.
Handbells can weigh as little as or upwards of .
The coordination of the ringers requires a different approach than other ensembles. All the ringers read from a score. This score is similar to a piano score, but with an additional convention: The C above middle C and all notes below are always written in the bass clef, and the D above middle C and all notes above are always written in the treble clef. (This formatting is not always the convention for solo and small-ensemble music.) Handbells are a transposing instrument, meaning that they "speak" an octave higher than written (this is to help keep the notes centered on the staff), so a middle C bell is actually a C5 or "tenor high C". (For simplicity, the bell would still always be referred to as middle C or C5). However, some newer handbell music published today specifies to play an octave lower than written (meaning middle C sounds as C4, like on the piano) if the composer wants a bit more of a vocal character out of the handbells, or if the handbells are being used to accompany vocal choirs to not overpower the singers.
Due to handbells' relative rarity outside of the confines of church services—although less so now than in the 1980s and early 1990s—the majority of pieces last approximately four minutes. A few composers and arrangers write longer and more intricate works; generally, these pieces use handbells in combination with other instruments.
Beyond the basic ringing of a handbell, there is a wide variety of techniques that can be used to create different sounds. Christian Nathaniel Guebert has documented there are a total of 165 discrete timbres possible on a single handbell, and 74 discrete timbres possible on a single handchime
Handbell techniques have changed very much over the years. Donald E. Allured, founding director of Westminster Concert Bell Choir, is credited with fully realizing an American off-the-table style of ringing that includes many non-ringing sound effects, including stopped techniques such as plucking the clapper with the bell on the table. He is also credited for promoting precise damping or stopping of the sound by touching the bell to a soft surface, in the service of more musical results.
In the four-in-hand technique, the ringer holds two bells in one hand with the clappers at right angles to each other. This allows the ringer to either move the hand normally ("ring" – primary bell) or ring knuckles-first ("knock" – secondary bell) to ring two bells independently with the same hand (for a total of four bells when ringing with both hands). The two bells can also be played simultaneously by holding the wrist at a 45° angle. In large ensembles, four-in-hand is typically used to ring multiple positions or pick up accidentals.
Shelley ringing is similar, except that the clappers are each oriented in the same direction, so that the two bells normally ring simultaneously with one movement. Shelley is typically used to ring notes in octaves, but can also be used to ring two notes separately by striking the primary bell sideways and the secondary bell forward in an action like tapping the fingers.
As to the relative merits of the two techniques, some believe that Shelley ringing is rendered obsolete when four-in-hand is perfected, while others believe that the motion of the clappers in the same plane makes certain techniques more feasible, particularly shaking, martellato, and vibrato.
Echo technique adds a brief pulse of increased volume to a sustained note. This is accomplished by gently touching the rim of a vibrating bell to the table.
Gyro is a technique that involves holding the bell in a vertical position, then rotating it clockwise or counterclockwise slowly to create a small vibrating sound; this can also be done horizontally to push the sound outwards..
Malleting involves using one of several types of rubber, plastic, or yarn-wrapped mallet to strike the casting of the bell. This can create a staccato tone when the casting is pressed into padding, a normal tone when the bell is suspended, or even a drum-roll effect when multiple mallets are used, or multiple hits on the bell are played. Suspended malleting can be employed to create a bell tree, which allows many bells to be played by one ringer.
Martellato, also known as a table damp, creates a staccato tone and is accomplished by striking the bell into the foam in such a way that the clapper strikes the casting immediately after the bell strikes the foam. A variation called a "Mart Lift" is accomplished by lifting the bell off the table very soon after the clapper strikes. This creates a staccato tone followed by a softened sounding of the bell.The American Guild of English Handbell Ringers, Handbell and Handchime Notation. AGEHR 2010
Plucking is accomplished by using the thumb and forefinger to force the clapper head into the casting while the bell is on the table with the handle toward the ringer, producing a staccato tone.http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kingsbur/articulations.html . Retrieved 2009-10-09.
Shaking is accomplished by rapidly ringing the bell back and forth so the clapper strikes the front and back of the casting in quick succession. This creates a continuous sound, as opposed to normal ringing, in which the tone decays rapidly after sounding. Because of their size, bass bells are rarely shaken. A suspended mallet roll is usually played if a shaking sound is desired on a bass bell.
The singing bell technique creates a sustained pitch similar to the sound a wineglass makes as its rim is rubbed with a wet fingertip, and is accomplished in much the same way. A short wooden dowel is touched to the outside of the rim of a handbell, which is being held in the other hand. The dowel is then used to rub the rim in a circular motion. The Singing Bell technique is adapted from the "Singing Bowl" tradition of Tibet.
A tower swing is when the bell is rung and then swung down and a bit behind the ringer and back up to the normal position. This creates an "echo" effect. The mouth of the bell must rotate around to create the sound change that resembles a tower bell. Usually, this is done over a period of three or four beats.
Thumb damp provides a staccato sound similar to plucking or malleting on the table. This is often described as a "tinkling" sound. The bell is rung with a thumb and/or several fingers touching the outside below the rim; this damps the sound immediately after the bell is rung. This technique can often be easier than plucking or malleting with smaller bells.
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