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On the program this Spring is "Rock Around the Clock" by Max Freeman and Jimmy DeKnight, arranged for handbells by Carol Lynn Mizell. While perhaps not the first recording of its kind, Rock Around the Clock is considered the song that started the Rock and Roll era.
The song was written in 1952 for Bill Haley and the Comets. Haley knew he had a hit song for a new sound, but convincing the producers at his label, Essex Records, proved difficult. Not until Haley switched to Decca Records in 1954 was he able to record it, as the B-side to the "Thirteen Women (and Only One Man in Town)."
The song was widely recognized until it was heard with the opening credits to the 1955 movie "Blackboard Jungle." It is reported that producers were looking to choose music that was popular with kids. The movie's star actor, Glenn Ford, pulled the album from his then-10-year-old son's collection, and it was chosen for the film. The song's popularity soared, becoming the #1 song in America for eight straight weeks.
Haley would re-record the song many times, as did many other artists, but none have ever been as popular as the original, legendary recording. The song re-appeared on the charts in 1974 when it was used as the opening song for the first season of the television show "Happy Days."
The arrangement for handbells by Mizell incorporates an unusual handbell technique, designed to mimic a trombone "slide." Trombones can easily play a note and slowly move to another note, but each handbell have has a distinct note. The effect is achieved by playing both the first note and the second note at the same time, but changing the direction of the bell so that the audience hears the first note predominately at first, then slowly shifts so that the second note is heard louder than the first. In fact both bells are ringing the entire time. What's most disconcerting to the ringer is that you don't hear the effect if you're too close; only a listenter from a distance will hear the dominant note stand out.
Bill Haley once said "No matter how bad a show might be going some night, I know that song will pull us through. It's my little piece of gold." We hope so, too.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Tweet this postThursday, March 12, 2009
Enya!
On the program this Spring is a great new arrangement from famed handbell composer Kevin McChesney: Enya's "Orinoco Flow," more commonly known by it's refrain of "Sail Away." The song reached #1 in the UK in 1988, and was popular throughout the 1990's.
Enya is Ireland's best-selling solo artist; she would be Ireland's top music export were it not for U2. Bono and Enya surely represent some of the the largest musical empires per-letter, along with Elvis and Madonna.
Enya's distinctive sound is performed almost exclusively by herself, layering multiple recordings as many as 80 times to create the final product. She also utilizes multiple languages, including Irish, Welsh, Latin, Japanese, and both High and Common Elven (created by J.R.R. Tolkien, recorded for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy).
Orinoco flow, however, is entirely in English. You can read the lyrics, with its catalog of rivers from around the world, as well as references to music industry executives. The title probably has a dual meaning, referring to the Orinoco river in South America, and the Orinoco Studio where it was recorded.
Enya's layered style is adapted to handbells by Kevin McChesney, who has arranged a wide variety of modern popular songs for handbells, as well as many original compositions and hymns. Kevin's arrangement of "Sing We Now of Christmas" is on our "Christmas in the City" CD.
Enya is Ireland's best-selling solo artist; she would be Ireland's top music export were it not for U2. Bono and Enya surely represent some of the the largest musical empires per-letter, along with Elvis and Madonna.
Enya's distinctive sound is performed almost exclusively by herself, layering multiple recordings as many as 80 times to create the final product. She also utilizes multiple languages, including Irish, Welsh, Latin, Japanese, and both High and Common Elven (created by J.R.R. Tolkien, recorded for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy).
Orinoco flow, however, is entirely in English. You can read the lyrics, with its catalog of rivers from around the world, as well as references to music industry executives. The title probably has a dual meaning, referring to the Orinoco river in South America, and the Orinoco Studio where it was recorded.
Enya's layered style is adapted to handbells by Kevin McChesney, who has arranged a wide variety of modern popular songs for handbells, as well as many original compositions and hymns. Kevin's arrangement of "Sing We Now of Christmas" is on our "Christmas in the City" CD.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Olympic Fanfare
All of Chicago is talking about the Olympics coming in 2016. At this time, Chicago is just a contender; the decision will be made on October 2, 2009.
But that hasn't stopped our enthusiasm about the Games, so this Spring we'll be playing "Olympic Fanfare" by Leo Arnaud, transcribed for handbells by Robert C. Currier.
Americans all consider this piece to be synonymous with the Olympics Games. The timpani introduction, the brass section proudly stating the theme, the middle bridge section that reminds us of atheletes moving faster than we could previously imagine. Of course, like all iconic Americana, we tend to embellish the story about the song, adding details that should be true, even if they're not.
First, the Olympic Fanfare is not the Olympic Anthem. The Olympic Anthem was written for the 1896 Olympics, the first Olympic games of the modern era.
Arnaud wrote "Bugler's Dream" as part of a larger work in 1957. For the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France, ABC chose the the piece as their anthem, embedding it into the minds of Americans, as we listened every night for two weeks every four years.
Secondly, many people would say that the piece was written by John Williams, famed erstwhile director of the Boston Pops. Traditionally, each host country commissions a new song to represent the games that year. Williams was commissioned for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, and wrote "Olympic Theme and Fanfare." In 1992, Williams re-recorded the piece, replacing the first section with Arnaud's theme, merging the two together.
Once ABC lost their exclusive rights to the Olympic broadcast in 1988, Americans missed the chance to hear the song before and after every commercial while watching the games in Seoul. But in 1992, NBC revived the piece for their coverage of the Barcelona Olympics. NBC continues to use both "Bugler's Dream" and "Olympic Theme and Fanfare" in their Olympic coverage.
The music reminds us of the spirit as well as the spectacle of the Olympics, and Chicago Bronze is pleased to bring it to you this year, in anticipation of the Olympic Games in Chicago.
But that hasn't stopped our enthusiasm about the Games, so this Spring we'll be playing "Olympic Fanfare" by Leo Arnaud, transcribed for handbells by Robert C. Currier.
Americans all consider this piece to be synonymous with the Olympics Games. The timpani introduction, the brass section proudly stating the theme, the middle bridge section that reminds us of atheletes moving faster than we could previously imagine. Of course, like all iconic Americana, we tend to embellish the story about the song, adding details that should be true, even if they're not.
First, the Olympic Fanfare is not the Olympic Anthem. The Olympic Anthem was written for the 1896 Olympics, the first Olympic games of the modern era.
Arnaud wrote "Bugler's Dream" as part of a larger work in 1957. For the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France, ABC chose the the piece as their anthem, embedding it into the minds of Americans, as we listened every night for two weeks every four years.
Secondly, many people would say that the piece was written by John Williams, famed erstwhile director of the Boston Pops. Traditionally, each host country commissions a new song to represent the games that year. Williams was commissioned for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, and wrote "Olympic Theme and Fanfare." In 1992, Williams re-recorded the piece, replacing the first section with Arnaud's theme, merging the two together.
Once ABC lost their exclusive rights to the Olympic broadcast in 1988, Americans missed the chance to hear the song before and after every commercial while watching the games in Seoul. But in 1992, NBC revived the piece for their coverage of the Barcelona Olympics. NBC continues to use both "Bugler's Dream" and "Olympic Theme and Fanfare" in their Olympic coverage.
The music reminds us of the spirit as well as the spectacle of the Olympics, and Chicago Bronze is pleased to bring it to you this year, in anticipation of the Olympic Games in Chicago.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
In the Mood for bell music
Chicago Bronze is back in the swing of things! We completed another recording series for GIA, which will be included in the 2009 catalog. Now we've started on our Spring concert series. You can find one of our April concert near you on our web site.
One of the new pieces we'll be playing is "In the Mood," arranged by Herb Geisler.
In the Mood was originally called the "Tar Paper Stomp," written by Wingy Manone in 1929, but it's the 1939 recording by Glenn Miller Orchestra that made the song a famous anthem of the "big-band" era.
It has since become a jazz standard, and has been performed by a wide variety of artists. The strangest rendition is debatably the 1977 version by Ray Stevens, who performed the song entirely in chicken clucks, which beame a top-40 hit in both the United States and the United Kingdon.
While it might be fun for each of us to cluck our notes, we decided to stick with playing them on handbells.
One of the new pieces we'll be playing is "In the Mood," arranged by Herb Geisler.
In the Mood was originally called the "Tar Paper Stomp," written by Wingy Manone in 1929, but it's the 1939 recording by Glenn Miller Orchestra that made the song a famous anthem of the "big-band" era.
It has since become a jazz standard, and has been performed by a wide variety of artists. The strangest rendition is debatably the 1977 version by Ray Stevens, who performed the song entirely in chicken clucks, which beame a top-40 hit in both the United States and the United Kingdon.
While it might be fun for each of us to cluck our notes, we decided to stick with playing them on handbells.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Handbell Podcast Review
It's been a couple months, but if you're not a regular listener to the Handbell Podcast, check out the October 14, 2008 show. (You'll find the player at the bottom of the page.)
There is an interview with CB director Phil Roberts, recorded at the recent International Handbell Symposium in Orlando.
Also featured is a review of our Christmas in the City CD.
Dean Jensen said in his review "Excellent CD; I'm thinking it's probably now one of my favorite handbell Christmas CDs."
There is an interview with CB director Phil Roberts, recorded at the recent International Handbell Symposium in Orlando.
Also featured is a review of our Christmas in the City CD.
Dean Jensen said in his review "Excellent CD; I'm thinking it's probably now one of my favorite handbell Christmas CDs."
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The end of another season
Chicago Bronze has reached the end of another concert season. This December we were in Lombard, Elmhurst, Lake Zurich, Wayne, Gurnee, Rolling Meadows, Morton Grove and of course at our home in Arlington Heights. Thanks to all of our hosts for providing us the opportunity to share our music with you.
Special congratulations to Resurrection Catholic Church in Wayne, for setting a new record: 570 people came to hear the concert, the largest number yet for a Chicago Bronze-only event. We've played to larger audiences, such as at the National Pastoral Musicians' conference, but the energy in the room was unlike like anything we'd felt before.
It was especially great to talk to the bell ringers at Resurrection, who apparently had never seen handbells played by anyone else before. We hope that our concert will help bring their nascent choir to musical excellence in their ministry.
If you didn't get a chance to see us this year, don't forget you can always have Chicago Bronze in your home for Christmas by picking up a copy of our CD, Christmas in the City.
Save the date for our spring concert, April 26 at Friendship Village of Schaumburg!
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