Sweet sounds of bells will be ringing out from Golden Ears United Church in a unique performance for the public.
The Sacred Bronze Hand Bell Choir will be putting on a concert of “non-sacred” music.
Music will include Just Dance by Lady Gaga, Broadway hits like Les Miserables, Gabriel’s Oboe from the 1986 film The Mission, and pieces written by other bell ringers, including one called Dancing Raindrops written by a former member of the group from Saskatchewan.
This is the first concert since the before the COVID-19 pandemic. Mainly they play for services at the church.
The concert is not to be missed. In addition to the bells, one of their members will be singing some opera and a guests from Eagle Ridge United in Coquitlam, including one harpist, will be performing some Celtic music.
“The whole program is a mixture of different types of music,” said Mary Hampton, a member of the Sacred Bronze choir.
Hampton said once people hear the bells played and are more interested in the instruments, they become hooked.
“It’s a lot of fun, it’s a bit of a challenge. If you can imagine a pianist playing a piano, it’s like a conductor conducting all those 10 fingers,” she explained.
The bells are laid out like a piano keyboard, continued Hampton, and each ringer only plays two notes. Then there are different ways to hit the bells to make different sounds. Sometimes they use mallots, or they bounce the bells off the table, and sometimes they ring chimes which are different than bells because the clapper is on the outside instead of on the inside.
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“They have to work in a team to play this new sound of music,” she said.
There are 10 members of the choir and the group has been playing together for the past five years. Although, noted Hampton, some of those members have been playing in the choir for almost two decades.
The Sacred Bronze Hand Bell Choir Spring Concert takes place Saturday, April 27, at 2 p.m. at Golden Ears United Church, 22165 Dewdney Trunk Road, Maple Ridge.
Tickets are $15 for adults and students and $10 for seniors. Children 12 and under are free.
They can be purchased by e-transfer at: e-transfer@goldenearsunited.ca or at the door.