August 30, 2022

Our 11th Year at the Bay View Week of Handbells

It’s hard to believe that the 2022 Bay View Week of Handbells was the 11th year we’ve attended this evening together! Of course, that would have happened sooner, if the pandemic hadn’t happened. The 2020 and 2021 Week of Handbells events were cancelled because of Covid-19, so it was a particularly good feeling to get back to it this year.

Our history with the Bay View Week of Handbells

We attended this annual event for the first time in August 2010, when we were still in our long-distance relationship. Carla flew to Chicago from England, and Larry flew in from California. We met in person for the very first time at Chicago O’Hare, and took the short flight to Traverse City together. Until then, we’d only ever communicated online, via Facebook messages, so it was exciting for us to be able to see each other in “real life” and spend time together.

After the 2010 Week of Handbells, we flew back to England and California, and spent a very long year apart. Finally, we were able to meet again at the 2011 Week of Handbells, where we celebrated our engagement with cupcakes at the Monday evening reception. Then we were separated again, returned to England and California, and went through all the challenges of the K-1 fiancée visa process. When the U.S. visa was approved, we were able to make plans to close the distance permanently. Planning the trip was complicated, but we made it all coincide with the 2012 Week of Handbells, and after the event was over, we flew to California to make our wedding plans. Apart from the two years when the event was cancelled, we’ve attended together every year since.

Celebrating our engagement at the Bay View Week of Handbells 2010

The 2022 Bay View Week of Handbells

This year’s Week of Handbells was a bit different for us, for an important reason; we now have our own Bay View cottage! We bought this Victorian cottage in October 2019, when we became members of the Bay View Association. It was built around 1887, and is a quirky little place, with uneven floors and some interesting features!

We appreciated being able to be “at home” between rehearsals, and to relax in our own place at the end of the day. In previous years, we’ve stayed in hotels, and also rented another of the Victorian cottages on campus. Our cottage is at the bottom of the hill, so we got plenty of exercise walking to and from rehearsals in the auditorium! We also had a steady stream of visitors, and enjoyed giving cottage tours to our handbell friends.

The 2022 event

Once again, Larry had the opportunity to play the aluminum bass bells, in the Deep Pit. Carla played AB5, as coordinator of the Position 7 team. Rehearsals went smoothly this year, and everyone was thankful to be back after the long break. We also heard that Bay View Association members were happy to see the return of the bell ringers, and eagerly awaited the Thursday evening concert.

Larry Sue with bass handbells at Bay View

Larry and Carla Bay View Week of Handbells concert

The repertoire for the 2022 Week of Handbells was as follows:

Festive Praises (Fred Gramann)
Tales of the Great Water (Sandra Eithun)
Finale (Widor, arr. Fred Gramann)
The Entertainer (Joplin, transcribed by Paul Kingbury) – available from Choraegus
Intrepid (Jason Krug)
Change Ring Prelude on ‘Fred Gramann’ (Jantz Black)
Aurora (Matthew Compton)
Aria (Donald Allured)
São Paulo (Elizabeth Peters)
The Sound of Silence (Paul Simon, arr. Matthew Compton)
Bulwarkana (Alex Guebert)
Puttin’ on the Ritz (Berlin, arr. Hart Morris)
The Lord Bless You and Keep You (Peter Lutkin)

There were five winners of the Donald E. Allured Composition Award at this year’s concert. Was this a record? Sandra Eithun’s Tales of the Great Water was performed for the first time at the 2022 Week of Handbells, and we were all happy that she came to the concert to hear it!

Donald E Allured Composition Award winners — Catherine McMichael, Sandra Eithun, Larry Sue, Alex Guebert and Matthew Compton

As usual, the week was a very busy one. Rehearsals are long and intense, and there isn’t a lot of spare time, although we always appreciate the Bay View sunsets, the opportunity to gather with friends on the Wednesday “evening off”, and the Bay View Memorial Garden, where the flowers never disappoint.

What’s next?

Now that we’ve put away our 2022 Week of Handbells music, we’re moving on to more duet performances, writing and playing new music, and preparing for the holiday season. We’ll still be spending as much time as we can at Bay View – driving back and forth between Holland and Petoskey – until the time comes to close up the cottage for the winter months. Before too long, it will be time to sign up for the 2023 event – and we’re already looking forward to it!

Larry and Carla with Fred Gramann — With director Fred Gramann before the concert

August 25, 2019

Our 10th Year at the Bay View Week of Handbells

It’s been over a week since we came back from our trip to the Petoskey area for our 10th year at the Bay View Week of Handbells. Life is getting back to normal, and we have lots of great memories from our tenth year at the event!

Bay View Week of Handbells is part of our history!

Taking part in the Bay View Week of Handbells has become a highlight of our year. We attended the event for the first time in August 2010, when we were still in our long-distance relationship. Carla flew to Chicago from England, Larry flew in from California. We met in person for the very first time, before taking the short flight to Traverse City together. Having only previously communicated in Facebook messages, it was exciting for us to spend time together in person, and to discover that we actually did like each other in “real life”, as well as online!

After another year apart, we met again at the 2011 Week of Handbells. We celebrated our engagement in Evelyn Hall at the Monday evening reception. The following year was a busy one for us as we dealt with the challenges of the U.S. fiancée visa process. Finally, we were able to close the distance in August 2012. We timed everything carefully, to coincide with that year’s Week of Handbells! Larry flew to England, then we flew back together from London to Chicago. Next, we flew to Traverse City, then drove to Bay View for the week of rehearsals and concert. After the event was over, we were able to take a flight to California and begin our life together.

our 10th year at the Bay View Week of handbells - with Carl Wiltse — With Maestro Carl Wiltse at Bay View Week of Handbells 2014

Since then, we’ve participated in the Week of Handbells every August. The event is very special to us for many reasons. For a start, the standard of musicianship is very high. Participants are required to arrive at the event fully prepared. That means we can use the rehearsal time not to learn notes, but to work on expression, playing as a single ensemble, and the finer points of preparing for a concert to a high professional standard. It’s a lot of fun to work on challenging music under the baton of an experienced and highly-skilled director. It’s also good to know that the Thursday evening’s public concert will be enjoyed by so many people! Bay View has also given us the opportunity to meet with friends, and to make new ones, as handbell musicians arrive from many different cities to take part each year.

Our 10th year at the Bay View Week of Handbells - with Fred Gramann — With Bay View Director Fred Gramann at the 2019 Week of Handbells

The years have gone quickly since our first experience of the Bay View Week of Handbells! We’ve been able to learn so much from participating in the event. Larry has played the aluminum bass handbells every year since 2010. He’s appreciated being part of the “Deep Pit” team; a group of five musicians who are highly skilled at playing these bells. Carla had another opportunity to be a Position Captain this year. She was responsible for supporting a team of ringers and starting early with preparing for the event. Together they worked out solutions and strategies for tricky passages in the music.

Bay View Week of Handbells - Larry Sue — Larry in the “Deep Pit” at Bay View

It’s been several years since we made our Big Move from California to Michigan. Now that we live in Holland, it takes us less than five hours to drive to Bay View. That’s been an advantage to us, because we’ve been able to make a few day-trips to Bay View outside of the Week of Handbells, just for the sheer joy of being there! We love being by the lake, and even going in the lake, as we hunt for Petoskey stones to bring home and polish. The Petoskey stone is the official Michigan State Stone. It’s a fossilised coral – Hexagonaria percarinata – that lived in the warm Michigan waters around 350 million years ago. Polishing Petoskey stones (using wet sandpaper) is the perfect activity for cold winter evenings at home in Holland!

Petoskey stone hunting — Hunting for Petoskey stones!

We stayed in one of the pretty cottages on the Bay View campus again this year, and it’s wonderful to be close to the rehearsal venue. It’s fun to feel part of the Bay View community, even if it’s just for a short while. Bay View has some of the best sunsets we’ve ever seen. Besides, what other handbell event gives you the opportunity to finish a tiring day of rehearsals, and see scenes like these?

Victorian cottages at Bay View — Historic Bay View cottages

The Bay View Inn, seen from the Memorial Garden

sunset at Bay View, Michigan — Another beautiful Bay View sunset

The concert on Thursday evening was exciting for us this year, particularly as we were performing one of Larry’s original compositions – A Minor Crash. Pierpont Video Productions made a professional recording of the concert, so we hope to have a video to share at some point in the near future! We chatted with one of the Bay View Association members on the day after the concert. He referred to Larry as “the Crash Guy”, which made us laugh! Other highlights of the concert repertoire were: Drive, an original composition by Alex Guebert, Beach Boys Medley, arranged by Linda Boatright, and Hart Morris’s challenging arrangement of I Got Rhythm.

Saying goodbye is easier these days

We’re always sorry to have to leave Bay View when the Week of Handbells is over. However, now that we live in Michigan, the goodbyes are slightly easier. We know that we’re only a few hours away, so there’s no longer any reason for us to wait a whole year to return!

As we put away this year’s Bay View music and start focusing on our duet performances for the upcoming season, we’ll be setting our hopes on being able to return to the Week of Handbells in August 2020!

Bay View cottages, seen from the Memorial Garden

December 4, 2018

The Bay View Week of Handbells 2019

August 12 at 12:00 pm – August 16 at 10:00 am EDT

We’re looking forward to the 42nd Bay View Week of Handbells, where more than a hundred advanced handbell musicians will be rehearsing and performing some beautiful, challenging and exciting music under the baton of director Fred Gramann. This year’s event will be the tenth Week of Handbells we’ve attended together, and it’s particularly exciting for us because one of Larry’s original compositions – A Minor Crash – will be performed there! The concert will be held on Thursday, August 15th, 2019, at 7:30pm at the John M. Hall Auditorium, 1715 Encampment Avenue, Petoskey, Michigan. An offering will be taken to benefit the Bay View Association Music Scholarship Fund. There’s no need to book tickets in advance, but you should plan to arrive in plenty of time to get good seats, because it’s a popular concert!

The John M Hall Auditorium at Bay View

Details

Start:: August 12 at 12:00 pm EDT
End:: August 16 at 10:00 am EDT
Event Categories:: Handbell Concert, Handbell Festival
Event Tags:: 2019, Bay View, Bay View Week of Handbells, Fred Gramann, handbell concert, handbell festival, Michigan, Michigan life, Petoskey, Week of Handbells
Website:: http://www.weekofhandbells.com/

Organizer

: Bay View Week of Handbells
Website: View Organizer Website

John M. Hall Auditorium

1725 Encampment Ave
Petoskey, MI MI 49770 United States + Google Map

May 5, 2018

The 2018 HMA Area 5 Spring Festival on Mackinac Island

It was an honor for us to be invited to be guest artists at the Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 Spring Festival on Mackinac Island. We were excited to go back to the island! We’d only visited a couple of times before – in 2010 and 2013 – and hadn’t stayed for more than a few hours.

No cars on Mackinac Island!

One of the unusual things about Mackinac Island is you can’t drive your car there! Motorised vehicles have been banned since 1898. For this reason, our journey there began by parking our car in Mackinac City and taking the ferry across to the island.

Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island — Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island – seen from the ferry!

Being West Michigan’s smallest handbell choir has its advantages. We didn’t need to transport tables, foam pads and multiple cases of bells over to the island. We had just one handcart loaded with our equipment, and we pushed it all the way from the ferry dock, up the hill to Grand Hotel.

On our way to Grand Hotel for the Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 Festival!

We arrived at Grand Hotel on Thursday morning and the staff instantly made us welcome. The hotel hadn’t officially opened for the 2018 season yet. We were fortunate to be able to stay there and enjoy the very special and unique atmosphere. We were also able to observe some of the preparations as the hotel staff prepared for the first guests of the season to arrive. The hotel has 393 guest rooms, and each one is decorated in its own individual style. If you like flowers (particularly geraniums), you’d love Grand Hotel!

Guest room at Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island — Our room at Grand Hotel!

A handchime workshop at the school

Thursday afternoon’s adventure involved some handbell education! We went to Mackinac Island Public School, where a group of us presented a program of music on handbells, flute and keyboard. The event was coordinated by Martha Matthews, with Gary Matthews playing keyboard. Members of the Area 5 Board were also there, to supervise the students with the sets of chimes.

The students were each given a color-coded handchime to play. They were able to play chords to accompany “Amazing Grace” and “Jingle Bells”, with the aid of a chart showing coloured dots. It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm of the students as they played. For most of them, it was their first opportunity to play these instruments. They did very well, learning how to use the correct techniques for playing the chimes and stopping the sound afterwards.

We demonstrated several of our handbell duets for the students. Martha and Gary joined us to perform Silver and Bronze (for handbells and flute) and Ding Dong, Merrily on High (for handbells and piano, with additional soon-to-be-published flute part).

Performing for the students at Mackinac Island Public School

The festival begins!

Friday marked the start of the festival, and we enjoyed a wonderful evening meal at the hotel before performing the opening concert in the beautiful theatre there.

Larry and Carla Handbell Concert Mackinac Island — Here’s the list of pieces we played at the opening concert!

Performing a concert for an audience of “handbell people” can be an intimidating experience. There’s definitely some additional pressure involved when performing in front of people who know about handbell stuff! However, handbell people are, in general, a friendly and supportive group. We felt much more relaxed than we’d expected to during our concert. Afterwards, we were pleased to receive some really nice comments from audience members.

Teaching about 8-bell music

On Saturday morning, we had the opportunity to teach a class on 8-bell music. We were pleasantly surprised by how many people arrived for the class! We answered questions about our music, specific techniques involved in playing it, and how to buy our sheet music online. Participants enjoyed played some simple pieces such as Aura Lee, Kingsfold and The Water is Wide. Finally, they tried the more challenging I Saw Three Ships.

Larry and Carla handbells class at Grand Hotel — Our eight-bell music workshop at Grand Hotel. Did we mention the weekend involved lots of coffee?

Other classes at the festival

During the festival, participants had the chance to attend other interesting classes, such as Artistry and the Big Box of Crayons: Techniques for a Variety of Tone Color and Handbells: a Full-Body Sport, both led by Martha Matthews, Maori Sticks, led by Susan Oxley, Music Theory, led by Ann Wood, and Finale and Handbells, led by Judy Phillips. There was also FredChat – an opportunity to chat with guest conductor Fred Gramann. We enjoyed a fascinating tour of Grand Hotel, where we were able to find out more about the building and its history. We even saw “behind the scenes” in the impressive kitchen!

The closing concert

Throughout the weekend, rehearsals continued in the Grand Hotel Theatre, as the festival participants prepared five pieces, ready to perform at the closing concert. The massed ringing pieces were Acclamation in G Minor (Karen Thompson), Within the Darkest Night (Derek Hakes), Hosanna (Jason Krug), What Child is This (Brenda Austin) and Jubilation (Fred Gramann). Fred Gramann conducted the festival choirs during rehearsals and at the closing concert.

Festival choirs rehearse under the baton of Fred Gramann

We added two of our eight-bell duets to the concert on Saturday afternoon – Holy Manna and I Vow to Thee, My Country.

Fred Gramann at the closing concert at the 2018 Area 5 Spring Festival

The closing concert was well attended, with audience members coming from Grand Hotel and the island. Afterwards we spoke to several people who had never heard handbells before, and wanted to hear more!

Leaving the island

We’d have liked to stay longer on the island, but we were playing duets in a worship service in Harbor Springs the following morning. We’d made plans to travel back on the 6:00pm ferry to Mackinac City. Before we left, though, we had time to walk for a while and admire the scenery. We followed a trail of steps, thinking it would lead to a beach. Maybe it would have done, but before we reached the bottom of the steps, the ground was covered in a thick (and sloping) layer of ice. It seemed that winter was as reluctant to leave the island as we were!

Larry and Carla, guest artists at the HMA Area 5 Handbell Festival on Mackinac Island — Enjoying a walk on the island after the festival

Handbells and equipment leaving the island

It was fun to see the handbell equipment at the Shepler’s ferry dock. Transporting bells, chimes and foam pads is an interesting challenge on an island that doesn’t allow cars. All the equipment had to come to and from the hotel on horse-drawn transport, and it was transferred onto luggage carts to be loaded onto the ferry. Our own equipment was much more manageable, and we were able to wheel our handcart onto the ferry ourselves.

Handbells at the Sheplers Ferry dock, Mackinac Island — Handbells and foam pads ready to go onto the ferry. Our own equipment is in the foreground.

Thanks to all at HMA Area 5

We had an amazing time at the Area 5 Spring Festival on Mackinac Island. Grand Hotel is a dream location for any conference or vacation. It’s a fascinating place, full of history, with people who go out of their way to make guests feel cared about. Our thanks go to the Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 for inviting us to be guest artists at this event. We appreciated the opportunity to stay at Grand Hotel and share our music with other handbell musicians and students on the island. We hope to go back there again someday!

January 22, 2018

The Bay View Week of Handbells 2018

We’re looking forward to the 41st Bay View Week of Handbells, where 104 advanced handbell musicians will be playing some beautiful, challenging and exciting music under the baton of newly-appointed director Fred Gramann, and preparing for a public concert on Thursday August 16th.

If you’re in the area, and you’d like to attend the free concert, there’s no need to book tickets in advance. The concert will be held on Thursday, August 16th, 2018 at 8:00pm in the John M. Hall Auditorium, 1715 Encampment Ave., Petoskey, Michigan. An offering will be taken to benefit the Bay View Association Music Scholarship Fund. You should plan to arrive in plenty of time to get good seats, because it’s a popular concert!

The John M Hall Auditorium at Bay View