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The Alpine Ringers Handbell Choir practice for their upcoming performance on Friday, December 9, at the First Presbyterian Church in Whitefish. The Alpine Ringers will be performing around 6 p.m. following performances by students from the North Valley Music School and the Glee Club. The Alpine Ringers will begin to set up as soon as the students finish their performance at 6 and will be playing a variety of holiday music including, Angels from the Reals of Glory, The Little Drummer Boy, Hallelujah by Leonard Coen and others. There will also be hot cider and cookies in the fellowship hall.(Br…
Hearing one lone person, playing just two different notes, isn’t much of a musical experience.
But put 10 of them together, their notes and rhythms synced in time and harmony, and the result is something entirely different.
“It just sounds heavenly,” Alma Ramlow said.
The Alpine Ringers create that “heavenly” sound on a weekly basis in rehearsals at the First Presbyterian Church in Whitefish — where Ramlow serves as musical director — especially as the holidays approach and the group prepares for its annual performance during the Whitefish Christmas Stroll on Dec. 9.
The Ringers’ blended sound is created by the group’s 10 current members playing specific notes and octaves, focusing intently on a sheet of music stacked with notes and counting along to songs that are “some secular, some Christmas, some sacred,” according to Ramlow.
Members have several bells on tables in front of them during performances (most have four total) and pick up the corresponding bell to ring the notes at the proper time. Individual performers must be able to block out a bevy of notes and sounds around them, counting to hit their marks and following their line.
“Its so unlike any other instrument because you’re following the music and it’s stacked up vertically and you’re just watching your line or your space … playing those bells when your notes come up,” Ramlow said. “It’s like there’s these mammoth chords. One person wouldn’t be able to play all of those at once on the piano.”
“You’re playing the instruments but you also really have to focus on your music,” longtime member Leslee Washer said. “If you ever have the slightest distraction then you’re lost and you’re looking for where you’re supposed to play.”
The resulting chords, when rung on time, are deep and complex, covering five octaves and making a correspondingly full sound.
“Anybody that comes and joins us we make sure we make them come two or three times because the first one is so mind-boggling,” Washer added.
The uniqueness of the instrument allows members with a range of musical abilities to participate. There are those who do not read music and there have been others with broad musical talent, although that’s not always an advantage.
“We actually had a member at one point that played an instrument in a band and she couldn’t do it,” another Ringers member, Danelle Reisch, said. “She took all of her music and wrote it out so it would look like her band music. That was the only way it made sense to her.”
Even the ringing of the bells isn’t always simple. Performers have several specific techniques to create different sounds, including damping the bell with their thumb or the table, and even a new piece of equipment called a singing bell. The members occasionally ring chimes, too, mixing the sounds when necessary.
All of the Alpine Ringers’ equipment is provided by the church.
The history of handbell ringers goes back centuries.
“The origin of handbells, if my memory serves me, was actually a mechanism to practice playing the big tower bells in Europe,” Reisch said. “My understanding is they developed the handbells so they could practice to play the big carillons and the chimes in the churches.”
The Alpine Ringers’ current makeup includes 10 women from a number of local churches, although the bulk of the membership comes from First Presbyterian. The group is always seeking new members, from all churches, and has included men as well in the past.
Reisch, Washer and Ramlow have all been in the group for years, and Washer even had a role in recruiting Ramlow to join.
“I heard them for a number of years and I thought someday I’m going to join that group,” Ramslow said. “I’m at a (Whitefish High School) football game and Leslee taps me on the shoulder with ‘hey, how would you like to come ring bells with us?’
“… I think that was 11 years ago.”
In addition to the Stroll, the Ringers perform at the annual Area 10 Handbell festival, next year scheduled for April 28-29 at the Belgrade Special Events Center in Belgrade. The group can also be found at area churches during Easter season.
The Alpine Ringers are scheduled to perform at 6:15 p.m. during the Whitefish Christmas Stroll, inside the sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church, 301 Central Ave. in Whitefish. The event is free to attend.
The Ringers 10-song show will include three pieces accompanied by an organist and an arrangement of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Other songs include “Angels From the Realms of Glory” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”