Why my knuckles hate me.
Aug. 20th, 2007 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saxikath(Hmm, maybe I need a handbell-geeking userpic...)
First version, for the other handbell ringers: I (at least semi-)successfully shelly rang C4/E4 and D4/F4 tonight. Wasn't very loud, but I did get both bells to ring in each hand. (It's this piece where playing C-F is pretty reasonable except for the first page, which is impossible unless you can shelly.)
Second version, to translate for the rest of you: Shelly ringing is a technique that allows you to ring two bells at once with one hand. (There's a related technique called four-in-hand that allows you to ring two bells independently of each other in one hand.) Basically, you hold one bell the normal way (in your fist, more or less), and the second one crosswise, so you're gripping it between the pointer and middle fingers. (This picture shows it, sort of; I think she's actually holding them for four-in-hand, but the only difference is which way the crosswise bell is turned.)
C4 is the bell equivalent to the C below middle C. D4, E4, and F4 are the D, E, and F just above that. These four bells range in weight from (according to the bellfoundry website) 2 lb 5 oz to 3 lb 2 oz, and the bell openings range from 5 7/8" to 6 3/4". The handle of a C4 bell is at least an inch wide. So shelly-ringing these bells means having something that wide gripped very tightly between the knuckles of the pointer and middle fingers, and a total weight in each hand of 5-6 pounds. You then have to more or less snap your wrist and forearm in such a way that you make both bells ring.
I don't have especially large hands. I usually avoid shellying anything below C5 (an octave higher than C4), and even that is hard. (Four-in-hand is worse, because you have to use a different ringing motion for each bell. I wouldn't even try to four-in-hand the C4-range bells.) I've never successfully managed it with the big bells before. It's not something I'd recommend, nor something I'd do very often. By the second or third time we did the piece, I wasn't able to get the oomph behind it to make both bells ring each time.
But I feel oddly pleased at having managed it at all. My knuckles have other opinions on that subject, though.
First version, for the other handbell ringers: I (at least semi-)successfully shelly rang C4/E4 and D4/F4 tonight. Wasn't very loud, but I did get both bells to ring in each hand. (It's this piece where playing C-F is pretty reasonable except for the first page, which is impossible unless you can shelly.)
Second version, to translate for the rest of you: Shelly ringing is a technique that allows you to ring two bells at once with one hand. (There's a related technique called four-in-hand that allows you to ring two bells independently of each other in one hand.) Basically, you hold one bell the normal way (in your fist, more or less), and the second one crosswise, so you're gripping it between the pointer and middle fingers. (This picture shows it, sort of; I think she's actually holding them for four-in-hand, but the only difference is which way the crosswise bell is turned.)
C4 is the bell equivalent to the C below middle C. D4, E4, and F4 are the D, E, and F just above that. These four bells range in weight from (according to the bellfoundry website) 2 lb 5 oz to 3 lb 2 oz, and the bell openings range from 5 7/8" to 6 3/4". The handle of a C4 bell is at least an inch wide. So shelly-ringing these bells means having something that wide gripped very tightly between the knuckles of the pointer and middle fingers, and a total weight in each hand of 5-6 pounds. You then have to more or less snap your wrist and forearm in such a way that you make both bells ring.
I don't have especially large hands. I usually avoid shellying anything below C5 (an octave higher than C4), and even that is hard. (Four-in-hand is worse, because you have to use a different ringing motion for each bell. I wouldn't even try to four-in-hand the C4-range bells.) I've never successfully managed it with the big bells before. It's not something I'd recommend, nor something I'd do very often. By the second or third time we did the piece, I wasn't able to get the oomph behind it to make both bells ring each time.
But I feel oddly pleased at having managed it at all. My knuckles have other opinions on that subject, though.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-21 02:47 am (UTC)