Greetings Handbell Musicians.

     I just returned home after this year's Area 10 Conference and a brief tour with my kids group after the conference. There were many highlights from the weekend in Yakima, and I will share three of them with you, working backwards chronologically.

     On Sunday, a personal highlight for me was the Massed choir's performance of the Hallelujah Chorus. I have compared what we typically do with massed ringing to having 30 pianists enter a room with 30 grand pianos and ask them to perform the exact same music simultaneously. I wanted to try something new with massed ringing, and arranged the Hallelujah Chorus for six bell choirs. The parts were assigned to groups based on their placement on the massed ringing floor to achieve some antiphonal effects. I was very pleased with the results, and as the arranger, thank all the groups for their willingness to prepare the music and try something new, even though this is a piece their choir likely will not be able to perform on their own.

    On Saturday, we featured the first ever Area 10 All-Star Choir, directed by David Harris. Acceptance into this group was through a videotaped audition. I was impressed with the time and dedication everyone in this group put into their performance. David and I had numerous email exchanges prior to the event to work out every detail to ensure things ran smoothly. The ringers also communicated with each other regularly on an online forum to answer questions for each other and to work out assignment challenges ahead of time. Before their first scheduled rehearsal, the group arranged to meet to work on some of the more challenging sections of their music before David Harris entered the room. Their first rehearsal extended until nearly 10pm, when we had to ask them to stop based on our contract with the convention center. The end result was one of the most impressive musical performances I have ever heard at an Area 10 event. Thank you to all of the All-Star participants for your work making this performance possible.

"Pit Bulls" Colin Walker, Trent Majors, Erik Tate, & Larry Sue

     On Friday, I had the honor of presenting an Area 10 Distinguished Service Award to Blanche Kangas. The award is given individuals who have devoted their time and expertise to advance handbell ringing in Area 10. Awards are given based on a nomination from the membership and formal approval from the Board. We do not give these rewards out often, and 8 years had passed since we last presented this award. Blanche started ringing in the late 1960s, has been in the Guild for more than 35 years, and has been an HIC member through the Bell Buggy Express for nearly 25 years. During this time, she has mentored many new directors, she has organized many handbell events, and she has served as a clinician for events locally, nationally, and even internationally. In addition, she has made a number of gifts to Luther College. I will share the words of Shosh Meyer, a Luther College alumni:

 "Blanche's handbell and chime legacy has gifted Luther College, in Decorah, Iowa, five octaves of Schulmerich Handbells and six octaves of Malmark Handchimes. The college has embraced the gift and is developing their handbell program into an integral part of their renowned music program. This special connection with the college came out of her devoted relationship with her mentor, choral patriarch Weston Noble. Along with her present gifts to the college and her future plans to bequeath all of her equipment and unprecedented collection of bell music, Blanche began a scholarship fund at Luther that benefits students who are taking part in the bell program."

Congratulations to Blanche on an award well deserved.

     Lastly, I thank everyone on the Area 10 Board for helping me organize this event. You have all been great to work with and allowed me to try some new concepts. There were a number of times when asked a question over the weekend; my response was something like, "I don't know, could you go figure it out?" In all cases, you came up with a good solution to the problem, enabling me to focus on another pressing issue. I also want to acknowledge Colin Walker, Merry Lloyd, and Nancy Johnson, who are not on the Board, but arrived a day early to assist with getting everything setup. We had a great event, and it was truly a team effort. 

Brian Tervo