Please bear with me while I digress
into physics for a bit.
There is a category of physical
effect known as an "inverse-square law". One occurs when energy
starts at a point and radiates outward in all directions. A good example is a
candle on a table: The light and heat goes out from the flame in all
directions, initially. When an inverse-square law applies, the amount of energy
at a point is based on the inverse of the distance to the energy source,
squared. This means that doubling the distance between an observer and the
energy source divides the amount of energy that reaches the observer by four.
The reason for this, for the curious, is that the energy outputted by such a
source can be viewed as if it is distributed on the surface of a sphere, with
the radius of the sphere being the distance between the source and the
observer. As the distance increases, the same energy must cover a larger area,
and therefore there is less energy per point, and the surface area of a sphere
depends on its radius squared.
By this point you're probably
wondering why I'm bringing this up in a blog about handbells. At least, I hope
you are; if you already know why then this will be a rather boring paragraph
for you. Sound waves, such as those generated by handbells, are governed by an
inverse-square law. When one rings a bell, it emits energy, in the form of
sound waves, in all directions. Now, imagine that you have a few hundred
ringers filling a room. The difference in the distances between one choir and
the audience and a different choir and the audience can get quite significant,
and ringers must account for this. In other words, a choir farther away from
the audience is harder to hear, and therefore should play louder. Given the
size of the room we're playing in, the difference can be huge.
Choirs near the back of the room,
incidentally, have another disadvantage. In handbell ringing, as in
all ensemble music, it is very important to stay synchronized with
the other players. In massed ringing, this is even more the case, because not
only do you have to stay synchronized with your own choir, but with many other
choirs as well. This is why there is a conductor: He or she indicates key
points in the music with his or her baton, and if people watch him or her, this
allows them to ensure that they are at the same point in the music as everyone
else. Music is divided into measures, which are divided into beats; a measure
is typically a few seconds, and there are usually three or four beats per
measure, though there can be more or sometimes fewer. The beats are what the
conductor indicates, so as long as you know what measure you are in you could
synchronize yourself about once every two seconds. (Not knowing what measure
you are in is called "being lost" and is a bad idea.) The problem, of
course, is that choirs at the back have to look over the heads of those in
front to see the conductor.
Speaking of conductors, the Japanese
girls' choir immediately behind us apparently usually plays without one. Every
day, a few choirs give performances to the others by themselves. The choir in
question did not have a conductor, but instead relied on each other. At any
given point one ringer would probably be playing a repeating pattern for a few
measures; the other ringers would look at that ringer and use her notes to stay
synchronized. They can do this because they have their music memorized. It's
incredibly impressive.
About equally impressive was the solo ringer who played on Tuesday.
English handbells only ring if played in a certain direction; playing one
sideways or backwards produces no sound. This is used in various ringing
techniques, such as "four-in-hand" or the
"Shelly grip", which allows one to hold two bells in one hand.
The common techniques are to place both bells in different directions, or to
place them so that one may be rung with the other rotating instead of moving.
Getting four bells in two hands can be difficult, and doing it at high speeds
is fairly advanced. This man had four bells in each hand, and the song he performed
was not exactly slow. His performance was impressive. Actually, there are just
a lot of impressive people here. It's pretty awesome.
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