A SERIOUS THANK YOU, and a bit of an explanation and a bit of self pity ;-)

Over the last 18 months my family has been dogged by bad health :-((

I spent the previous Christmas knocking on the "Pearly Gates" after suffering multiple blood clots in my lungs. After being rushed to hospital I spent several days there and then several months recovering. Whilst I was getting better Mrsthereallyniceman became more and more unwell and suffering frequent chest pains. She spent months backwards and forwards to hospital culminating, a few weeks ago, with her having quadruple heart by-pass surgery. The good news is that she has now almost fully recovered, back to ballroom dancing, and she says that she has never felt as well.

So we must get down to recording another banjo/piano video masterpiece. :-)

MrsTRNM says she would like to show you all the operation scars on her chest... but I thought it may put you off your practice!

During this time I have not really spent as much time as I should on the website so I would like to give personal thanks to all who have posted discussions and videos and give thanks to Steve who has looked after things while I have been otherwise occupied !  I should now be able to get more things going on the site...so keep your eyes peeled.

Now I have given you the sob story, there is one person who I would like to give very special thanks to. He made me so happy when I received a parcel out of the blue from him. I have only now got round to sharing it.. BUT what he sent me has become probably my most treasured set of Classic Banjo memorabilia and has prime place in my collection.

I won't publish his name.. but he knows who he is and I hope that he knows just how pleased (delighted) am.

Let's see how long it takes for someone to guess what I received that made me so happy!

He sent several documents:

Item 1.

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I had no idea about modern handbell construction. Wow, very impressive.

 Re banjo and bells: I think waltzes and 6/8 marches would go particularly well. I'm not sure about bells and ragtime. But maybe..... 

I could imagine Cammeyer's "Dancer's Dream" with bells.  But the sound I hear in my mind is handbells and gut/nylon strung banjo, not zither banjo. 

The gamelan ensembles of Bali, Java, and Sunda require a team of instrumentalists. But each player has more notes to play than one (or two?).   There are some "panpipe" ensembles in  parts of the South Pacific that involve a number of players each supplying a pitch, provided at the right time, but again each player has a handful of pitches available.

Then there are the "dog pianos" and "cat pianos" where each animal meows or howls at a predictable pitch when its tail is pulled. But those aren't real...... are they?


thereallyniceman said:

Ahhh Jody,

Musical handbells are very sophisticated instruments. They are not just a bell and a floppy clapper like the old school bell! The clapper assembly only moves forwards and backwards and is adjusted to rest closer to the front edge of the bell (direction the bell is rung) than the back edge. This is to prevent the clapper bouncing back and making double hits when a note is struck, There is NO sideways movement of the clapper, so a side to side wobble imparts a Vibrato without hitting the bell. Also the volume of a bell can be adjusted or "voiced" to set the balance of sound volume across the set of bells. This is done by rotating the clapper head which has rubber of different densities around the striking edge!!!

Here is a question for you:  As far as I can see a "Handbell Choir" is the only instrument that requires a "team" of people to play a tune... think about it, can you think of any other?

I would like to try bells and banjo... perhaps a project for the upcoming months ?   :-)

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