5th Anniversary Concert!

Join us Sunday, October 13th at 4 pm as we celebrate 5 years of music making.

Coppers Classic is the nations’s premier massed ringing event for advanced coppers handbell musicians held annually in Portland, Oregon with participants from all over the United States and Canada.

Wonderful handbell repertoire by the best of the best composers and arrangers–Michael Glasgow, Cynthia Dobrinski, Linda Boatright, Hart Morris, Sondra Tucker,  Nick Hanson, Jason W. Krug, Kazuko Okamoto, Cathy Moklebust, Alex Guebert, Sandra Eithun and Kath Wissinger. Original works and

big bells
Buckets to “thimbles”

transcriptions. The best of handbells!

University Place Hotel & Conference Center
(310 SW Lincoln, On the Orange Line)

Suggested Donation: $10 (all welcome)

Info: directorcoppersclassic@gmail.com

Hotel Block Update

Hello Ringers!

If you have not booked your hotel rooms yet, please contact University Place as soon as possible.  They have agreed to extend a few double standard rooms at our $99 rate only until August 30.

Book online at www.uplacehotel.com reservation page and enter Booking Code:  GROUP, or Call 866-845-4647 and choose Option 1 to make your reservation.

 

2019 Repertoire

We are gearing up for another great event! The Coppers Classic 2019 Repertoire is now posted. Enjoy your summer! Looking forward to seeing everyone in October!

Meet Julie Turner

Since 2006, Julie Turner has been the Associate Conductor, Composer in Residence and a Board Member of Music City Bronze, Nashville’s advanced community handbell group under the direction of Principal Conductor and former Handbell Musicians of America (AGEHR) National President, John Pfeiffer. Julie’s also a ringing member of a handbell quartet called MCB-4, which is a sub-group of Music City Bronze.

Julie has been the handbell director at her church in Nashville since 1999. She holds a B.A. in Music from Cumberland University and was a contract music engraver for the United Methodist Publishing House for nine years. She has around 40 published handbell arrangements and compositions and was named Composer of the Year in 2009 by Jeffers Handbell Supply. Coppers Classic 2018 features her composition, “Jericho”.Julie Turner

Julie and her husband Jim have lived in Nashville since 1986, where they raised their now-grown kids, Dylan and Mallory (who are handbell ringers, of course!). Dylan and his wife Cynthia are both members of the Tennessee National Guard, and Mallory lives in Colorado pursuing her passion for singing and songwriting. Now that they’re empty-nesters, Julie and Jim shower affection on their two very spoiled cats, Ivy and Cosima.

Martha Lynn Thompson, Queen of (Outstanding) Transcriptions!

Martha Lynn Thompson was the Organist and Associate Director of Music at St. James United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1969 until her retirement in July 2002 when she was made Organist Emeritus. Together with her husband, Feilx, they directed the handbell program which grew to include 13 bell choirs!

Martha Lynn is a 1962 graduate of Henderson State University and, in recognition of her outstanding career achievements, in 2011 she received the Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest honor the University bestows.

MLT
Martha Lynn Thompson

In 1989 she was elected American Guild of English Handbell Ringers National Secretary and for two years served on its Board of Directors. In 1995 she was given the status of Master Instructor of Handbell Notation, and in 2001 she was made an Honorary Life Member – the highest honor bestowed by the Guild.

Martha Lynn has many published arrangements and transcriptions that range from music for the beginning bell choir to music for the most advanced choirs.

Coppers Classic is delighted to include Martha Lynn’s arrangement of the Leroy Anderson classic, Sleigh Ride in our 2018 repertoire.

 

Meet Betty Radford, Composer

Coppers Classic is pleased to offer a diverse repertoire celebrating composers from around the globe. This year’s repertoire includes “On the Boardwalk” by Canadian composer, Betty Radford.

Betty has been ringing handbells for over 25 years.  After retiring from elementary music teaching she has turned her compositional skills to creating music for smaller and larger Betty B. Radfordhandbell choirs from level 1 – 5. She has won numerous new composition awards from the Alberta Guild of English Handbell Ringers (ALGEHR).  Betty was deeply honoured to have her composition, So Glorious and Free, chosen as the Canadian piece for the 2016 International Handbell Symposium.

Repertoire Has Been Posted . . . What’s it All About?

Introducing the repertoire and composer/arrangers for our Coppers Classic literature is always a pleasure. “Acclamations” by Dr. William Payn  (Hope/Agape 2782) is one of his newer compositions. It was was written as a surprise for Dr. Payn’s good friend and colleague, Ramona Miller. Her ringers, with added alumni, secretly learned the piece and presented it at her final retirement performance. Ms. Miller was director of Cathedral Bells in California from 1995-2013.

Dr. Payn recently retired as director of Choral Studies and Bucknell University, Pennsylvania. He is well known as a conductor, composer and teacher. His vocal and handbell choirs have performed all over the world. Dr. Payn teaches the Conducting Master Class for Handbell Musicians of America, the biannual Virtuoso Handbell Choir held in Raleigh, and is the Music Director and Conductor of the Susquehanna Valley Chorale and Orchestra.

New Music Feels Like a Birthday Present!

Pablo Casals, the world-famous cellist, conductor, composer said, “Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.”

There is an inner buzz of excitement when beginning a new piece of music. It is all at once discovery of a new sound world, the challenge of what surprises does my part hold and the unmatched thrill of being a part of a group to make musical magic.

We’ve just posted the wonderful repertoire for Coppers Classic 2018. It is a combination of favorites from handbells “ancient” past—the 1990’s—and a couple pieces whose e-ink is still drying on the page. We have music for Christmas, a bit of jazz, spirituals, compositions by composers from Canada, Hong Kong and Japan and good old rock ‘n’ roll. There are tricky treble passages, battery-wonderful and happy-big-bass pieces. No matter where in the choir you ring, you’ll learn, you’ll work hard, you’ll grow as a handbell musician and you will leave with a deep sense of personal accomplishment.

Looking forward to making music with you in October.

All By Myself! How do I practice?

Handbell musicians face a special conundrum when it comes to personal practice. Few of us own our own bells and it’s a challenge to go to where our bells our stored, haul out tables and foam and practice our 2 notes for a few hours. Hmmm . . . how do we make this exciting and sufficiently compelling to look at our score between rehearsals?

Understanding My Part. Carlos Avila, a very accomplished professional percussionist, said “I’m a better musician because I play handbells”. How true! If we erase everything except your part . . . OMG, every composition becomes a level 18 piece! If we take the time to look at rhythmic complexity on our own between rehearsals, we  build confidence.

Score marking. There’s a false sense that only rank beginners mark their score. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. The best handbell musicians mark their score so they are ready for challenges. In the  beginning it might be crucial to mark every time a bell is exchanged, but  even advanced musicians mark so that they will successfully ring smoothly. One of the greatest tools for building personal success is a pencil.

Listening. We are more than 2-note musicians. We are artists who are fitting into the larger who of the handbell orchestra in order to create a soaringly glorious moment of music. If the music is in our mind, it is easier to know how to fit into the whole. And, (this one is a biggie for your director) your confidence in looking up will increase many times over.

Patience. Most of us work hardest when we believe we are trusted and valued. Those who practice are always in that category. Be patient with difficult passages. Slow down and figure out what is daunting and how to solve those issues and then work through slowly enough to succeed. When frustration rises, walk away. When we return to a challenge with fresh eyes, more things are possible. Great music making, like fine wine, takes time. Give the tough parts your devotion every day with care and commitment. You will get where you are going if you go there with patience.

Coppers Classic will offer a community email digest so you can work on setting up local practice sessions. That will help so that  you won’t necessarily always need to practice “all by yourself”, but know that you can.

By the way, “All By Myself” is a song. I thought you might enjoy this rendition by 17 year old pianist Emily Bear combining Rachmaninoff with the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brVZBnIuXTY.

See you in October.