Handbells In Worship

Handbell ringing is an English art that has made a phenomenal appearance in American worship in this century. This article explains the various kinds of handbells, how to organize a handbell group, and how and where to use handbells in worship. History Since about the fourteenth century, handbells have provided tower ringers with the opportunity for practice for ringing a peal of bells in changes, or mathematical sequences until all conceivable combinations are exhausted. If you lived near a peal of bells, you would be most grateful that ringers practice with handbells and not the bells in the tower! It was natural that these ringers should experiment with harmony on their practice bells, and thus the handbell became a new musical instrument, playing simple tunes with simple harmonies. Mrs. Margaret Surcliff, who organized a band of ringers in Boston in l923, is given credit for introducing the handbell to America. My own introduction to the instrument occurred some thirty years a…