- Hyosang Park and a church member performed a handbell duet at a recent church service.
The PUMC Ringers play at a worship service approximately once a month. The Ringers play on 5 Octaves of Malmark Bells and 5 Octaves of Malmark Choir Chimes. They also perform two concerts a year and make visits to local nursing homes.
The Ringers meet for rehearsals every Sunday at 12:15 p.m. following the second worship service in the music room.
The Ringers welcome musicians and speedy learning non-musicians to play weekly in this choir. Bell choir music adds distinctive sonorities to Sunday worship and to special occasions. The choir participates once a month at both services and rehearses all other Sundays. If you can read music and are eager to learn more about ringing handbells and chimes, welcome!
If unsure as to whether you are ready, contact Hyosang at Hyosang(at)princetonumc.org. She will guide you step by step.
The Handbell Choir Celebrates a Complete 5 Octave Set of Handbells
The Handbell choir at Princeton United Methodist Church started playing on 3 octaves of borrowed bells in the year 2000/2001. In 2003, Yvonne Macdonald, the handbell choir director, was informed that the borrowed bells needed to be returned to the original owner.
Not long after everyone heard the news, a fund was started to raise money for PUMC’s handbell set. Major contributors were the Covino family and a $1000 grant from AGEHR (American Guild of English Handbell Ringer). Other smaller amounts were collected. The handbell choir, chancel choir, teen and Intermediate choirs gave a concert on June 6, 2004 to raise funds to cover the expense.
In June 2004, PUMC purchased a 3 octave set of handbells from Malmark. A church family gave a fourth octave handbell set to PUMC in 2005, another member gave an aluminum F#3 bell in memory of Peggy Fullman and the handbell choir gave G#7. Over the next four years another family gave A#7, B7, C8 and aluminum bells (G3, G#3, D3, D#3, and E3) as memorials to their friends and family. In summer of 2009, an anonymous contributor gave an aluminum C#3 to PUMC. Now the PUMC handbell choir plays on a complete 5 octave set of handbells and a 4 octave set of choir chimes.
