The clear, ringing sound of handbells fills the music room, creating a unique harmony. The bells chime as LHS’s first ever handbell choir plays. At the heart of the group, music teacher Devin DiBernardo has begun hosting handbell choir practice Mondays after school, which currently holds 18 members.
“When we got an email from the Orchard Fellowship that they had four octaves of handbells they were looking to donate,” DiBernardo said, “[I] was like, ‘how can I say no to that?’”
DiBernardo “enjoys having the opportunity for a musical extracurricular” because not all students are able to fit a music class into their schedule.
“It’s a bit of a transition to only seeing [the members] once a week,” DiBernardo said. “The retention from one day to the next is a lot different in jazz or in concert band and orchestra where you worked on it yesterday as compared to ‘it’s been 2 weeks [since the last rehearsal].’”
Members of the choir were made aware of the newly forming ensemble through announcements during their music class. From there, students contacted DiBernardo with an interest in joining and then were added to the Google Classroom.
Senior Matt Mussen is one of the bassline ensemble members who took an interest in handbell choir, playing the larger, low pitched bells.
“Honestly, I just like the sound of the bells,” Mussen said. “[But that’s] half of it; I get to spend a lot of time with my buddies and just goof off and make music together, and that’s really just the greatest part about the choir.”
This group has brought fulfillment to handbell choir member junior Matt Parisi who has found his “calling” from being a part of the group.
“I feel like I’m accomplishing so much,” Parisi said, “and I just really appreciate this opportunity that Mr. D has given us to further advance my musical intelligence.”
Parisi has had “a really great experience” with the choir, even hoping to “carry [the] knowledge through his life,” while for Mussen, joining the handbell choir seemed like a “firm opportunity” to expand on his musical expertise.
“I typically play music through a wind instrument,” Mussen said, “so the switch to a percussive instrument is different because suddenly you need to have a lot more body awareness while you’re [playing].”
The group’s time together is, “genuinely so fun, despite it seeming silly,” according to Mussen.
Students who want to join should act fast and email Mr. DiBernardo before bells are fully occupied.
