Little Bell Challenge: Bring 'Em On

I was thrilled when my bell choir director asked me to move to a new bell position a few weeks ago. I was just starting to feel as though I got the hang of my D5-E5 bells, when I happily took on the challenge of playing the smaller C6-D6 bells and chimes:


Playing smaller bells, I've discovered, means acquiring new skills and confidence—confidence that at least one person in the choir has verbalized she does not have in me, which is unfortunate. I am doing just fine with my little bells, and am starting to get the hang of playing two bells in each hand. At the same time, I have had to get used to finding my new notes in our shared music:


And these new notes are much more prominent in the music we play. Although I have been playing in the choir since September, it was only after our performance this past Sunday that a regular church member praised me for having just joined the choir. We performed "How Can I Keep From Singing," the exact version of which is on YouTube (although hard to hear). It was lovely.