From 2005 to 2013, I founded and led Low Ding Zone, the World’s First Bass-Only Handbell Ensemble. Well, at any rate we think we had a solid claim to the title, since it was never contested. The name itself sparked a lot of fun; once I had the strange joy of watching a friend explain our group name to someone else… in Finnish. And we were honored to be in Overtones with a cover photo and an article entitled Low Ding Zone: How Low Can You Go?
Our purpose was to create and perform handbell music for bass ringers. I like to think that our actual mission was to create a new kind of strange chaos in the handbell world, especially because we had the not-completely-tongue-in-check motto “impossible is only the beginning”. So that meant that some significant proportion of our scores poked a bit of fun at the establishment, just because it could be done.
One of those pieces came from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcraker Suite”. The ballet dancers do so many agile and delightfully airborne moves; what if we created a bit of satire just by adding one word to the title, and went with the implications? Thus, the Dance of the Sugar Plum Sumo Fairy.
Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain the number of copies needed your handbell ensemble (plus the accompaniment score) – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details, and please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.
