We have practice tracks for many of our unaccompanied ensemble works (eight, twelve, or sixteen handbells) so that if you happen to have a group of ringers who need or want to work independently, they can use these MP3s to get a sense of how everything sounds together. They, of course, will also be just as useful if all of your group is practicing in the same place at the same time, as long as you can play them back loudly enough to hear them as you play.
Each track plays back at (approximately) the tempo of the demonstration videos on our website – so that’s full performance tempo according to the score. Fortunately, there are apps such as AudiPo and the Amazing Slow Downer that you can use to play our practice MP3s; their user interfaces have controls that allow you to change the playback speed to fit your rehearsal. They’re available for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, too, so you’ll be good to go once you decide which app you want.
Each practice track begins with a couple of bars of clicks (as in metronome) to indicate when the actual music starts. If there’s a pickup note, it’ll be at the end of the second of those bars. Also, tempo changes (rit and accel, for instance) typically have additional clicks (e.g. eighth notes in 4/4) for beat subdivisions so you can sense the amount of tempo change more easily.
Note: If you’re looking for practice tracks for one of our “dual-range”™ eight-bell scores, you should note that those MP3s are sold separately for F5-based and G5-based versions. We recommend that you scan or even play through both versions of the score, and then decide which practice track you need. Remember… if you get the one that’ll work for tonight’s rehearsal, you can always return to add the other one to your collection if you need it later.
