I apologize for the apparent lack of activity at Choraegus this past week! The real-life picture involved more than just sitting around; we participated in the Bay View Week of Handbells. BVWOH happens in the first half of August each year in Petoskey, Michigan. The “Bay View” part comes from the Bay View Association, a National Historic Landmark on the shore of Little Traverse Bay. Bay View, a Chautauqua institution, exists to promote and advance faith, culture, the arts, and recreation; BVWOH, of course, fits into the “arts” part.
Don Allured started BVWOH as a Bay View member in 1978. He created an opportunity for handbell directors to get further education about their instrument. Over the years, BVWOH evolved into a performance event, even commissioning special compositions to be premiered during that week.
After setting up late Sunday night, we rehearse for 25-30 hours over the next four days, followed by a free public concert on Thursday night. Note, however, that we’re supposed to arrive “performance ready” on Monday afternoon, which implies that we should have been practicing our own parts for months beforehand. The difficulty level of the music brings a huge challenge on its own… and then we have the privilege of interpreting it together under the baton of our director, Fred Gramann.
The official Bay View season (when the music, lectures, etc. happen) runs for eight weeks; BVWOH has become so dear to the Bay View community that they refer to our time there as “week nine”. They arrive early on Thursday evening and fill the auditorium, anticipating a marvelous musical time together.
The Thursday evening program frequently receives the understated designation “handbell choir concert”. This year, 108 musicians worked with a tremendous amount of bells and chimes (ten five-octave choirs’ worth, plus three sets of bass chimes and thirty aluminum bass bells). And it all comes together magnificently.
For the next day or two, you can get a taste of our experience there, because the livestream recording is still available for a bit longer. Do take a look!
