International Handbell Symposium - Osaka 2010

Symposium - the Final Day

2010-08-07T17:10:00.000-07:00

Our last day of Symposium was filled with final concerts, banquets, farewells and photos. I shared in an earlier post that the participants at the event were divided into to two groups. Each group performed their own final concert - both open to the public - both on the same stage. We've all been wondering all week how this would work.

First - the stage we've seen all week during solo concerts and the site for this final concert, doubled in size overnight. This theater has adjustable seating - so 10 rows of seats retracted below the floor, the orchestra shell that had been in place for the solo concerts disappeared into walls and ceilings, and the stage extended beyond the original proscenium. It was an amazing transformation that actually made the seating more intimate for the final concerts.

Second - following our final massed rehearsal, all the bells were packed up and cases and foam for each group were loaded into what the HRJ volunteers referred to as "arrow boxes" - these are basically cages on wheels (a valuable asset that we should have at every handbell event). Two cages per choir carried bells and foam. The cages were labeled by choir and wheeled into storage rooms until set-up time for each group. When set-up time arrived, the appropriated cages were brought to the main hall stage for each choir to set-up. While one group was setting up and rehearsing for their final concert, the other went to another large room to make origami cranes.

Third - at concert time, the doors were opened to the public and the group not performing. This configuration allowed all the ringers the chance to hear the final concert as well as ring in it.

Once the first concert ended - the bells and foam for that concert were loaded back onto the arrow boxes and removed. Then, we all had lunch, and started the process all over again. This time the first performing group made origami cranes, while group 2 set-up and rehearsed. Then, another public concert.

Following the concerts, we packed everything up for the final time and prepared for the final banquet.

The Final Banquet and Closing Ceremonies at the International Symposium are a grand affair. Everyone dresses up - the men in suits and tuxes, the ladies in dresses or traditional cultural dress. The festivities began with the flag procession through the banquet hall and to the stage where the presidents of each Guild waited. This was followed by greetings/final thoughts from each representative. Before dinner began, the presidents gathered for the traditional breaking of the sake barrel (see the AGEHR Facebook page for a video of this). Each participant had a small wooden cup at their place at dinner for sampling the sake.

After dinner started, more greetings were delivered from a variety of guests and dignitaries representing countries where handbell guilds have just formed or are about to be formed. At one point, Debbie Rice and the guild representatives honored HRJ Executive Director, Sun Joo Shin for her 25 years of service to the international handbell community. It was Mrs. Shin who, with David Davidson, first conceived the idea of an International Handbell Symposium. She and David both recognized how music through handbells can unite people across languages, cultures and borders.

Before the end of the evening, the Symposium Bell and Flag were passed from HRJ to Alan Hartley, chairman of the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain, the hosts of the next Symposium in 2012. Then Alan extended the official invitation to all to attend the 15th International Handbell Symposium in Liverpool, England. Finally, the six guild representatives and the IHC executive director gathered to ring the closing chord.

Throughout it all - people were roaming from table to table sharing thank yous and farewells to friends made during the week or congratulations to those who worked so hard to make the event a success. Many small gifts are exchanged between friends and guilds. We all left with armloads of memories and cameras full of pictures. Promises are made to stay in touch through e-mail and to visit each other's homes when possible. All look forward to seeing new friends again at the next Symposium.

Symposium - Day 4

2010-08-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

Today began with a short, 30-minute, morning service. It was a very traditional Christian service - we sung two hymns, "Jesus Loves Me" and "Stand Up for Jesus", heard a sermon on David and Goliath, and ended with the Doxology. The hymn singing was accompanied by a handbell choir from Japan who also performed a short prelude and postlude. The spoken parts of the service were presented in both English and Japanese. The hymn singing was neat in that everyone sang in their own language - so a mix of Japanese, Korean and English-speaking voices blended in song - very cool actually.

Following the service we immediately started a massed ringing rehearsal - final run throughs for most of our conductors. From there, registrants split in two groups - while one got free time and lunch, and the other attended classes - then they switched. Classes today included "Ringing Japanese ANIME Themes", "Chinese Paper Cutting Art", "Traditional Games and Toys from Japan", "Analysis of 4-in-Hand Ringing", "Canadian Culture", "Mixed Meter Mastery" (taught by our Kath Wissinger), "Korean Cultural Experience", "Malmark Maintenance" (Kathy Ebling-Shaw), "Plum Flower and Beads", a treble technique class by Lynne Marks, "Scottish Country Dance", "Latin Dance" (taught by the choir from Campanas Universitarias), "Creative Use of Bells in Worship"(taught by David Weck and Jane Holstein), "Advanced Conducting".

In total, during the event, registrants had the option to attend 4 classes or to participate in one of six festival choirs. All the classes were well attended and full.

After class, there was one more massed ringing rehearsal before dinner. Following the rehearsal, everyone had to pack up bells, foam pads and covers, and load everything onto carts to be moved to our performance location which is the Main Hall where all the solo performances have been held. The Handbell Ringers of Japan have decided to go a different way for the final concert than has been tradition at past Symposia. Instead of all 850 ringers performing one final concert together, the group has been split. Half will perform at 11:00 AM this morning and the other half will perform at 4:00 PM this afternoon. Both perform on the same stage which means Group 1 will set-up at 8:30 this morning, have one run-through dress-rehearsal, perform their concert for the other half and public audience, and then tear the whole set-up down. After lunch, Group 2 will do the same thing all over again - set-up, rehearse, perform. It's going to be interesting. The conductors only get one run-through of their piece to check balance, etc. in the new performance space. Plus, ringers will be configured differently then they have been for all the rehearsals. For example - the AGEHR Ad-Hoc choir has been ringing in the 2nd row to the left of the conductor in rehearsals all week. For the concert this afternoon, we will be in the front row, to the right of the conductor. It just means we will all need to be more alert. I'll let you know how it goes!

Yesterday concluded with the Echoes for Peace Concert. This was basically a solo concert that was open to the public. Performers representing each IHC member country presented one piece. Then, following an intermission and stage re-set, the Echoes for Peace Choirs performed two pieces each. The Echoes for Peace Choirs are two of the festival choirs that registrants could choose to ring with instead of taking classes. These two were directed by Bill Griffin from AGEHR and Toshikazu Yoshida from HRJ. Each had four 1-hour rehearsals to pull together their two pieces. They were excellent! Videos of both are on the AGEHR Facebook page.

Following the concert, a group of us visited what has become one of our favorite landing places in the hotel, a bar called the Cellar. It is in the basement of the hotel and somewhat off the beaten path - you have to know where you're going to find it. They have a great "mixed pizza" - that savior for many whose taste buds have been challenged by the food provided at the event. With our pizza we enjoyed some good wine and Japanese beer. I have a feeling we'll be returning there after tonight's final banquet!

Symposium - Day 3

2010-08-05T06:25:00.000-07:00

Day 3 began for many with a 7:00 AM departure for an excursion to Kyoto, Japan's former capital city and home to numerous ancient shrines, temples and beautiful gardens. For some (including me) it was an opportunity to get some extra rest and relax a bit after some long days. Those of us who stayed behind enjoyed a short walk through downtown Osaka to a local bakery for lunch. We will have another opportunity to visit Kyoto on our own after Symposium is over and before we head home.

When everyone returned, the first order of business was the traditional group photo of all the Symposium participants. This event's photo was taken outside on a large plaza at the Grand Cube Convention Center. The photographers were lifted above us in a crane while we all gathered together for the photo. I've posted a video and a few photos of part of the process on the AGEHR Facebook page (or will very soon). Following the large group photo, smaller groups gathered for more "official" pictures.

From there we moved to the Main Hall for the 3rd International Solo Concert. Each of these gets better than the last. This concert featured performers from Hong Kong, Japan and our own Barbara Brocker who played a beautiful duet for bell tree and koto, a traditional Japanese string instrument. A video of this performance (as well as a couple others from this concert) is on the AGEHR Facebook page - the two instruments worked so well together - a wonderful performance.

Following the Solo Concert, we went directly to the massed rehearsal room for our 3rd massed rehearsal. Music is coming together very well for the most part. Each conductor is only getting a total of 90 minutes to rehearse their piece before the concert, and much of their time is taken up waiting for translations between English, Japanese, and Korean. Despite these challenges, all are doing a fine job of getting what they need from their time. The AGEHR ad-hoc choir is in the second row from the director, position between two of the very best Japanese choirs in attendance. This is both intimidating and helpful (we can always listen to them for help along the way!)

By the rehearsal ended at 7:15 PM, we were all ready for dinner. After dinner, it was the 4th International Solo Concert - again, better than the one before. While all the choirs have given fine performances, none have just made my jaw drop the way some did on this final concert. The first was ALPHA, a group from Japan led by Kunihiko Taniuchi, one of the massed Japanese directors in Orlando. Check out the video of their performance on the AGEHR Facebook page - so musical, so accurate, a technical showpiece and a joy to watch. WOW! Then a gorgeous performance of Sharon's Song by the Grace Handbell Choir, under the direction of Akira Honda. Mr. Honda has been serving as the emcee for these concerts along with Arthur Shin - Akira does the Japanese and Arthur the English. They are a hoot putting on their own little act as we transition from one group to the next. It was great to this musical side of Akira - a very sensitive performance (also posted). There was also a fun performance of "The Lonely Goatherd" from Sound of Music by the Hallelujah Handbell Choir from Korea and a great malletted version of Carmen by the Festival Handbell Ensemble, also from Korea. When you watch the video of their performance, note the little girl playing triangle - she also served as the flag bearer for Korea in the Opening Ceremonies.

Tomorrow, we start at 8:30 AM with a worship service, then on to more rehearsals and classes. Only two days left!

Symposium Day 2

2010-08-04T17:13:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of the International Handbell Symposium was full of solo concerts and classes. We started at 8:30 AM with the first solo concert featuring choirs, teams, and ensembles from Japan and Korea. The highlight was the two choirs from the Shoei Girls Senior High School. Both rang without a director. Their junior choir played Hart Morris' Bugler's Holiday and the senior choir played a setting of the Bacchanale from Sampson and Deliliah. It was fun watching how these girls worked together, listened and watch each other to keep the ensemble together through tempo changes, style changes, and multiple bell changes and sharing. A video will be posted to the AGEHR Facebook page later. This concert also featured a performance by the Little Angels from a special needs school in Korea. A wonderfully inspiring performance by this group making their debut in front of an international audience.

Following the solo concerts, participants had the opportunity to attend their first class sessions. The HRJ has divided the 800+ registrants into two groups - Fuji & Sakura. While one group attends class, the other either has free-time or their provided lunch - and then reversed. There were two class sessions that followed this pattern. Topics include a mix of technical and cultural themes such as "Bonseki - Traditional Tray Art", "Traditional English Canalware Painting", "Make and Play Your Own Bell Tree" (taught by our own Barbara Brocker), "Jaigi-Chagi - Fun From Korea", "Team Building on Handbells" (taught by Marlene Anderson and some of her youth) "New Music From Japan". The 2nd Session included - "U.S. Publisher Reading Sessions" (lead by David Weck), "Music Therapy", "Kiwi, Koalas, and Kangaroos", "Stopped Sounds for the Battery" (taught by me).

Teaching a class at Symposium is an interesting endeavor. I taught my session twice - once with 34 students, the second with 38. Most did not speak English, but I had a wonderful young man serving as my translator. I would introduce a technique, demonstrate it to the group and then have them try it with a variety of short exercises. Then, I would walk around the room to assist individuals as they tried it. My translator followed closely behind me to help me in communicating where needed. After each class, several came forward asking me if they could take a picture with me. It was very sweet. The whole experience was a lot of fun.

After classes, another solo concert. This concert featured more from Japan and Korea as well as soloist Susan Hitch from California, and the Campanas Universitarias ringers from Puerto Rico. The concert began with the adorable students from the Shiatsu Hananoki Kindergarten Handbell Choir. A video of their performance will be available on the AGEHR Facebook page later. This group was so fun to watch. They did a great job and were smiling the whole time. Some of the kids were only slightly bigger then the bells they rung. So cute!

The two performances representing AGEHR did a very fine job. Susan's solo of What a Wonderful World was graceful and musical and Campanas Universitarias had everyone clapping and dancing in their seats with exciting Latin rhytms and energy.

Following the solo concert, David Weck and I had the honor of participating in a special memorial service for David Davidson. David was a long time friend to the Handbell Ringers of Japan and their executive director, Sun-Joo Shin. Mrs. Shin contact me shortly after David's death last September to tell she wanted to include this service for David in the Symposium agenda. It was David and Mrs. Shin that first conceived of the idea of an International Handbell Symposium and worked to make it a reality. It was a lovely service, coordinated by Nozumo Abe of the HRJ and Eileen Laurence of AGEHR. For many in the international community, this was their first opportunity to pay their respects to David and his many contributions to handbells around the world.

The evening concluded with our second Massed Ringing Rehearsal.

Another full and exhausting day!

A New Member in the International Handbell Committee

2010-08-03T14:39:00.001-07:00

I forgot about one very important announcement at yesterday's Opening Ceremonies. We are now seven countries. The new member will be added to the end of this hosting cycle, therefore hosting their first Symposium in 2020. So the new roster of the International Handbell Committiee, in Symposium hosting order is:

American Guild of English Handbell Ringers
Handbell Ringers of Japan
Handbell Ringers of Great Britian
Korean Handbell Association
Handbell Guilds of Canada
Handbell Society of Australasia
Handbell Association of Hong Kong

Congratulations to Emily Li for all her hard work in making this a reality!

Symposium Day 1

2010-08-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

The Opening Ceremonies for the International Handbell Symposium were held in a grand concert hall at the Osaka Convention Center. This same hall will be the site for all the International Solo Concerts and the two Final Concerts for the event. It is a beautiful theater with amazing acoustics.

As is tradition, the ceremony began with the procession of the flags of the six IHC member countries and the official International Handbell Committee flag. Each member country selected a flag bearer to process with their flag and lead in the representative for that country's guild. As each contingent processed through the aisles of the hall, one the HRJ Adult Handbell Ensembles played that country's national anthem while their delegation stood. It was lovely to hear each anthem - from Oh Canada and Waltzing Matilda to the beautiful anthems of Japan and Korea, to our own Star Spangled Banner - all on handbells. Another great thing to see - in almost all cases, a young person was chosen as the flag bearer for each country.

Following the procession we received greetings from Mr.Shigeaki Hinohara (who is 99 years old and apparently quite a celebrity in Japan), Debbie Rice, and a representative of the Osaka Prefectural Government. Then a wonderful performance of two pieces by the Kobe YMCA Bell Choir under the direction of Nozomu Abe. Finally the ceremony concluded with the ringing of the Opening Chord by the representatives of the IHC. It was quite charming as 7 young volunteers from HRJ each knelt before one member of the committee to hand them crisp white gloves and one bell. Then, all 7 committee members stood as one and rung the chord. A simple representation of the meaning of this event - many countries, cultures and guilds coming together for one single purpose - making music together in peace and harmony.

From the Opening Ceremony we went immediately to our first massed rehearsal with our 7 conductors - one from each country plus one to conduct the composition winner. Each had 20 minutes to take us through their piece for the first time - while waiting for translations between English, Korean and Japanese as they went. The repertoire is an eclectic mix of styles that will make for a wonderful final concert. Conductors are kept on schedule by yellow and red flashing lights at the back of the room.

As usually happens at these events, our rehearsal ran a little long, so we had just enough time for announcements and a very quick stop in out hotel room before boarding buses to KACHOEN, Exotic Flowers and Birds Park. Here we had dinner and the traditional gift exchange. After dinner, all attendees are encouraged to walk the room, meet new people and exchange small gifts that they've brought with them. It is a lot of fun. I have quite a collection of gifts that I need to sort through. While all of this was happening, we were entertained by a great jazz combo and an acapella vocal quartet. This quartet was such fun - very good and neat to watch. I got a video of them singing "I've Been Working on the Railroad" - great stuff. It's posted on the AGEHR Facebook page (see below).

Rather than try to include photos within this post, I have uploaded them to the AGEHR Facebook page. Check them out at www.facebook.com/agehrinc.

I'm exhausted after this full and exhilarating day - to bed! Another full day tomorrow!

Some Random Thoughts & Observations

2010-08-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

I have a little time this morning before the Opening Ceremony and thought I would share a few random observations and experiences of the past few days....

First - it is so fun seeing everyone arrive at the event. Each day has brought more familiar faces - many that I saw just a couple of weeks ago in Nashville - Dave and Dian Ruder, John Pfeiffer, Debbie Rice, Roy and Jennie Blomquist - and more that I haven't seen in awhile both from the U.S. and elsewhere. It just reminds me how small a community we have - despite how spread out we are. Seeing international friends like Carmel Daveson from Australia, Allison Wood from Canada, Alan & Margaret Hartley and Sandra and Martin Winter from the UK, and more, has been wonderful. All are so gracious and warm and genuinely happy to see us as well. Friendships made at these events - both our national events and these International Symposia - endure for years. Several of us just witnessed a lovely reunion in the lobby between an American girl and a British boy (teens) that met at the Symposium in Orlando and have been carrying on a long distance romance ever since. It was the classic movie scene where they see each other across the room and run to meet in an embrace. Very sweet. Too bad I didn't have my camera ready to capture it.

Second - a very random observation that just makes me laugh. In the public restrooms at the hotel and the convention center, the toilets all have a button with two musical notes on it and the words "flushing sound". When pushed speakers play the sound of a flushing toilet - the toilet doesn't actually flush, there's another button for that. I've never seen that before.

Third - I am proud to share that AGEHR has the largest contingent (aside from the Japanese) in attendance at this event. Our delegation totals 116. The next largest comes from Korea with 83, then Hong Kong with 82, Singapore with 31, the UK - 30, Canada and Australasia - 9 each, Taiwan and the Philippines - 3 each, and China - 2. Japan has 734 for a total of 1102.

Finally - The Handbell Ringers of Japan have over 150 volunteers assisting them this week at the event. They are almost all young people and are so helpful and kind. Anything we need they are there to help us find - often jumping in to assist without being asked. Always smiling and bowing and excited to be part of this event.

More later - photos from the Opening Ceremony and first rehearsal as well as our visit to the exotic bird and flower garden tonight.

International Handbell Committee - The Meeting

2010-08-02T06:14:00.000-07:00

Today was spent in the International Handbell Committee (IHC) meeting. We started at 9:00 AM and continuted until just after 5 PM. The IHC agenda started with with a variety of policy items -welcomes, approval of minutes, review the mission and vision statements, defining criteria for membership to the IHC, and developing a policy for transacting business of the committee electronically.

We also voted to accept a new guild to the committee, bringing our total membership to 7 and adding another country to the rotation for future Symposia. The country will be officially announced at tomorrow's Opening Ceremonies - so you will need to wait until tomorrow's post to find out where the 2020 Symposium will be held. This is quite an historic occassion for the IHC - the first new member admitted since the Committee was formed.

All of the above happened before lunch.

After a wonderful lunch provide by the Handbell Ringers of Japan, we learned about the plans for the 2012 Symposium in Liverpool,UK, and the 2014 Symposium on Jeju Island of South Korea. Both will be wonderful events - for more information on Livepool visit http://www.symposium.hrgb.org.uk/. More details about 2014 will be available later - but the brochures provided about Jeju show a gorgeous island community billed as the honeymooners capital of Korea. This beautiful Pacific island paradise promises to be an ideal location for 2014.

Later in the afternoon we received reports on ringing in countries without organized guilds and about recently formed guilds. An exciting report showing handbells growing around the world with new guilds forming in Israel, China, Taiwan, and Singapore.

We concluded the meeting with discussion about ways in which members can work together to achieve the overall mission of the IHC. By the 2012 meeting, reports will be presented on work in the following areas: Supporting and strengthening ringing where it exists (either with or without and organized guild) and developing international standards of music education and promoting handbells internationally as a music education tool.

After the meeting, returning to the hotel, we began to see many more familiar faces arriving for the event. Things get started tomorrow with Opening Ceremonies at 1:00 PM, our first massed rehearsal at 2:00 PM and an evening excursion and dinner at an exoctic bird and flower garden.

The International Handbell Committee

2010-08-01T05:49:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I spend most of the day meeting with the International Handbell Committee (IHC). This group is made up of the six countries that share in the hosting rotation of the International Handbell Symposium - Australasia (Australia, New Zealand), Canada, Great Britain, Japan, Korea, and the U.S. The committee meets every two years at the Symposium. This makes that one meeting very intense as we try to work through two years worth of business in 8 hours. AGEHR president, John Pfeiffer, will join me in representing AGEHR at this meeting.

The Mission Statement of the IHC is the promotion of the art of handbell ringing throughout the world.

The Vision of the IHC:
We, the International Handbell Committee, share a passion for the love of music expressed through handbells. As the International Committee dedicated to this art, we articulate our vision for the future to promote:
1. communication between nations,
2. handbells as a musical art,
3. world peace through the spirit of music.

At this meeting, we will discuss ways all the member guilds can work to achieve this mission and vision. In addition, this year we will be reviewing possible additions to the committee from some newly formed guilds around the world. Since I'm uncertain what I am at liberty to share with you about this - I will withhold additional information until after the meeting (where I will get some guidance from those more knowledgeable than I on the issue).

This will be my second IHC meeting. The first was in Orlando in 2008 when AGEHR hosted the last Symposium. It is an interesting experience as we are communicating across three languages and often using a variety of meeting etiquette's - based on practices each representative is accustomed to from their own country.

I haven't seen anyone I know yet other than David and Jane Weck, who joined me for dinner this evening after their arrival this afternoon. That will change tomorrow! I'll post more pictures and details then.

Arrival

2010-07-31T19:46:00.000-07:00

Flying into Osaka was interesting. My plane landed just before 9:00 PM and it was night time so I couldn't see much. As we made our approach to the airport, a fireworks display was underway. It was quite a site to see from the plane. I had a window seat so was able to enjoy it all. It seemed as though Osaka was celebrating out arrival.

Throughout the flight the video monitors on the plane displayed the moving map showing our progress from Seoul to Osaka. Based on that map, it appeared as though we were landing in the middle of the water of Osaka Bay. Since it was dark out, I couldn't see anything of our approach - it was black below us. I could see the lights of the city on the shore, so it definitely felt like we were about to land in the bay. Then the runway lights appeared below and we were on the ground. This morning I pulled up the map of Osaka on Google Earth and Kansai International Airport actually is its own little island in the bay connected to the shoreline by one long bridge.

The host hotel for the Symposium in the Rihga Royal Hotel - connected directly to the Grand Cube Osaka, the convention center where the event activities will take place. The Rihga Royal is a beautiful hotel. I explored a bit this morning after my "American breakfast" and discovered several restaurants offering a variety of cuisines from traditional Japanese, to French, Italian, Chinese, etc. There are also several bars, a gourmet food shop (that I will have to check out later today), and a variety of high-end retail shops offering Hermes, Lalique, and the like. Also a pharmacy, a Panasonic store, a florist and more. In addition, there are several beautiful gardens around parts of the hotel that deserve some attention later in the trip.

My room is decent size. I love that they provide comfortable cotton kimono robes. I've included a couple of pictures of my room - the kimono is neatly folded on the bed (by housekeeping - not me).

I'll add some photos of the rest of the hotel area later today.

All for now. Please post any questions or suggestions of what you would like to hear about the trip in the comments.

Introduction - in transit

2010-07-30T06:20:00.000-07:00

My first post comes to you from the Detroit airport. I have a 3- hour lay over before my flight to Seoul. I connect to Osaka from there. I finnally arrive in Osaka at 9 PM local time. Thankfully there is nothing on my schedule until Monday morning when I join representatives of the other countries that make-up the International Handbell Committee for our bi-annual meeting. More on that later.

I plan to spend much of my 13.5 hour flight from Detroit to Osaka reviewing the stack of documents and proposals that are on the agenda for that meeting - all from my Kindle (one of the cool things about Kindle is the ability to load personal documents as pdfs). I will also be reviewing the massed ringing music and rehearsal notes from the conductors.

As this journey continues I will share details of the event and sites of Japan, post photos and video, and answer questions from you. So let me know what you want hear about by commenting on this and subsequent posts. I promise future postings will be more interesting than this one!