Bell choir to perform

Last Christmas season, the newly formed Sisters Premiere Handbell Choir presented a bell-ringing performance at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Sisters to an enthusiastic audience.

On May 16-17, they're going to do it again, in conjunction with the Sisters High Desert Choral, by presenting a program that bell director Lola Knox calls "The Three 'B's."

One would expect that to be the customary Bach, Beethoven and Brahms; but in this case it will be Bach, Beethoven and the Beatles.

The instruments the choir will be using do not look like "bells" as we know them; they are known as "tone chimes," which are considerably less expensive than hand bells. They play only one note and are held by hand, and since players can play only two bells or notes at one time, it takes a whole group of people to play a song.

Since the bell choir is all women, it may be more correct to refer to them as the "Belles of Sisters."

Handbells were invented by the Cor brothers in England in the 1600s, and it took 200 years for them to get to America, when they were introduced by Margaret Shurcliff in 1902.

For most arrangements, 11 to 12 players are required to handle songs arranged for three octaves of bells. The idea is for the song to sound like it's coming from one instrument, even though being played by many different individuals of varying musical backgrounds, not unlike a typical choir.

Members of the handbell choir, Glenda Sanders, Gayle Hoagland, Sue Edgerton, Gwen Philipson, Irene Liden, Thrisha Liddel and Frederica Piper are always looking for new members to help ring in the warmth of spring and summer. Performance days and times at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Sisters are: Saturday, May 16, 7 p.m.; Sunday afternoon, 2 p.m.