Making Joyful Music
  • Home
    • Virtual Videos >
      • Handbell Virtual Recordings
      • Flute Virtual Recordings
  • Flute
  • Handbells
  • Vocal
  • Piano
  • Links
  • about Us
    • about Blanche Marie Lewis
    • about Mark Lewis
    • about Robby Lewis
    • additional publications
  • Contact Us
  • Upcoming Events
  • Storefront
  • Blessed Mess

Creative Planning . . . or Planned Creativity . . .

5/9/2021

1 Comment

 
By nature, I am a creative individual.
By nature, I am a planner.
How does that work? Aren't those opposite? Or non-compatible?
Actually, I've found that the combination of the two is what has made my life livable throughout many different circumstances over the years.
Today's performance by one of my handbell ensembles is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.
When the pandemic started last year, all rehearsals went on hiatus - and all my performance plans went out the window. Over the course of the year, some ensembles were able to re-start (physically distanced) rehearsals and performances while others were still on hiatus. And even in the groups that re-started rehearsals, not all of the previous members were able to restart with them. So plans kept happening - and changing as the pandemic continued  - and everyone's 'reality' morphed on a daily/weekly basis.
One of my ensembles started back with 5 of the original ringers, so I pulled some of our 12 bell ensemble pieces to work on. Over the course of a few months, 2 more ringers were able to rejoin us. Yay - more ringers! Augh - more ringers - how do I fit them into the music that we've been rehearsing?! Ah - that's where the creativity comes in - adding bass notes on singing bells or adding various percussion instruments has enhanced our performances and given everyone an opportunity to participate. But this morning I pushed (shoved? pressured? encouraged?) one of my ringers out of his comfort zone! I had chosen Sandra Eithun's 12 bell arrangement of "Shall We Gather at the River" for our Mother's Day performance. It's a lovely arrangement that I've had other groups play previously. But I took us in a slightly different direction this time - 6 ringers played the piece as written - but they played everything on handchimes, and had 1 of my ringers play the melody on a bell tree! He had never played a bell tree before, but . . . oh, well . . . 
It actually turned out beautifully! He went from not knowing how to put together (or play on) a bell tree, to practically memorizing the music and taking the center spot with confidence and aplomb! 
So, a little bit of planning combined with a little bit of creativity AND a lot of flexibility and cooperation. It's a basic recipe for success as far as I'm concerned.
1 Comment

    Author

    This page is for those blessed messes that Blanche Marie gets to experience and would like to share with you!

    Archives

    May 2022
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
    • Virtual Videos >
      • Handbell Virtual Recordings
      • Flute Virtual Recordings
  • Flute
  • Handbells
  • Vocal
  • Piano
  • Links
  • about Us
    • about Blanche Marie Lewis
    • about Mark Lewis
    • about Robby Lewis
    • additional publications
  • Contact Us
  • Upcoming Events
  • Storefront
  • Blessed Mess