Walnut Grove’s Topham Elementary will be ringing with the sound of handbells tomorrow (Feb. 17).
The ‘Ring Out 2018’ Youth Handbell event happens Saturday at the school, 21555 91 Ave.
It gets underway at 9 a.m. and goes until 3 p.m.
Students in Grades 4 to 12 from across the Lower Mainland, to improve their handbell ringing skills.
Students will be in workshops throughout the day, with a lunch break from 12 to 12:40 p.m., where they will have time to eat and play some games.
There will be a miniature concert in the gym at 3 p.m. where students will perform the pieces they learned and worked on throughout the day.
“This is a giant push for most students, and helps them feel more confident in their Handbell Choirs at school or helps to ready them to start Handbell Choir in a Community Group,” said Elizabeth Eckert, the education director with the British Columbia Guild of English Handbell Ringers.
Eckert, who is also a music teacher at Topham Elementary, said the guild’s goal is to promote and help foster handbell ringing around B.C.
Visit www.bcgehr.com, and there is a registration package on the website under ‘workshops’ tab.
As for Eckert, she says she has had a passion for music from a variety of time periods and cultures from a young age.
“My family exposed me to it through handbells, learning instruments, dance and singing. As I’ve grown, I’ve come to experience that music can connect peoples from all over the world, and help us to understand, love and respect each other through it, and the varieties by which it can be expressed,” Eckert said. “Handbells is a medium where students can learn to experience, create and share music in yet another way. This is why I feel it so valuable.”