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If you have been looking for something for your home-schooled student that qualifies as music education and haven’t been able to find just the perfect program yet, keep reading!

We have found that ringing in a handbell choir works well as a stand-alone music course for home-schooled students. It also proves to be a valuable asset to students who are studying other instruments… especially piano. Ringing in a handbell choir re-enforces and strengthens the student’s ability to read music and INCREDIBLY enhances their rhythm, making counting beats second-nature and (believe it or not!) FUN!

Currently we have ringing positions available in our beginner choir. Students applying for this choir do not need to have any musical experience, as we instruct them starting with the basics. Students that have had one year’s instruction in another instrument would also find this class very enjoyable.

We also have a position available in our intermediate choir. Students applying for this choir need to have a dedicated, committed approach to their music. If they have previous musical experience (any instrument) and are able to read music well this would be a great opportunity for them! Experience in ringing bells is not necessary.

We have had students coming to classes in Hatfield from Philadelphia, Norristown, Plumsteadville, Doylestown, Perkasie, Telford, Sellersville, Souderton, Boyertown, Harleysville, Hatfield, Lansdale, Collegeville, Audubon, Pennsburg, Green Lane, Pottstown, Quakertown and Fleetwood.

Our focus is in using handbell classes for education; but, also, to provide an experience and opportunity for the students to use their music to witness as well as minister the joy and love of Jesus to others.

We are now accepting applications for students interested in joining our choirs (based in Bucks/Montgomery County area) for the 2006-2007 school year. Class fees are $6 per student for each 70-minute class. Below you will find more about our program. If you have any other questions, please contact us!

In the beginning of the year 2000, we began coordinating our first choirs for local home-school families in a couple of different home-school support groups. Our intention was to provide a different choral experience for our local home-schooling students. It has taken the form of a music class where beginning students are taught basic music principles; more experienced students refine and build on musical skills they have already learned.

Our handbell choirs began with a three-octave set of Schulmerich Melodychimes and eleven students. Within eight months, our little group expanded to four octaves of chimes, three choirs and twenty-eight choir members. Excited students and parents began spreading the word to family, friends, and neighbors about the new program… the first of its kind in our area and possibly in the state of Pennsylvania.

Our instruments now include four octaves of both Schulmerich handbells and Melodychimes. We have also recently added a wildly fun three-octave set of Boomwhackers which adds to the excitement of handbell class for the children.

We have accepted students ranging in ages from six to eighteen years and have had marvelous success with every age in that range. We have divided our choirs into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Each choir except the beginner choir has classes that are approximately seventy minutes long and meet once a week.

Because the choirs are able to progress more when all of the students remain for the entire year, we request that students commit to come for the entire year (30 classes).These classes are divided into two semesters: fall/winter session, winter/spring session.

Christa, the director of the beginner choir, works with many of the younger set who usually have never seen a note before they entered our class. They are taught all parts of music including rhythm, dynamics, key signatures, and notation as well as how to handle and ring Melodychimes, and Boomwhackers (fun!); and, toward the end of a fifteen-week session, we may pull out the handbells for their first enjoyable "try."

These beginning students ring exercises using mostly quarter and half notes, and occasional eighth or dotted quarter notes; songs constructed of only chords; and the easiest music of level one. We mark each student's notes using two different colored highlighters for each piece of music (two ringers per book). Ages in this beginner choir generally range from six to eleven, but beginning ringer ages can reach into the teens as well. Class is 45 minutes long.

Our intermediate choir accepts older students who have at least a little knowledge of music or the capability of learning at a faster pace. This is also where our beginning choir ringers "graduate" to once they've mastered the first level. Here they have the opportunity to expand their abilities, sharpen their co-ordination, and learn to read the more complicated rhythm patterns. They ring level one and level two music. Ages in this choir generally are between eight and eighteen.

Our advanced choir is "fed" by our intermediate choir, mostly, as our accomplished intermediate choir members move to the advanced choir as space becomes available. Occasionally we may also receive an "experienced" ringer who has rung previously in either a church or school choir. These are all wonderful ringers who work well together.

We always look for two elements before we "graduate" ringers to this choir: ability and commitment level. New ringers must have the ability to ring a level that matches the current members of this choir as well as the commitment to attend regularly without fail (or pre-arranged necessary absence with the director). We have the requirement for all of our choirs that the members notify us prior to class time if they will be missing a class so we can arrange for a substitute ringer. For the advanced choir, however, because it is difficult to find substitutes to ring at their level, we ask for a very dedicated commitment. Ages of our advanced ringers are eleven to eighteen.

Our traveling choir is also "fed" by our intermediate choir and by advanced choir ringers who have the time and resources to travel and ring concert performances at venues out of the local area. Our travels have included Scotland and Ireland Tour, 2004; Midwest (Ohio) Tour, 2005; HersheyPark, PA (2006); and Germany Tour, 2007.

At the end of each session (twice a year) the One Voice Vocal Ensemble and the One Voice Handbell Choirs gather together and perform a choral concert to which family, friends, and the general public are invited. These concerts have always proven to be uplifting, encouraging, inspirational, and evangelistic in nature due to the types of solos and praise/worship songs that our ensmeble members sing.

Our students tell us that our classes are the highlight of their week, and we often hear moans and groans when we have to miss a week due to a holiday. When we have our summer break, our students tell us they are "absolutely dying" for classes to begin again in September. This warms our hearts as directors, as our goal is not only to provide a quality program for our students, but also a happy, rewarding experience they will never forget.