How to Recover from a Train Wreck

We all know that, despite hours of practice, sometimes a huge error creeps into a performance. One person's brain is switch-off, somebody blows through a fermata, one person turns two pages instead of one, you can fill in others. All groups have these. The sign of an advanced group is that they know how to pull themselves back together no matter what, leaving your audience none the wiser. This document, provided by permission of Campanile, can give you some tips on how to do the same.

RECOVERY

RULE #1

Don't panic. No matter what. Don't panic. In the first place, it's handbells, not brain surgery. You are not dismantling an atomic bomb. If you miss a note, if you miss a page, the world will go on, and so will your group. Panicking does nothing to help you get back on track.

Basics

Know Your Stuff

Know what your music sounds like, so if you completely lose it during a piece, you can instantly recognize where the group is by listening, and you can jump back in during a section that you're more comfortable with.

Know Where You Have Problems

If there's a section of a piece where you are more likely to have a problem, make a giant mark in your music at the beginning of the NEXT section. That way, if your "page from hell" leaves you lost, you know exactly where you can easily jump back on the caboose. Prepare for the problem you suspect will happen, and you'll know how to recover.

Know Your Stuff Despite Your Neighbor

Don't let your neighbor throw you off as long as the rest of the group is in the same place in the music as you are.

Conversely, if the group takes a wrong turn, jumps a measure, skips a line, forgets a fermata, go with the majority.

Trust Your Director (if you have one)

If you're completely lost, put your bells down, and stare at your director. Let your director get you back in the piece.

Maybe your director can show you measure numbers with one hand that's not visible to the audience. Maybe you have sections marked in your music with letter numbers, and your director can use sign language to show you "letter H" when it comes up.

[If you don't have a director standing in front of you waving a baton or his/her hands, designate one person to be always right. If the group gets off, this person's idea of where you are automatically wins.--PK]

Use Your Ears, Use Your Head

Listen carefully to how you fit in to the whole piece of music. If something sounds wrong to you, stop playing, and solve your problem. Listen to what's going on, and use your ears to fix your problem and get you back in the music.

Better Never Than Late

We have all had that moment when we have forgotten to pick up a bell, or have picked up the wrong one. As a general rule, don't ring it. It's far better from the audience's perspective to hear less notes than wrong notes.

Advanced Fakery

Experienced ringers know that there are many techniques which, if you keep your cool, can not only prevent a train wreck, but "cover up" a myriad of horrible mistakes.

You have the wrong bell in your hand: "Pretend" to ring it. Looks great, but no wrong note is heard.
You have played the melody notes in the wrong order: Play them "wrong" again in exactly the same way when the melody repeats. Unless you're playing something that is SO familiar, like Happy Birthday or Beethoven's fifth, your audience will only hear a "different interpretation".
You're completely lost: DON'T bend over your music and frantically flip pages. DO stare at your director (if you have one) or your neighbor until they show you where you are in the music.
You turn the page, and your pages are missing or in the wrong order: Sidle up to your neighbor and get cozy.
Your mallet, bell, notebook, whatever falls to the floor: Pick it up right away. If you don't, you're audience will not see or hear anything until you do. Don't prolong their misery.
[In some cases this might not be the best plan of attack. It might be more distracting to your audience to see you scrambling on the floor after an errant mallet than to just let it be. There are other mallets and music on the table for you to use; do so and retrieve the missing items in the next break (maybe even work the recovery into your schtick: "Ah, so that's where that went!"). You have to ask yourself, what will be more distracting: the presence of a music folder etc in the wrong place or the absence of a ringer from the right place?--PK]

Last, and most important: Whatever happens, don't show anything on your face but how much you love playing bells. Never flinch. Never giggle. Never say "OOPS". Never smile extra big. Never look at your neighbor when they play something just awful. NEVER SHOW YOUR AUDIENCE THE MISTAKE. If you don't show it to them, they won't see it anyway. Play even your worst mistakes with energy and confidence, and chances are, even if the rails are bumpy, the train won't leave the track.

Go back to: bells Bells home Main

Comment? Question? Complaint? kingsbur@unagi.cis.upenn.edu

kingsbur at unagi dot cis dot upenn dot edu

Last modified: Fri Jul 10 23:21:22 GMT