Tunes help!

[Dawby]

Hey, all. I need some help coming up with some fun, cool tunes to arrange for bells and keep the attention of especially the bunch of boys I have.

I have a surprising number of boys in my younger handbell group, most of which I am likely to lose in a few years. While there are always one or two boys that will stick around because they like music, keeping boys involved in any kind of choir or music ensemble is dependent on a few things. One is that there are other boys participating so that it doesn't seem like a "girl" activity. If you are lucky enough to have a group of boys, then you have to keep their attention, and the pretty sound of handbells ringing pretty church hymns doesn't keep the interest of a boy in the same way that it does a girl.

I've decided on "Chopsticks", "Korobeiniki" (the Tetris theme), and probably "Can Can", even though I loathe it. Maybe "Heart and Soul", too.

Anybody else have an idea?

[SunBlind]

Any kind of movie/tv theme? Like Star Wars, Spiderman or Superman? Stuff like that? I have no idea what would be workable with bells and what wouldn't *g* I remember I hung around taking piano lessons longer than I would have normally because I got the score for the Phantom of the Opera ^___^ I wonder if I can still play the Music of the Night....

I was in a choir in elementary school and it was definitely a mostly girls thing I have to admit. I guess the guys were doing sport or the chess club and stuff (though I did the chess thing too, won first place one year too, heh) Yes, I was a nerd ^^ And now I'm a computer engineer ~.^

[Dawby]

Superman would probably work on bells, and I know there already is a John Williams bell medley out there with Close Encounters, Star Wars, and a few others. The problem is keeping it simple. Too notey or too rhythmey and it's going to be too hard for my beginners.

All total, I have 6 boys and 6 girls in my handbell program, which is nice to have it so even. I have a very young chime choir, too, but that one is 8-2 in favor of the girls.

I did sit down today and write a simple yet pretty cool (if I do say so myself!) arrangement of Chopsticks for my bells. I'm pretty proud of it and if I could figure out how to make a midi file of it, I'd post it here.

[SunBlind]

I would be neat to hear your students play ^_^