About L.A.M.B.
The Lansing Area Ministry of Bells (LAMB) was founded in 1984 by Jane C.
Wright to promote the art of handbell ringing and to provide a structure to
support the Spring Ring, a local massed ringing event held in the Lansing,
Michigan, area each year in the late winter or early spring. Jane also founded the Capital City Community Ringers (now the Capital City Ringers,
Inc.) in 1984, and still directs this group. The Lansing Area Ministry of
Bells and the Capital City Ringers are officially sister
organizations. Jane, who is currently the Minister of Music at Westwood United Methodist
Church in Kalamazoo, was for many years the Minister of Music at Mt. Hope United Methodist Church in
Lansing and directed the handbell choir there.
L.A.M.B. sponsors two events annually; the Spring Ring and the Beginning Ringers & Directors Workshop, each spring and fall, respectively.
Spring Ring
The major event sponsored by the Lansing Area Ministry of Bells is the
Spring Ring, a gathering of about 250 ringers from about 25 churches each
year. We have had many well-known handbell directors and composers/arrangers as guest conductors of the Spring Ring, such as Arnold
Sherman, Tim Waugh, Douglas Wagner, Hart Morris, Susan Berry, Lee Afdahl, Bill Griffin, and Carl Wiltse, to name a few.
26th Annual Spring
Ring - 2010
Next Spring Ring: Saturday, March 13,
2010
Location: Waverly High School, Lansing, MI
Guest Conductor: Lee Afdahl
 |
Lee J. Afdahl: L.A.M.B. proudly
welcomes Mr. Afdahl back for an unprecedented 4th time as
clinician for the Spring Ring!
Lee J. Afdahl is the Director of Music and Organist of First Presbyterian Church of Rochester, Minnesota, a position he has held since 1991. A graduate of Luther College, Decorah, IA, Lee is a church musician with over thirty-five years of experience in leading active programs of choral and handbell ensembles in Michigan and Minnesota.
Lee is frequently a conductor and clinician for handbell conferences, choral workshops, and church music conferences internationally. He has conducted AGEHR events at the local, area, and national levels, for handbell classes of American Guild of Organists events (including 2008 in Minneapolis), and international handbell events in England and Australia.
In 2006 through 2008, Mr. Afdahl conducted handbell festival conferences in Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota (Area VII Festival Conference), Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Texas (Area IX Festival Conference), Vermont, and Virginia.Mr. Afdahl has served the AGEHR as Michigan Chair for Area V, and Chair of Area VII. During his tenure, he attended national board meetings representing Area VII, and under his leadership Area VII began a policy of encouraging younger conductors to have a turn at conducting at massed ringing events.
Lee is an active organ recitalist and published composer and arranger of handbell and choral music with over fifty compositions and arrangements in print. His arrangement of the tune ‘Jerusalem’ entitled “O Day of Peace” was rung at the 2006 International Handbell Symposium in Australia. |
The following Spring Ring publications are available for
download; most are in .pdf
format:
Newsletter - Winter
2010
Repertoire for 2010 - (Revised 10/1/09)
Registration Form - for Spring Ring 2010
Rehearsal
Notes from Lee Afdahl - 2010
Confirmation
Letter - Now available!
Director's Choir Assignments and Info - Now available!
Quick notes - Now available!
Schedule for Saturday - Now available!
Floor Layout (know where
your group will be) Now available!
Repertoire
Reading Session music list
Publicity Article
- for 2010
Map
to Waverly High School - MapQuest map with directions
Map to Waverly High School - in
.pdf format
Restaurant Guide for Waverly HS area
- in .pdf format
Additional articles:
Capital City Ringers newsletter: "Ring
Tones"
Michigan Ringer
article featuring Capital City Ringers' and LAMB's 25th Anniversary
Frequently Asked Questions Page
is here...
Beginning Ringers
and Beginning Directors
Workshops
LAMB also sponsors a Beginning Ringers Workshop and
Beginning Directors Workshop in late September each year. These sessions help new ringers and
directors gain confidence in their ringing ability and learn the various handbell techniques commonly found in handbell music.
Nicole Leppala, Music
Director at Hope Lutheran Church in DeWitt, Michigan, leads the
Beginning Ringers Workshop and Jane Wright leads the Beginning Directors Workshop. Kim and Lorraine Finison demonstrate basic handbell techniques as
well as advanced treble bell and bass bell techniques.
Next Workshops: Saturday, September 18, OR October 2, 2010 (stay tuned)
Location: Mayflower Congregational Church
2901 W. Mt. Hope Ave., Lansing, MI 48911 [click
here for map and directions]
Registration forms are available for download in .pdf
format:
Ringers Registration Form
Directors Registration Form
Map and Directions to Mayflower Congregational Church
Links
American Guild of English
Handbell Ringers (AGEHR)
Area V - AGEHR (Michigan,
Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia)
Capital City Ringers -
Lansing area community handbell ensemble & sister organization of LAMB
LAMB Board
The current members of the LAMB Board of Directors are:
President - Gary Masters,
handbell director, Grace United Methodist Church, Lansing
President-Elect - Laura Knudson ,
handbell director, First Presbyterian Church, Holt
Past President - Jennifer Scholes,
handbell director, University United Methodist Church, East Lansing.
Treasurer - Eileen Ellis, handbell director,
South Church, Lansing.
Secretary - Lorraine Finison, ringer, Capital City Ringers
and Mayflower Congregational Church, Lansing.
Member-at-Large, Webmaster, Go-fer,
& All-around Great Guy - Kim
Finison, Ringer, Capital
City Ringers & Mayflower Church.
Any questions about the Lansing Area Ministry of Bells and the events it sponsors should be directed to Secretary Lorraine Finison at
BellGoddess (at) hotmail (dot) com or by calling 517.321.3221.
Last update:
10/01/2009
Lansing
Area Ministry of
Bells
© 2003
All rights reserved
