LAMB Logo

 

 

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 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 notesNow 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

 

Hit Counter