Wilkine Brutus from WLRN came to visit and interview us!

 

Wilkine Brutus reported, "The ringers in the group are exceptional people with cerebral palsy, autism, down syndrome, and other disabilities."

Meghan Hanley, a certified music therapist for the Creative Arts Therapies of the Palm Beaches, said music therapy can create stronger bonds with peers and improve life skills".

Hanley often incorporates other instruments and games, such as music and movie trivia. During a break in their rehearsals, you can hear loud applause when ringers guess the tune to “A Whole New World” from the film Aladdin. Each ringer comes to rehearsals with their own unique music taste and preferences, but Hanley often surprises the bell choir with nostalgic songs."

Hanley said the music activities require some gross motor skills. And that there’s no music without strong communication between the ringers".

Read more of this article or listen to Wilkine's report on the radio at This music therapy class in West Palm Beach rings the right mood for adults with disabilities | WLRN

Ring on!

Donna 

Art & Culture......patiently waiting for pictures to be taken for a magazine!

     

Susie Stanton Staikos, author and writer,  interviewed Vicki Silver and me about the Exceptional Ensembell. Following the interview, Susie arranged for a photographer to come to one of our practices for a "photo shoot". Everyone was very excited!!!

Please take a look at the final group photos and the article published in Art & Culture of Palm Beach County, Winter, 2023 (page 16).

https://issuu.com/pbmg/docs/a_c_winter_2023/18

Donna, The Ringer Mom

And along came Covid! Exceptional Ensembell moves to Zoom

 

The Exceptional Ensembell was left without a place to practice during Covid because the Town of Jupiter Recreation Center closed.

Vicki and I brainstormed with our music therapist and came up with the idea to hold our practices remotely using Zoom. Hand bells were then safely delivered to the homes of our ringers and even mailed as far as the Bahamas.

Most of our ringers had little experience with Zoom, so the learning curve was steep at times as ringers settled in to using the platform.

The good Covid news is that our bell choir survived and our online group continues to practice on Zoom. Members of the online group join the in-person group for performances.

Below are some old photos of our online ringers during Covid.

Ring on!

Donna 

A little bit of history .....birth of a bell choir

 

A bell choir for people with special needs? Why not?

Updated: Nov 18, 2020

It all began with a phone conversation between two moms of adult children with special needs. Our children had been friendssince pre-kindergarten. Both adults were now out of school.

We had years of experience creating meaningful activities for our adult children including volunteer work, dance,yoga, beach cleanups, swimming, walking and exercisingat the gym.

Why not a bell choir? Reading music is not required and people with a wide range of disabilities can be included.Bell choirs for adults with disabilities exist in other partsof the country. Why not Palm Beach county, Florida?

The fun and learning began!

Hand bells and hand chimes are expensive! After countlessphone conversations and emails, a hand bell association loaned us a set of hand bells for one year.

Then we had to find a music therapist. Music therapists charge between $90.00-$120.00/per hour in our area. After many interviews, we thankfully found one!

Next, we had to find a place to practice. The search began and the Town of Jupiter Community Center welcomed us.

We then had hand bells, a music therapist and a place to practice.

Now what?

Recruitment and fundraising…………….Not easy tasks!

These challenges will be included in future posts.

Keep ringing!

Donna, The Ringer Mom