About the Chimers​

​The Chimers, offers a safe and enriching environment for creating music together through the use of hand bells, boomwhackers, and other melodic instruments. Hand in hand with the values of It Is Music Time LLC, Sarah strives to provide the most individualized instruction to each member of the group to allow for success, growth and wellness within the group setting. Looking past barriers and labels, we create music that can be enjoyed by all.

​Purpose-

This Chimers group offers a safe and enriching environment for creating music together through the use of hand bells, boomwhackers, and other melodic instruments. Hand in hand with the beliefs of It Is Music Time LLC, we strive to provide the most individualized instruction to each member of the group to allow for success, growth, and wellness within the group setting. Looking past barriers and labels, we create music that can be enjoyed by all.

Client’s Served-
Children ages 10 years to 18 years

Progression from Rehearsal to Performance-
The first step in creating a group of individuals who want to play music together is establishing the difference between the director and the participants of the group. Everyone needs to know that their part of the music is as important as everyone else’s, but they will need to watch the conductor for the directions about when to play and when to keep the bells quiet. We will start learning to follow a director by using body percussion and drums. Once the group is able to start and stop with the conductor, as well as being able to follow other basic directions for performance, we will introduce the chimes. A discussion about how to properly hold and play the instruments will occur, and once there is a level of comfort with the bells, the group will be split up into chords, forming a chord arch, and we will practice playing when directed in smaller groups to produce the chords for well-known songs. From here, we will use these skills to play preferred songs, and prepare for performance.

Rehearsal Outline-
Each rehearsal will begin with some stretching and warm-up to prepare the group members for rehearsal (sitting/standing still, remembering rules of rehearsal- no talking when the director is talking, no playing unless the director says to play, and staying in place for the duration of the song, only leaving the chord arch when a break in the rehearsal occurs. After the warm-up, the group will come to the chord arch, and stand in the order that is previously discussed, with reminders from the director about the arch and why the group stands in this formation for rehearsing and performing. A couple of breaks will be planned for during rehearsals at the beginning of the process, so attention span can be increased gradually. The songs for that rehearsal will be rehearsed, and then the group will be asked to put their bells back onto the table where the bell boxes are, and to take a seat for announcements. The “floor” will be opened for announcements from group members and the director, to instill a closer sense of community in the group and allow members to share things about their week or day or anything they might want to share with the other members. Then, reminders about the following week will be announced, with a sheet of paper containing the discussed information given to the individuals or the caretakers for help remembering important things. A brief “goodbye song” will be sung after all announcements, and then members will be released into the care of their caretakers or parents.