Ring out Christmas

Eighth Annual Handbell Festival

4 p.m. Sunday

Las Vegas Academy of Performing Arts, 315 S. Seventh St.

Cash donation (if desired)

Christmas ain't over 'til the handbell choir rings.

Eight handbell choirs will band together Sunday at the Las Vegas Twelfth-Night Handbell Festival -- a reminder that "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is more than just a song.

"Everybody throws their Christmas tree out the door on the 25th," Janet Ty, coordinator of the festival, said. "Christmas really starts on Christmas Day. In the early Christian church, the 12 days are symbolic."

Ty, a handbell teacher at Las Vegas Academy of Performing Arts, started the event in 1992 to celebrate the biblical Christmas season.

"I saw everybody in a frenzy right after Thanksgiving, and then when Christmas came there was nothing," she said.

In the Christian tradition, Jan. 6 -- the Twelfth Day of Christmas, also known as Epiphany -- is celebrated to mark the presentation of baby Jesus to the Magi.

Ty and others are trying to keep the celebration alive through the handbell festival -- similar to the one she started when she lived in upstate New York.

"Every year when I was doing my handbells the church was busting at the seams," she said. "When I came out West, I didn't want to start all over again."

But she did -- 18 years ago in Bakersfield, Calif., where the festival is still going strong. In Las Vegas, the festival is in its eighth year.

On Sunday eight groups will play together, bringing in a choir of 80 people playing 320 bells. For local handbell groups the Twelfth- Night Handbell Festival is the biggest event of the year.

The groups are from valley churches. Ty's ensemble, Tintinnabulation, will be among those performing. A group from Utah and one from California are expected. The groups, some of which have been practicing since September, will rehearse for nine hours Saturday.

"It's a whole different ball game," she said of the choir. "If one person isn't there, it doesn't play right."

The biggest instrument is 61 bells and requires eight to 10 people to play, she added.

English handbells originated in the 1600s as a way for people to practice ringing bells in the church tower without the entire town having to hear the practice session. The handbells were brought to America in the early 1900s.

"We can play classical music, sacred music, secular and popular," Ty said.

The bronze handbells -- 80 percent copper and 20 percent tin -- are tuned and labeled chromatically. The musicians read from sheet music.

Performing with bells is not for the rhythmically challenged, however. It requires a lot of concentration and good counting.

Sunday's repertoire includes mostly Christmas carols from different countries and, of course, "the Carol of the Bells."

As for "The Twelve Days of Christmas," it was written by Catholics in England as a teaching tool. The symbols in the song represent various religious principles, such as three turtle doves remind listeners of the Trinity.

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