Bartelt_Taiwan_Mar-Apr2025

Tintinnabulation!

Tintinnabulation:  the act of ringing bells

On March 22nd in Hsinchu and March 29th in Tainan China Evangelical Lutheran Church (CELC) members and guests met for a workshop on playing handbells. We played the colored metal handbells, which sound surprisingly good! I shared different ways to teach handbells from simply playing chords or ostinati to accompany the melody to playing the melody on bells with the piano to a full-blown handbell arrangement. By the end of 2 hours, they played an arrangement of “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” for handbells.. We had good groups and had lots of fun and fellowship in addition to learning how one could enhance music for worship services. It was also a great chance for me to meet more people in the CELC! I also want to thank Glennda Hedlund from St. Paul’s in Council Bluffs, IA who shared some simple Lenten and Easter bell arrangements and Dr. Martin Dicke who had notated many hymns with colored noteheads during his time here.

Spring Outreach Concert

In anticipation of Holy Week, we held a Spring Recital on April 12th and invited anyone of any age who wanted to come and perform or just listen. We had everything from erhus to cellos to French horns to voices to pianos to recorders to a pipa. (Erhus and pipas are Chinese string instruments.) The youngest performer was 7 years old. The oldest were new musicians participating in a program for people over 50 to learn a new instrument for free.

I introduced the concert with these words, “Today we will hear Western classical music, Chinese folk music, Western modern music, and Christian sacred music. Just a little explanation in case you’re wondering why some of the Christian sacred music for Spring sounds sad. We are right now in the season of Lent when Christians remember their sins, repent of them and give thanks for forgiveness in Jesus. Some pieces will reflect this time. Other pieces will reflect the joy of Easter, which comes at the end of Lent—rejoicing in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead for our salvation.” In addition, the children’s group sang/rang a series of Canons for the Church Year by Michael Burkhardt and explained to the audience why Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter are so important to Christians. The last piece was a vocal trio with Cheryl Ferry, Ruth Wu, me and Ruth’s 13-year old daughter on piano. The piece is called “Resucito” celebrating Christ’s defeat of death in His resurrection and our dying and rising with Christ. It was a wonderful afternoon of music-making and fellowship. Thank you for your prayers for this event and for the Holy Spirit’s work in the hearts of the audience.

Please pray for…

• safe and smooth travels to and within the USA.
• possibly four English Bible camps this summer.
• connections with and witness to local people in our everyday lives.
• preparations for accompaniment workshops led by Sandra Rhein and the Reformation Hymn Festival 2025.

Please give thanks…

• joyful handbell workshops and learning opportunities.
• opportunities to share music and a witness with visitors at our Spring Outreach Concert.
• for opportunities to meet and see all of you again this Spring/Summer.