Palmetto Bronze to ring up ‘Movie Magic’

Bells will be ringing on Friday night as Palmetto Bronze, a Lowcountry handbell choir based in Summerville, northwest of Charleston, performs “Movie Magic” at 7:30 p.m. at Church of the Resurrection, on U.S. 17 Bypass, west of Surfside Beach.

Be ready for some hits of classic cinema from a variety of blockbusters such as “Singin’ in the Rain,” “The Entertainer,” “Star Wars,” “The Muppet Movie,” “The Lion King,” “Titanic” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Marcia J. Brantley, director, said the nonprofit ensemble, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2014, has enjoyed the honor of annual performances for several years at Brookgreen Gardens’ “Nights of a Thousand Candles” in December and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston. The group also was chosen to play a feature concert at the Handbell Musicians of America national seminar last July in Atlanta.

Q. | How many members make up Palmetto Bronze, and from how wide a radius in distance and in age?

A. | We have 17 ringers … who come from as far as 45 minutes away. … Our youngest ringer, who has the bass chimes and bass bells, is a senior at Charleston Southern University, … and we go all the way to folks in their 60s. We have a wide variety.

Q. | How often are rehearsals, and does diagramming the group members’ positions resemble an orchestra’s with set spots?

A. | We practice once a week for two hours. Generally speaking, it’s kind of like a piano keyboard. Looking to my left as director, I have high bells to low bells. … The highest bells measure about an inch in diameter and weigh about 8 ounces, to low bells on the other end, where the biggest one is 18 inches in diameter and weighs 18 to 20 pounds. The chimes, the long straight things, … go from about 5 feet at their tallest, to 5 or 6 inches for the smallest.

Q. | How deep is the musical background of the members in Palmetto Bronze?

A. | Most of them have been ringing for a while. … One or two members have been ringing for as many as 40 years. One of the newest members of the group started when she was 8 in my church’s children’s choir. … Most people get involved within a church setting.

Q. | Do you ever trade your director’s hat to ring some bells yourself?

A. | Every once in a while, I get to play. … We are not your average handbell choir. Most people think of handbells being related to churches, but we are way beyond that. We do a lot of selections you would never hear in a church, and we use a lot of techniques. The average church bell choir is pretty laid-back; we’re anything but laid-back. Because we’re a community group, we have opportunities to perform across the area.

Q. | How fun was choosing selections for cinematic glory this spring?

A. | We like to pick some sort of thematic material. Of course, in the holiday season, generally it’s just holiday pieces. … We chose “Movie Magic” because we have access to a lot of movie and Broadway tunes in our library. … With “The Barber of Seville,” we’ve incorporated that into the movie themes because many people might have Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in their minds from that classic cartoon, so that’s kind of how we related to that as movie music. … You’d be surprised what music is available for handbells now.

We do use props, and we try to make things fun and exciting for all ages. We might even have a special appearance by Darth Vader — who knows?

Q. | Any other concerts planned for the Grand Strand, and other major events this year?

A. | We’ll be back at Trinity Presbyterian Church, on Glenns Bay Road, near Surfside Beach, Sept. 20, at 3 p.m. We love coming up that way. We’ll also host our Lowcountry Handbell Workshop and Festival, Jan. 22-23, at Hibben United Methodist Church in Mount Pleasant, with special guest Dave Harris, director of the Raleigh Ringers, a huge professional group that goes all over the country.

This story was originally published May 10, 2015 at 2:00 AM with the headline "Palmetto Bronze to ring up ‘Movie Magic’."