Several AGEHR Area XI folks attended the National Seminar in July of 2010. This National Seminar was combined with Pinnacle. Pinnacle is an event mostly for community choirs and features massed ringing at an advanced level. At this combined event, auditions were held and ensembles formed according to skill levels. Ringers participated in five seventy-five minute intense rehearsals with well-known clinician and presented a concert on the final day of the event. Another ringing option was the Art of Performance Track with Jason Wells. Jason led these ringers through the process of learning, internalizing and sharing music with the goal of presenting an engaging visual performance. Their goal was to be free of the challenge of page turns, noses buried in books and the barriers that books create between the audience and musicians by concert time on the closing day. (Translation: They were memorizing their music!) Many outstanding bell ensembles presented concerts. The main ones being Sonos, the Agape Ringers, Vivace, and the Raleigh Ringers. Raleigh Ringers presented the closing concert at a closing dinner cruise aboard the General Jackson Showboat. Plans originally called for the event to be held in Gaylord Opryland but serious flooding at Opryland just a few weeks before July 18 forced a change in venue. Working with the staff at Opryland, planners were able to secure two other venues in close proximity to each other and events were scheduled in the two places. Proving, once again, that handbell folks always seem to "rise to the occasion" a very successful event was enjoyed.

Thanks to Jennie Blomquist for these pictures.

Roy and Jennie Blomquist, Karen Gray, Kristen Olds, Amanda Sherrill	Getting ready for rehearsal. Composer, Karen Buchwalter, talking to ringer from Hands On Bronze. Karen was the composer of one of the songs played by this group.	Karen Phylow and her son, Taylor Goss from Payson, AZ.
William Griffin and Karen Buchwalter discussing her piece, "Search With All Your Heart."	Vivace from Puerto Rico gave a wonderful performance.	Dining Room on the General Jackson
Stage set for Raleigh Ringers concert.	Boarding the showboat: JR from National Office (with camera bag.) Beth Watson Judd (blue dress) with Martha Lynn and Felix Thompson.	David Harris, Raleigh Ringers Conductor, relaxing on the stern before leaving the dock on the showboat.
Showboat Dining Area	L.to R.- Kathy Fink, Linda Maloney, Claudette Rothwell	John Pfeiffer, National President, about to announce new name.
	TA DAH! We are now Handbell Musicians of America and this is the new logo. We will be "the Guild" for short, doing business as AGEHR as that is the legal name. The moon shines down on the showboat paddle wheel after a momentous, newsbreaking Pinnacle/National Seminar filled with concerts, classes and other memory-making events.

Page revised 08/22/2010
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