Kerr’s handbells group will be hosting the annual Winter Concert along with Kerr’s choir group. Like last year, handbells hopes to impress their audiences with their talents.

“We’ll be having our annual winter concert on December 10,” president of handbells senior Christine U. said. “Not that many people really know about it because handbells isn’t as publicized as orchestra or band.”

Tickets for the concert will be $2 pre-sale and $5 at the door. With the Winter Concert as their biggest fundraiser of the year, the members of handbells hope that it will attract a lot of students to raise money.

“We’re hoping that the low prices on the tickets will attract people to attend our concert,” junior Lisa T. said.

Aside from the Winter Concert, the group has other smaller-scale fundraisers.

“We also have many other small events that require us to play at places like Church’s Chicken and Borders,”  Christine said. “It’s crucial because it will help us raise funds and maybe people will recognize us better.”

The popularity problem is addressed head-on. Many handbells players believe that they are not recognized for their craft or that they receive the respect they deserve.

“When we have a concert, people don’t even know about it,” Lisa said. “The Requiem had posters and all that jazz two weeks before the actual performance, but one week until our concert and we still don’t have posters or even a commercial. People treat handbells like its background music but it’s really more than that and it irritates me when people think that.”

However, having their talents undermined and being called “background music” only further motivates the hand bells group to practice and perform even better at the Winter concert. They are determined to not only impress their audiences but to also show them that hand bells is anything but background music.