Handbell Musicians of Canada is a national organization that fosters the art of handbell ringing across the country. How do we do this? By hosting festivals and learning events, presenting concerts and performances, awarding scholarships and bursaries, supporting the development of composers, conductors and clinicians, and by creating a network through which musicians from all over Canada can collaborate, learn, and grow with each other!

L’association nationale “Handbell Musicians of Canada" promeut et encourage les clochettes à travers le Canada. Et comment? En organisant des événements musicaux et pédagogiques, en donnant des spectacles, en décernant des bourses, en appuyant le développement des compositeurs, des chefs d’orchestre et des animateurs, tout en créant un réseau pour que tous les musiciens canadiens puissent collaborer et s’enrichir mutuellement!

Please feel free to send us your inquiries in English or French. We would be pleased to respond in the language of your choice.

Veuillez nous contacter avec vos questions en anglais ou en français. Cela nous ferait un plaisir de vous répondre dans la langue de votre choix.

Handbell Musicians of Canada is fully inclusive of all peoples, regardless of ability, age, ethnicity, faith, gender (identity, expression), race, sexual orientation or status (economic, family, marital).

What's News

2023 Board Election Nominees

Congratulations to our new board members for the 2023 Elections. The slate of nominees was acclaimed as there was one candidate for each posting. Returning to the board are Ellen Ramsay, Christie Noseworthy, and Kathie Zalasky. Welcome (and welcome back) to Anne Hergott, Cheryl McFarlane, Emmy Okazawa-Bortolin and Jim Winslett. View candidate profiles and positions for the 2023 Board Election. 

Canadian Handbell Composition Competition 2023

The song selected to represent Canada at the 2024 International Handbell Symposium could be yours! Enter your original handbell composition or arrangement in the 2023 Canadian Handbell Composition Competition. 

The 21st International Handbell Symposium will be held in Hamamatsu, Japan in August of 2024. The theme of the symposium is “Ring the Future”. Compositions that relate to or reflect the symposium theme are preferred, though not mandatory.

Download the rules and competition conditions for details.

Submit your composition with this form no later than August 31, 2023.

Call for Applications for Canadian Massed Ringing Conductor for IHS 2024

Applications are now being accepted to represent the Handbell Musicians of Canada at the 21st International Handbell Symposium in Hamamatsu, Japan as the Canadian Massed Ringing Conductor.

The successful candidate will be asked to prepare and conduct the selected Canadian composition during the massed ringing rehearsals and performance taking place throughout the five-day event.

Review the selection criteria and application instructions for more details. 

Meet Our Newest Board Members

See the new Musings from the Board for our newest members, Lynn Boothroyd, Lynne Current, Cathy Doerksen and Annie Hergott.

Morna-June Morrow Receives the Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award

We are pleased to induct Morna-June Morrow as the second recipient of the HMC Honorary Lifetime Achievement award. The award was presented at the annual general meeting on September 17, 2022. Read the full story here. 

Membership Renewals

Received a membership renewal notice? Please login to access the membership renewal page. 

2022 Board Elections

Members can view the slate of nominees and review their candidate profiles here. 

IHS 2022 - HMC Member Meet and Greet 

This event was held Saturday March 12, 2022  - Thank you to Lisa Kyriakides for moderating this event. A recording for our HMC members is here. You will be asked to login with your HMC member account. If you would like to become a member, please click here. 

HMC “Heightening the Curve” Membership Campaigns

Late in summer 2020, a membership drive campaign was launched when the new Handbell Musicians of Canada website went live. With national wide efforts to “flatten the COVID curve”, the HMC Website Committee decided to go the other way by “heightening the HMC membership curve” with the hashtag #100bylabourday. Canadian handbell musicians were invited to become the 100th member to join by Labour Day 2020.

Our winner was Cathy Larson from Fort McMurray, AB and she received a special edition HMC mask. Cathy is one of our greatest handbell cheerleaders in Northern Alberta and has even founded a teachers’ handbell ensemble along with her numerous school groups. She most recently served as VP for ALGEHR (Alberta Guild of English Handbell Ringers) and is a long-time member of ALGEHR’s Board of Directors.

Delighted with the enthusiastic response from all the new members, the Website Committee decided to continue with the hype and the excitement of the HMC inaugural Board Elections to offer another contest. This time the goal was to reach 150 members by Voting Week in mid-October.

And we did! Our 150th member was 16-year-old student Lucas Bridge from Edmonton, AB who has probably been ringing for most of his young life as his mother, Tammy-Jo Mortensen, was Music Director at Robertson-Wesley United Church until 2019. Lucas is also a very talented fiddler and has studied with none other than Donnell Leahy (of the famous fiddling family and husband of Natalie McMaster) and others during his family visits to NS.