I had the great pleasure of seeing our own Kuku perform a solo at the Bell Choir Concert held in Yakima tonight. She was most excellent.

Thank you for posting the video on Facebook! Kuku you were fabulous!
Well done!

Kizmet

Baqash

I was so thrilled to see you there. It just made my night to have you there.

And then my boyfriend was texting me that he had seen it.

Thank you SO MUCH for recording and posting it!!

It is so difficult, the most difficult thing I have ever done musically. I really appreciate your recording!

KuKu

You are too kind, Kismet.

Thank you!

KuKu

Only in the PNW would "KuKu came to Yakima" be a statement that we all understand!!
I saw the video, and it's very impressive!! So glad Baqash recorded and shared it for us!

How can we find the Facebook posting? I'd love to see it.

kuku's performance It's a cel phone recording so the video isn't so good, but the audio is more than acceptable

Too true! Hee hee hee!

And thank you!

KuKu

That was awesome! Thanks so much for recording it and posting it. I really enjoyed it.

WOW!!! I still think we need a WOW! button! :)

Kuku, that was amazing! How long have you been playing the bells?

Thanks!

6 or 7 years. I play in my bell choir at my church.

I worked up my first solo on bells (on the table) -- 13 bells and me and a piano a few years ago.

It was hard work for me but it taught me so much.

Because of that, I felt I could join a bell ensemble 2 years ago, Pacific Ringers. Ellie Hodder, Bell choirs Director at First Unitarian, Portland, is also director of Pacfic Ringers. (It's a non-profit; I have to pay $100 to be on it!)

She arranged that version of Jesu for Bell Tree. I started working on that in October for our December concert. You can find my first time performing it on youtube, search Pacific Ringers and Jesu. We also have a couple more youtubes from the concert. Also recorded on a cell phone, in a balcony. Baqash was much closer and much steadier!

I can't even tell you how many hours I worked on that. It was my second time performing on a bell tree and my first solo. (My other one was the December concert 2012, where I played a duet.)

Anything after Jesu seems so easy on the bell tree. Bell tree is harder than it looks and this piece is sooooo hard! Bell tree players, including the woman who wrote the manual on bell trees, think it's very hard and can't believe I did that for my first solo. But now I know I can attempt anything!

Another bell tree soloist at Yakima, (Baqash, it was last BT soloist with the piano and flute) Julie & I clicked. She & her DH are moving from Redding, CA to Yakima, WA.

It turns out she tried to letterbox years ago in Redding, wanted to take kids but nothing panned out.

I told her I'd go to her church in Yakima (once she's moved) and play a BT duet with her at her church and then take her boxing. She said she would return the favor in Portland.

That would be so much fun!! I could always invite boxers to hear us play and have a M&G afterward. And then boxing!

In the meantime, I'm working on a very very easy BT solo, Peace Medley, for our senior pastor's return from Africa and Israel on August 3.

If any of you in the Portland area would ever like to try tone chimes or bells or easy bell tree, let me know!

KuKu