Music Ministries Blog: November 2026
Only the warm glow of the golden yellow silver maple and tulip leaves from the crisp autumn sunshine on the beautiful property of Grace United Methodist Church in Naperville outshone the glistening, freshly polished bronze handbells, newly shined and refurbished for our ensemble at the First UMC of Chicago last Saturday, November 7. And only in hearing anew their lustrous sound, and sharing music with you, will our gratitude be complete for the gifts which made possible the much needed repair and cleaning of our excellent set of Schulmerich Handbells.
This Little Bell of Mine, I’m Gonna Let It Shine
By Erik Nussbaum
Aaron Bond, “The Bellman,” is a second generation handbell expert technician, who along with his assistant, Brennan, travels the country in his custom outfitted 25 feet long Mercedes Winnebago Bellmobile four times a year. When it became challenging to secure parking here at the Temple, I reached out to Pastor Sophia, who began serving as Associate Pastor at Grace Naperville in July, and with kind and easy hospitality and communication, it was arranged. While sixteen or so members of Grace gathered to have their annual leaf raking and campus fall cleanup day, Aaron parked and leveled the Bellmobile and got to work, needing only to plug two long extension cords in a power outlet inside one of the church entrance doors.
One of our ensemble ringers, Avery Degenhart, very knowledgeable and curious about what this process would entail, and who is starting their own ensemble at Grace United Protestant Church (which is a member of the United Methodist Church) soon joined to watch and learn.
Our Shulmerich handbells may be as old as me, born in the 1970s, at least, that’s the era when Aaron thinks the cases which safely keep our handbell set were made. But the Temple purchased our gently used set in the early 1990s when the ensemble was founded by Jackie Will. Peg Isaacson, one of the founding members of the group, remembers that they were refurbished and updated in the first year or two. Aaron told Avery and me that those years from the late 1980s through the early 2000s were prime, vintage years for the Shulmerich company, and it was his opinion that most of the other parts and components of the bells were indeed likely upgraded in the early 1990s.
In the picture to the right, these unpolished bells were first disassembled. Aaron showed us that all of the internal components are in very good condition. The rubber spring, the studs and stop nuts were all replaced with new parts. The rubber clapper heads are also all in very good condition.
The casting, the actual bell that rings with vibrations at each chromatic pitch of the scale, is what truly makes our newly refurbished instrument sparkle. On a variable speed drive custom made motor, each casting is screwed onto the spindle. Using Semichrome polish, here Brennan wipes and polishes three or four times, depending on the amount of tarnish, with slow and gentle touch, this bell’s outer surface as it spins, using a clean yellow microfiber cloth. For the inside of each bell, no polish is used. Simply, a green 3M Scotch-Brite scrubber pad is used to remove any grit, tarnish, or corrosion from inside the casting, going with the grain of the bell.
You likely already know that bronze is a metal alloy composed of copper and tin. Though they look brass, Schulmerich bells are 80% copper and 20% tin, and it is that silvery tin which gives the freshly polished bronze bells their shimmery lustre. Here to the left, you may be able to see the bells which are on their side have been polished, and the ones standing up on their rims await their turn!
Avery helped Aaron with some parts of the reassembly after each bell was polished. One specialized tool is needed to unscrew each handle from the casing, but common ones like a power drill to loosen and tighten the studs, and a flat screwdriver
to adjust the clapper heads are all that is needed. I was content watching, asking questions, talking about music, and taking a few pictures while occasionally going to check on Sophia and David and steal a Dunkin Donut hole.
Finally, each bell was wrapped, and returned to rest in its specific place inside its case.
With tremendous gratitude, we remember, and give thanks:
DAVID DRISCOLL
BETH JACOBS
DAVID KELLEY
ANN REED
VOLTA “ANDY” ANDERS
in whose memories MEMORIAL GIFTS were given so that our handbells would receive the love and care and attention they deserve.
Grace UMC in Naperville is where my journey in the Methodist church began in 2002, the year Karen and I were married, the year she began singing as a section leader in the Temple Choir, and the year Kelly Tiebout founded and began our Temple Gospel Choir. Four days each week, I drove from Rogers Park in Chicago out to Naperville to lead the Junior Singers, Junior and High School Choirs, Bell Ensembles, and His Grace, the high school praise band leading YF on Sunday evenings. Two years later, I became your Director of Music here at the Temple, and inherited such a vibrant, talented, diverse, and superb music ministry that was deeply established and successful, and I had the joy of beginning to build my life with Karen here with all of the amazing people of our beloved community. It had been quite a long time since I was at Grace UMC, in fact, they were just beginning a sanctuary renovation centered around the installation of a new Reuter Organ when I left.
So, a final word of thanks to Pastor Sophia and the staff at Grace for enabling this project to happen by allowing The Bellmobile to park in their lot for five hours last Saturday amidst the fall colors, filled with the light of fellowship and attending with care and gratitude towards making things new.
ABOUT
WORSHIP
MORE
© Chicago Temple 2025. All Rights Reserved
Select Photography by John H. White