Bells of Dubuque
Concert will showcase 7 downtown churches
by MARY NEVANS-PEDERSON

Dubuque Telegraph Herald, Thursday September16, 2004

Dubuque -- For a full hour Sunday, Dubuque's downtown will ring with
the pealing of scores of church bells in a concert written by a popular Iowa
musician.
Patrick Hazell, of Washington, Iowa, has done this before - in his
hometown of Burlington, Iowa, and in Izhevsk, Russia. Seeking another Iowa
site for a bell concert, he found dubuque to be perfect.
"You've got to have a number of churches (or other buildings with
bells) in close proximity and having them all sit in a valley is even
better," said Hazell, 58, who has performed live blues and honky tonk music
across the Midwest for 43 years.
Earlier this year, Hazell scouted out which churches had bell towers.
Of those he approached, seven congregations agreed to be part of the
7 p.m. concert.
Hazell then tested all the bells in each church, cataloging the notes
each play and the length of each toll. He took the information back to his
studio and created an hourlong concert. Two ringers will be assigned to each
church Sunday.
"I have always liked bells," Hazell said. "Most people don't realize
bells have overtones that don't start showing until they are played for a
length of time. When there are multiple bells playing, a synergy happens and
a harmonic interplay beyond the individual notes."
At St. Raphael Cathedral, Sister Ruth Jackson, SVM, pushed switches to
ring the church bells as Hazell matched the notes on his harmonica.
"I'm excited about this connecting of the downtown churches for
something of beauty and inspiration," Jackson said.
Tim LoBianco, an ordained deacon who serves as pastoral administrator at
both St. Mary and St. Patrick Catholic churches, called Hazell's project
"very creative."
"Bells have always been used to call us to something important - to
worship or to some emergency. It is wonderful to use them to create music,"
LoBianco said.
The 1913 chime with 13 bells at St. Luke's United Methodist Church is
played for 10 minutes before each worship service and for some special
occasions. Nancy Woodin, St. Luke's music coordinator, is thrilled that her
church will be part of the concert.
"It's not often that churches get to work together," she said.
The single bell at First Congregational United Church of Christ will
peal in time to Hazell's music, said the Rev. Nancy Bickel, co-pastor.
"Mainline Protestant churches have always celebrated music and
encouraged creativity and this sounds like an innovative project," she said.
The Rev. Victor St. George, pastor of St. Matthew Lutheran Church,
thinks the concert, although a secular event, "will uplift people and make
them think about their relationship with God." The church's bell is rung
manually.
The three bells at St. John's Lutheran Church also are still rung by
hand. Pastor Steve Meysing plans to invite the church's neighbors over to
listen to the concert outside the church.
"This is a testament to the vitality of Dubuque's downtown, that it is
still alive and its churches are still active," he said.
Hazell hopes the weather cooperates for Sunday's concert. Windy
conditions would be the worst, he said.
To listen to the concert, Hazell suggests getting away from traffic
sounds. Hazell plans to pick a spot on one of the bluffs overlooking
downtown.
Copyright: Copyright 2004 Telegraph Herald