Global chimes: 2024 National Bell Festival rings across seven continents this New Year

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Possibly marking a historic global milestone, the iconic melody of “Auld Lang Syne” will resonate through the frozen expanses of Antarctica this New Year. Catherine McMichael and Joyce Terry, on an expedition to the world’s southernmost continent, will play this timeless tune on handbells as part of the 2024 National Bell Festival.

Set against a backdrop of icebergs and inhabited by penguins, Antarctica stands as one of the planet’s most remote and challenging terrains, with vast icy landscapes between the ocean and the South Pole. Accessible from the Western Hemisphere via ship from Tierra del Fuego—a shared region between Chile and Argentina at the tip of South America—McMichael and Terry will depart on December 30, 2023.

Leaving their spouses behind, the duo will arrive at the icy shelves just in time to herald in a frosty New Year. Plans for this journey were set in motion after the pair mulled over the idea of venturing south during the annual Distinctly Bronze event, held for accomplished handbell musicians this past February.

In preparation for this special occasion, arrangements have been made for six musical pieces utilizing eight bells, with each musician handling four. Carrying a set of baby bells, ranging from G6 to G7, along with an additional F#7, both McMichael and Terry will perform pieces exclusively in the keys of C or G using a four-in-hand technique. Should the curious penguins desire a musical program, the pieces lined up are:

• Auld Lang Syne
• Adapted Plain Hunt Peal
• For the Beauty of the Earth
• Joy to the World
• My Country, ‘Tis of Thee
• Jingle Bells

“Auld Lang Syne” is an internationally recognized tune stemming from a poem by Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1788. Traditionally sung to bid farewell to the old year on New Year’s Eve, the performance in Antarctica will mark the ringing of “Auld Lang Syne” on all seven continents during the 2024 National Bell Festival.

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