Hoggtowne Bronze performing at First Magnitude Oktoberfest, 09/24

Hoggtowne Bronze performing at First Magnitude Brewing’s Oktoberfest, 09/24

A Gainesville
Community ENSEM-Bell

Our Mission is to
UPLIFT, CONNECT, and EDUCATE
our community about handbells.

Founded in 2024, a group of passionate amateur and professional musicians joined together to create Hoggtowne Bronze to share their love of handbells outside of traditional settings.

Handbells can be so fun and silly (well that actually may just be our players), and we want to share the joy of handbells and uplift those who have made the effort to come out and see us. Now- we aren’t promising all our music will be happy, but when we do play bummers, we will definitely feel those feelings with you. In either setting we aim to uplift each other through togetherness.
The act of sharing music inherently connects the musician and the listener. We are in a space together, honoring the efforts each other brings, and sharing an experience-
that is community.
We aim to educate our community about this group-powered instrument beyond their exposure to holiday donation wrangling outside of grocery stores.

FAQ

Great question (and thanks for helping us achieve part of our mission)!
The place you’ve most likely seen a “handbell” is outside grocery stores during the holidays next to a red bucket. Now- imagine 80+ more of those, well-tuned, and arranged like keys on a keyboard. Each ringer is responsible for certain notes, passing the melodic line from one to another, supporting each other with harmonies, and using different techniques to create different musical textures.
Handbells were originally created and tuned as a practice instrument for English bell-tower change-ringers, so they could practice without disrupting or waking up everyone in the town.
They made their way to New England in 1902 and became a group instrument in 1923, both under the stewardship of Margaret Shurcliff of Boston.
I mean, never, but those who play them tend to love them. In 1990, handbells started appearing outside of church settings and covers of pop music started to become more available thanks to auditioned community groups like Hoggtowne Bronze.
Our home town, Gainesville, was once the location of a Seminole settlement known as ‘Hogtown’ simply because they raised hogs near the creek which still bears the moniker. This is often thought of as the original name for Gainesville. In 1961, the city annexed old Hogtown and now a historical marker designates the site of the Seminole settlement at NW 34th Street and 8th Avenue (near Westside park). Our group uses a variation of the spelling that harkens to a locally owned music shop and is one ‘e’ off from the name of our annual Renaissance faire.