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The Bell Concordance

What is the Bell Concordance?

(From the Oxford English Dictionary) Concordance: 1. The fact of agreeing or
being concordant; agreement, harmony...4. An agreeable or satisfactory blending
of musical sounds or notes; harmony.)

On Sept.9, 1999, bells around the world marked the "magic minute" at 9:09 a.m., and we named this ringing of bells, "The FAS Bell Concordance." It was so successful that other organizations have picked up this term and copied it!

We came up with the bell idea as there is a purity about bells that reminds us of the innocence of children. As well, bells are historically associated with warnings, alarms, marking important moments, and simply pealing for the joy of connecting with the community. FASDay is all of these things.

On FASDay, 2000, even more bells and other percussion instruments were played - ranging from the first mission bell in New Zealand to the historic 56 bell carillon in Cape Town, South Africa, to tiny bells rung by school children, and wind chimes and rain sticks played by native Canadians.

This year, on September 9, we want the noisiest, most joyful Bell Concordance ever -- and you can organize one, even if right now you are the only person in your community who knows what FASD is!

You might even be able to organize the ringing of a local carillon -- the largest musical instrument in existence. Even in a large, noisy city, carillon music can be heard for several blocks. There are about 600 carillons throughout the world, and we would like many more to ring during the Minute of Reflection this year. To find out if there is a carillon near you, go to http://www.gcna.org/, the most complete and accurate listings of carillons in North America, and also check out www.cs.yale.edu/~douglas-craig/bells and http://soda.csua.berkeley.edu/~maestro/stat.htm.

Gerald Martindale, carillonneur at Toronto's Metropolitan United Church (email:geraldm@planeteer.com), can help put you in touch with a local carillonneur (carillon player), if there is one. Mr. Martindale has created a concert of international lullabies, representing some of the countries participating in FASDay, and would be pleased to share his arrangements with other international carillonneurs.

The FAS Bell Concordance is quite simple, and you can do most of the work on your phone. Is there a tower with a hand-rung bell in your community? This could be an older church, a city or county hall, state or provincial building, or part of a college or university campus. Unfortunately many church bells are now rung by computer, making it difficult to ring the bells off-schedule, and this may be the case in your community.

Find out who is in charge of getting that bell rung, and ask that person to have the bell rung for one minute at 9:09 a.m. on September 9. You can download the FASDay information from this site and present it to this person. If this building is a church, you may wish to speak briefly to the congregation on one of the Sundays before FASDay, and explain why the bell will be ringing at 9:09 this year.

You may want to have a small program in the church or near the bell tower, for 20 minutes to a half-hour before 9:09 a.m. Notify your child's school, friends of FASD and related organizations that you think would be interested, e.g., your local ARC (U.S.), Association for Community Living (Canada), Exchange Club, homelessness and anti-poverty coalitions, John Howard and Elizabeth Fry Societies, and every single friend or relative you can convince to come.

No bells in your community? Use other musical instruments of your choice: drums, cymbals, whatever. One FASDay supporter shook her grandmother's old school bell, and a group in a small northern Canadian community approached their local fire department!

This should be a happy occasion. Those ringing bells, or whatever else you choose, will be a powerful auditory reminder that we are all connected to the planet, and each other, and make a statement that FASD can be beaten.

More Ideas for Minute of Reflection

Everyone participating in FAS Day is invited to share in the "Minute of Reflection" 9:09 a.m. on September 9, as it goes around the world. In this magical moment the ninth minute of the ninth hour of the ninth day of the ninth month we want to get out the message that in the nine months of pregnancy, while breastfeeding or planning to conceive, women should not drink alcohol.

In this minute, we also want the world to remember those millions of people around the world who are living with fetal alcohol disorders.

If a large bell or carillon is not accessible or appropriate, participants can do many things to observe that special minute in accordance with their own cultural background or religious beliefs.

The Minute of Reflection symbolizes the worldwide circle of community which links all of us who care about FASD, all of us who are working towards prevention, all of us who are trying to help children and adults with fetal alcohol disorders reach their full potential. Here are nine more suggestions for observing the Minute of Reflection. If you have other ideas, please share them with us.

• Alone or with others, sit outside quietly and listen to the birds, or the wind blowing through the trees, or water lapping against the shore of a river or lake. You may want to focus on the wonderful gifts and strengths of the person(s) with FASD in your life.
• Say a prayer or recite a poem appropriate to your beliefs or culture.
• Sing a song or hymn.
• Listen to an excerpt of your favorite music. (Any suggestions?)
• Play a musical instrument, alone, or with fellow musicians, or ring tiny bells and "triangles" as the children of Queen of Apostles School, Toledo, OH did at 9:09 a.m. on September 9, 1999.
• Sit in a circle and share some pure spring water with people you care about.
• Place a long-distance phone call to a special friend who is equally committed to the FASD issue: you could even make it a three-way or teleconference call.
• You may find 9:09 a.m. inconvenient and may prefer to mark the Minute of Reflection at 9:09 p.m., and light a candle to symbolize both the flame of your love for individuals living with FASD, and your burning desire to eradicate this preventable birth defect.
• Simple silence. Each person with FASD is different, and those of us who love them respect their differences. Respecting each other while working together is what FASDay is about.

"We are the ones we've been waiting for..."

 is a phrase that reflects the fact that we can count on only ourselves for leadership. See
The Great River message from the Hopi Elders that follows.