Young At Heart performed its crowd-pleasing Ringing of the Bells concert at Masonicare on Thursday, September 8, at 2:30 pm.There are no fees for booking the Young At Heart Ringing of the Bells. To request the group to perform, contact Pastor Jim Marshall at jmarsh414@gmail.com.

Young At Heart is a senior organization of about 200 members, many whom are in their 80s, that meets regularly for events at Black Rock Congregational Church in Fairfield. The group is nondenominational and has individuals coming from all over Fairfield County to take part in activities.

Pastor Jim Marshall, formerly the minister of music at Black Rock, leads a portion of the Young At Heart members who participate in the Ringing of the Bells. He has been offering his conducting skills to the group for 20 years.

"It has been a real blessing to be able to do this for all these years," said Mr Marshall. "We change out repertoire every year, and we do one concert a month." However, in November and December the group is typically in higher demand and does many more performances, because of the holiday music requests.

Mr Marshall and the Young At Heart members have performed their Ringing of the Bells concert at hospitals in Bridgeport, libraries, senior centers, and nursing/convalescent homes.

Despite Newtown being quite a distance for some of the members, Mr Marshall said they all voted to go to Masonicare. These men and women who volunteer their time feel it is a privilege to perform. They also look forward to bringing joy to their audiences.

"These are people who have taken on the ministry [and perform] to the people that don't get out, who are in nursing homes and are confined," explained Mr Marshall. "It's not church service. They enjoy the readings. They love it, and it is educational."

The Ringing of the Bells musicians consist of nine chime players known as the "Chime Choir." They practice their parts and read from sheet music. There is also a "Special Bells" group that has about 20 members. They play based off of a color-coded card system (participants cannot be color blind).

Mr Marshall said, "The program is divided into three different sections; we start off with some secular music, then we do some hymns, and end with patriotic music."

Upon starting the concert, Mr Marshall led a group prayer for everyone in attendance.

Then he introduced Young At Heart chime player Mary Joan Marus, who acted as narrator for the concert. Before each song, Ms Marus spoke to the crowd, providing some background information about the songs or even reading out loud part of the song's lyrics to spark the audience's memory. Many of the people at Masonicare had not heard some of the songs since they were children and lit up when they recognized the music.

The Sound of Music, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," "Jesus Loves Me," "Come All Ye Thankful People, Come," "Oh, Beautiful," and "God Bless America."

During their 40-minute set at Masonicare, the Young At Heart members performed about ten different songs, including "Edelweiss" from

The Wizard of Oz. Before the song, Ms Marus joked with the crowd, "'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' has been around for a long time, but some of us have been around for a long time."

They also played the popular tune "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from the movie

Toward the end of the concert, during the patriotic songs, all the members of the bells section put on sparkling American flag hats and those sitting in the back row stood up.

Ruth Gray, who plays the chimes, bells, and acted as the hype woman for the group, got the crowd involved in the performance. She would frequently stand up and interact with the audience, especially during the patriotic music. Her animated gestures, like marching up and down the aisle throughout "You're A Grand Old Flag," would get the crowd's attention. Most of all, her enthusiasm inspired the crowd to participate in singing along to the songs.

"I love it! I'm in my element," said Ms Gray. She always enjoys seeing the audience's faces light up when they remember a song.

Young At Heart member Sue Drzal has been doing the Ringing of the Bells for 18 years. During that time, Mr Marshall has always been the one conducting the group, and she speaks very highly of him.

"Pastor Jim works hard," said Mrs Drzal. "He is very good-natured, and he is kind to everyone."

Currently, she plays the green and yellow bells, but sometimes picks up the red bells when the group needs additional help in that area. She said of all the songs she performs, her favorite is "Edelweiss."

"I enjoy playing it, because it is so beautiful." Mrs Drzal explained. "I also like the traveling we do [with Young At Heart] and that we go to so many different places."

Mrs Drzal added, "I would definitely encourage people to join Young At Heart."

For those who wish to see the Young At Heart members perform Ringing of the Bells, their next performance is on October 20 at Senior Living at Split Rock in Shelton.