Musicians building tools for musicians is nothing new. In fact, it’s as old as music itself. Organ builders were often organ players. Bassoonists shaped reeds not just for themselves, but for others. Who, after all, understands a musician’s needs better than another musician?
In MuseScore Studio 4.6, that tradition continues with Muse Handbells, a library born from an entirely different kind of collaboration. This work began with a simple question: whose voices have we not yet heard? When tools are built by people who live and breathe the craft, we feel it in the playback, in the notation, in the way a score finally sounds like it should. And when they fall short, we feel that too, because behind the technology are people who understand what’s at stake.
Drumline Playback in MuseScore Studio
Not so long ago, our path led us to a corner of the musical world that had long been underserved: the drumline community. We asked questions, listened carefully, and partnered with Tapspace to bring Virtual Drumline into MuseScore Studio. Alongside that effort, we built Muse Drumline, a free MuseSounds library anyone can use.
For those unfamiliar, a drumline is the beating heart of a marching band. Snare drums, bass drums, quads, cymbals. They do not just keep time; they electrify audiences with precision, unity, and sheer force. By giving students and educators scoring tools and realistic playback, many for the first time, we sent a message: your community matters too.
It was a small step, but a powerful one. A reminder that access, when free and well made, can change how music is taught, written, and shared.
How a Handbell Discovery Sparked Muse Handbells in MuseSounds
Fast forward to a late November evening. A choir and orchestra concert had just ended, and I was packing up my microphones after another recording session. I’d walked past that display case many times, a single retired handbell hanging on the wall. This time, I stopped.
I asked the choir director if she knew anyone who could tell me more. “You’re looking for Cathie,” she said, without hesitation.
I already knew Cathie Banks as a singer, but what I didn’t know was that she had decades of handbell experience, connections across the globe, and an unwavering passion for her community. She was retired from her profession, but not from her craft. More than thirty years of ringing, starting in a five-octave church ensemble and moving through leadership roles with OGEHR (the Ontario Guild of English Handbell Ringers). She had served on their board, coordinated festivals across the province, organized national and international events. She had been a founding member of Bellissima Ringers, a professional handbell quartet that performed at Roy Thomson Hall and released a tenth-anniversary recording. The kind of musician whose résumé speaks for itself, but whose real credential is simpler: she knew handbells the way someone knows their own voice.
And suddenly, the pieces aligned: an expert ringer with time to give, and a slightly obsessive sample-library developer looking for the perfect collaborator.
That chance encounter led to Muse Handbells in MuseSounds and the new Handbells palette in MuseScore Studio 4.6.
Preserving the Craft: Recording Handbells with a Master Ringer
We began working together, studying scores, listing the techniques most essential to handbell choirs, and then recording them one by one. Cathie’s form was extraordinary: decades of muscle memory and artistry distilled into every movement. It reminded me of watching Roger Federer demonstrate his swing in retirement, not competing, just showing pure craft.
Between takes, Cathie would tell stories of handbell festivals, legendary ringers she had met, and recordings I had to track down. Sometimes she would laugh mid-conversation, then add: “Oh, maybe we should capture that technique too.”
We recorded at Wesley-Knox United Church in London, Ontario, Canada. The library’s main articulations are sampled with three dynamic layers and four round robins per articulation. For handbells we used a Rycote OM-08 with a Rode NTSF-1 Soundfield Ambisonics mic in an OCCO array. For handchimes we used the OM-08 again with a Beyerdynamic MC930, also in an OCCO array.
Handbell articulations captured: Damp, Echo, Gyro, HandMart, Mallet, Mallet Lift, Mart, Mart Lift, Pluck, Shake, Singing Bell, Sustain, Swing, Thumb Damp. Handchime articulations captured: Damp, Fast Finger Vibrato, Slow Finger Vibrato, Staccato Muted, Sustain.
Her generosity was endless. And when the recording and editing were finally finished, I brought her some test scores. I pressed play inside MuseScore Studio.
“This is your playing,” I said. “Now the whole handbell community can use it.”
Cathie’s eyes widened. “Really? That’s me?”
It was one of those moments that silences everything else. She was overwhelmed, and so was I. The distance between one ringer in one choir and an entire global community had just disappeared, through her hands, through our tools.
Hear Muse Handbells in Action
From a Single Ringer to the World: Muse Handbells for Everyone
With the release of Muse Handbells alongside the new Handbells palette in MuseScore Studio 4.6, every sound you’ll hear traces back to that collaboration. Every note is real, performed by Cathie Banks, shared with the world.
It’s more than a new library. It’s a continuation of an old truth: musicians build the best tools for musicians. One community at a time.
So to every handbell ringer who will find new joy in writing, scoring, and practicing with these sounds: thank Cathie. This gift comes from her hands, and from the belief that when we build together, music truly belongs to everyone.
