Woman
in the Wings / January 2007
Rining Off
 Jane Irvine
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By Pat Lawrence
After thirty years of teaching music, Jane Irvine is retiring to do something she’s always enjoyed-teach music.
A graduate of Herbert Hoover High in Clendenin,West Virginia, Jane started playing piano when she was five and joined her brothers in the high school marching band when she got older. As a Music Education major at WVU and in graduate studies at Ohio University, she says, “I took all the band and orchestra instruments, so I can play, or at least play at, most everything!” She says, “I’ve been teaching music, and sometimes band, my entire life.”
She started teaching elementary students in Marietta, Ohio. But when she began her new position at Little Hocking Elementary, the Warren High School Bell director recommended that she buy bells. “I went to Princeton New Jersey to learn to play.”
Jane got the bells.
It was an introduction that led to a thousand hours of pleasure and turned into a passion. In addition to learning to play, Jane completed intensive training on conducting. She directs two handbell choirs at school and, has been the director of handbells for her church since 1991. She rings with the Mid-Ohio Valley Ringers in performances that continue into summer. On a handbell tour to England, she rang for ten days in the country that originated the handbell tradition. And, she is the education chair for Area V of the American Guild of English Hand Bell Ringers, a national and international support organization for bell ringers with over 9000 members and twelve regional divisions. She is responsible for coordinating a dozen different handchime grants that provide teaching materials and handchimes for the five states of the region.
It is no small amount investment, in time or funds. Handchimes are about $1500 per set.
Ringing a peal for any group can be quite expensive. A full, sixty-three bell set costs about $20,000. Even a smaller set, like the ones Jane has for her elementary classes, cost about $9000. Made of solid bronze, each bell has its own pitch. The largest bells can weigh up to 18 pounds. Bell sets can cover two, three, four or five octaves and there is music written especially for each range.
Jane says most of the ringers in her community group conduct or direct as well. “Ringing takes lots of practice and a passion for it. We ring because we love it and we don’t get to play in the groups we conduct.”
Jane teaches and directs the choirs as well the bellringers at the school. Her daunting schedule includes eight classes every day; the smallest class has twelve students, the largest is the Junior High Choir with 59 members. There are performances for the school, for the community, in the evening and classroom plays. The kids from kindergarten to fourth grade have a Christmas program. Each choir performs at least once every semester. Jane says, “Every child that wants to sing is welcome to join the choir.” Jane chooses the music, does some of the arranging and tries to keep it all in harmony.
In addition to her other musical activities, for the past eight years, Jane has accompanied a women’s trio, Just Us Friends, in their local performances. She plays piano while the three singers perform Broadway and show tunes. She’s an active arts supporter in the community, on the board of Artsbridge for the last four years and a member of the National Society of Arts and Letters. Her son is a bass player “with a couple of rock bands” and, she says, “a fine handbell ringer”.
In May, Jane will retire from elementary teaching and begin a new phase in her life, teaching at Ohio University and Marietta College. She says, "I've been able to make a career out of what I love, and been very fortunate that the school administration has been so supportive. Sharing the knowledge of music has been the best part of my career.”
Jane will teach elementary music methods at OU and “whatever they need!” at Marietta College. She sees a big, and exciting, change. The students will be older. Classes are in the evening. The heavy schedule will be lightened, leaving more time to share with her husband and to develop new interests.
Driving from home to work and from performance to performance, her head and heart are filled with music. But, her car is one place it doesn’t play. Jane keeps her radio on…NPR
Copyright © 2007 A Woman's View. All rights reserved.
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