How do I 'chord' a song for a C-C diatonic bell set?

Question

I'm a minister, and I've purchased a set of diatonic bells for our youth (8 colored bells: C to C). I've read about the chord method of playing simple hymns. Is there some way to learn how to 'chord' hymns (other than the purchased songs) so our kids can play the chords for the hymns?
My understanding is that the chords represented in the bell set are: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, and G7. Can anyone shed any light on chording the hymns or make any suggestions for the use of the bell set wtih the children and youth of our church? Thanks.

Answer 1

The chord represented just tell you what key the song is in. Like C stands for C major. Dm stands for D minor. If you want to make a chord use 1, 3, and 5...or ....c, g, d....that will make a C major chord...a nice happy sound. Try that then you could mess around with it or go to freesheetmusic.com and print off arrangments. :-)

Answer 2

I'm going to assume that the hymns you're doing are diatonic (that is, all having notes that fall into a major scale). Though that's the way it usually goes with hymns. First you'd have to transpose the given hymn to the key of C! Most hymns are in C though, so again this might not be a problem. If it's using chords that you don't see below, chances are it's not in the key of C.

Now if we label the 8 bells one through eight (low C=1, D=2, E=3, F=4, G=5, A=6, B=7, high C=8) you can make the following chords by ringing the following numbered bells simultaneously:

C = 1,3,5 (add 7 for Cmaj7)
Dmin = 2,4,6 (add 8 for Dmin7)
Emin = 3,5,7 (add 2 for Emin7)
F= 4,6,8 (add 3 for Fmaj7)
G=5,7,2 (add 4 for G7)
Amin=6,1,3 (add 5 for Amin7)
Bdim=7,2,4 (probably won't ever show up though)

What you could then do is write out the chords for the hymns, and assign each bell to a child. As they follow the chord chart and see their bell number come up, they know that's when they have to ring it. They'll also have to know when it's time to STOP their bell's sound (maybe after a count of four), or otherwise it could sound harsh as it clashes with the next chord. Of course, since the bells are colored, you could subsitute the numbers here with colors.

Another tip: you can always substitute bell 1 for bell 8, and vice versa. You might find that one way "flows" better in between particular chords. Good luck.

Answer 3

The seventh chord in the series would be a Bdim chord
C Dm Em F G Am Bdim.
As you may know basic chords are built on the 1st. 3rd. And 5th. Of the scale.
The C chord is comprised of the notes CEG. The following are the notes contained in the chord progressions for the key of C Major.
C=CEG
Dm=DFA
Em=EGB
F=FAC
G=GBD
Am=ACE
Bdim=BDF
To play the chord have the child with each corresponding note of that chord to sound their bell.