Handbell assignments without the highlighter marathon.
Load your score, tell BellPlan your bell set and your ringers. It assigns the bells, fixes the trouble spots with the fewest possible loans, and prints a highlighted part for every ringer.
The problem
Every handbell director knows the routine. You count the bells, hand each ringer a pair of neighboring notes and their sharps and flats, then spend an evening hunting for the places where it falls apart: a ringer who needs three bells in under a second, a chord with notes from one position, a run that no one can reach. You fix them by hand, with loans and duplicates, then highlight every ringer's notes on a photocopy of the score. One edit to the plan means doing it again.
Notation programs and plug-ins can draw a “bells used” chart. In our research we found no tool that makes the assignment decisions or produces the marked-up parts. BellPlan does.
How it works
1Load your score
Export MusicXML from MuseScore, Finale, Sibelius or Dorico (or use a composer's file). Repeats and endings are unrolled so every ring is counted. PDF import is coming.
2Set your choir
Pick 2 to 7 octaves, name your ringers, and tick who can do four-in-hand, Shelley or weaving. Everyone starts at an Allured-style position. Change the ringing limits to match your choir.
3Get the parts
BellPlan finds every spot a ringer can't physically cover, resolves it with the fewest loans to the nearest ringers, and gives each ringer a PDF with their notes highlighted and a cue at each loan (“m. 33: take F♯5 from Ana”).
You also get an assignment chart, a workload view and a plain-language list of anything it couldn't solve, with suggestions.
Compared with what you do today
| Task | By hand | “Bells used” charts in notation software | BellPlan |
|---|---|---|---|
| List the bells a piece needs | Count by eye | Yes | Yes, and flags notes outside your set |
| Assign bells to ringers | Standard positions, adjusted by hand | No | Starts from Allured-style positions |
| Find the places no ringer can cover | Spotted while ringing or rehearsing | No | Checks bells per hand, bell-change time and reach, measure by measure |
| Fix them with loans | Trial and error | No | Searches for the fewest loans to the nearest ringers |
| Marked parts for each ringer | Highlighters and photocopies | No | One highlighted PDF per ringer, with loan cues |
| Change the plan | Redo the marking | — | Change a setting, run again |
Based on our research into notation software and plug-ins. If we got a row wrong, tell us.
Pricing
Free during beta — founding users keep a discounted price. We plan to charge about $49 per year per director once the beta ends. Join early access below and you keep a founding-member discount.
Questions
What files can I use?
MusicXML today (.musicxml, .xml or .mxl), exported from MuseScore, Finale, Sibelius, Dorico or any notation program, or supplied by a composer. Most handbell music is sold as PDF, and PDF import is coming. Until then, you need a MusicXML version of the piece.
Is my music uploaded anywhere?
No. Your file is read and processed in your browser, and the PDFs are made there too. We never see your score. If you join early access we store only the email, role and note you type into that form.
Can I use this with licensed or copyrighted music?
BellPlan does not change or redistribute your file; it makes marked-up copies on your computer for your own choir. Publishers' licenses differ on whether marked-up copies are allowed, so check yours. The examples on this site are public-domain tunes with our own arrangements.
How does BellPlan decide what a ringer can play?
By default: two bells at once (one per hand); a ringer needs 0.8 seconds to put one bell down and pick up another (0.4 s when weaving); four-in-hand and Shelley let a hand hold two small bells (F5 and above by default); loans go at most two positions away. These are starting points — adjust them to your choir in the app's settings. During development we re-checked results beat by beat with separate, independently written code (details in our verification report).
Which handbell conventions does it use?
Handbell music is written an octave below sounding pitch, and BellPlan works in written pitch. Bell sets follow common manufacturer ranges (for example 3 octaves is C4–C7, 37 bells). The starting positions pair two neighboring natural notes per ringer, with each sharp or flat belonging to the ringer who has the natural just below it. Bass ringers cover three or four bells.
What can't it do yet?
PDF import; mallets, damping and let-vibrate lengths (they are shown but not used to decide assignments); D.S./coda jumps (simple repeats and first/second endings work); gradual tempo changes (ritardandi); duplicate bells (it suggests them but does not assign them). Loans are decided one measure at a time. It's a beta: please review the result before handing out parts.
What if it can't solve a passage?
It tells you where, which ringer, and what to try: a duplicate bell, an extra ringer, turning on weaving or four-in-hand for that ringer, a slower tempo, or simplifying the passage.
Does it work for hand chimes or choirs with duplicate bells?
Not yet. Today it plans a single set of handbells. Handchimes and duplicate bells are on the list.
Early access
The app is open to everyone during the beta. Leave your email and we'll tell you about new features (PDF import first) and your founding-member price.