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The Artist’s Sketch: Patrick Hazell
It
seems Washington, Iowa, resident Patrick Hazell doesn’t do anything on a
small scale. He doesn’t think on a small scale, he thinks globally. And
he doesn’t play music on a small scale, he involves entire communities.
Hazell is perhaps best known for his blues music, playing piano and harmonica to audiences both nationally and internationally. But it his Bell Project that has been earning him much attention lately.
The Bell Project involves one community with several different bells, usually church bells, coordinated to ring together. Hazell prefers a city with at least five bell sites within a relatively small area away from highly-traveled highways and city streets.
“I look for a rural area that happens to have several small churches or old school buildings with bells located within earshot of each other,” Hazell said. “I also take into account as many environmental factors as possible: location of busy streets, air conditioners, furnaces, factories, barriers to sound—big buildings or land mass forms and other city events like athletic games or outdoor events with music.”
In
each community, he recruits volunteers to play the music he’s composed for
the bells, studying first the individual attributes of each bell in order to bring
the sounds together.
“Each piece is different,” Hazell said. “I have to take into account how easy or difficult it may be to activate the bell and if it can be run with some kind of ‘finesse’ with regards to rhythmic variations. With some bells, it is simply enough just to get them to ring in a steady pattern, let alone ring them with any nuance or subtlety. Also, there are no melodies. It is an hour-long sound event that features tonal shifts and harmonic convergences, much like an aural version of watching the Northern Lights.”
Hazell has conducted eight “rings” since 2003—his most recent being December 21, 2004, in Burlington. Hazell will return to Burlington for a second ring Sunday, September 25, from 6:00-7:00 p.m. The event will be videotaped by Iowa Public Television for a possible segment on Living in Iowa.
Hazell
has even conducted a ring in Russia. In June 2004, he traveled to Izhevsk, 600
miles outside of Moscow, to stage the bell ringing for Russia’s National
Independence Day festivities. He used the opportunity to submerge himself in the
music, folk tales, history and politics of the country.
“The overseas connections are very important to me and I hope to continue to develop my international ties through recordings and documentary film work,” Hazell said. “I’m currently seeking sponsors who may be interested in investing in a documentary about ancient bell sites along the old Siberian Highway which goes through a number of unique and isolated ethnic villages—many with their own languages and religious beliefs.”
In November, Hazell will travel yet again to Asuncion, Paraguay, to perform a concert at the American Cultural Center. His trip will include guest appearances on Paraguayan television shows, and countless newspaper and radio interviews.
“I have always loved traveling, especially to other nations,” he said. “There are lots of musical and cultural traditions out there that I find incredibly stimulating. When I was a college student back in the mid-1960s, my dream was to tour the world recording the music I found in remote places. I am now doing that as well as playing my own music and even collaborating with musicians I find overseas.”
Patrick Hazell is listed on the Iowa Arts Council’s Performing Artists Roster, in which you can read more about his performances and offerings.
