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North Pacific Union Conference Gleaner -- March, 2005 |
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Trolleys, Parades and Candlelight Dinners Ring of Fire Ignites the Inauguration
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By RICHARD DOWER
Ring of Fire, a handbell choir based in Hillsboro, Oregon, and composed of academy-aged youth,
traveled to the nation�fs capitol to play for three official events during the 55th presidential inauguration on
Thursday, January 20, 2005. Their second inaugural trip�\Ring of Fire played for the first inauguration of
George W. Bush�\Ring of Fire was the only organization to represent the states of Oregon and Washington
at the inauguration.
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North Pacific Union Conference Gleaner -- December, 2003 |
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Ring of Fire Handbell Choir to perform with the Boston Pops in the yearly televised Holiday Pops Concert from Symphony Hall
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By RICHARD DOWER
On Monday, Dec. 8, the Ring of Fire handbell choir from Tualatin Valley Junior Academy, Hillsboro, Ore.,
will board a plane to head east to play in the performance of a lifetime, the televised Holiday Pops Concert
with the world famous Boston Pops! Ring of Fire, with their director Jason Wells, will perform three concerts
with the Boston Pops, one on Dec.10 and two on Dec. 11.
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North Pacific Union Conference Gleaner -- July, 2003 |
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Journey to Excellence Ring of Fire
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By RICHARD DOWER
It is 6:59 p.m. and the sanctuary of the First Church of God in Vancouver, Washington, is buzzing as
people wait to hear the Tualatin Valley Junior Academy?s (TVJA) bell choir, Ring of Fire. After a prayer
and brief introduction, thirteen teenagers march in at 7:00 p.m. to take their places behind tables
weighted with 61 bronze bells. Their director, Jason Wells, assumes his position and, with a blur of
motion and the blended sounds of Laudation, another leg in their journey to excellence begins.
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North Pacific Union Conference Gleaner -- July, 2003 |
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Jason Wells
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By RICHARD DOWER
Reportedly there are more than 300,000 handbell choirs in the United States. What kind of person can
transform 13 teenagers into the benchmark of the handbell world? Meet Jason Wells.
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From The Top Radio Show -- April, 2002 |
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Ring of Fire Featured Young Musicians
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Ring of Fire is a unique ensemble comprised entirely of handbell players -- 13 young musicians who play
61 handbells! The members hail from Tualatin Valley Junior Academy in Hillsboro, OR. The ensemble originated
five years ago and was the brainchild of director Jason Wells. "It was my dream to come up with a team activity
for kids that could take them all around the world, and that would provide a bonding experience where they
could fall in love with music," he says.
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Adventist Review -- April, 2001 |
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Playing With a Ring of Fire
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By BILL KNOTT
IT WAS A CLASSIC AMERICAN MOMENT. Minutes before the sleek black limousine carrying President Bill Clinton and
President-elect George W. Bush to the inauguration ceremony rolled past Pennsylvania Avenue's Freedom Plaza, an
angry chorus of 4,000 protestors waved placards and screamed for a dozen different causes. Police in riot gear
struggled to keep the protestors from surging into the street as the passions stoked by a bitter election
controversy and the day's miserable weather boiled over. The "peaceful transition of power" so celebrated in
the mainstream media seemed uncertain amid chaotic expressions of First Amendment rights.
Just then, from an island in the angry crowd, 13 fresh-faced American teenagers began, in their own way, to let
freedom ring. Up from the full-toned English handbells they were playing came the familiar lilting strains of
"America the Beautiful," piercing the angry cacophony behind them with a golden hymn to community and promise.
Determined to be heard above the din, the teenagers played with musical abandon, belting out their faith in an
America that was difficult to see that day, where good is crowned with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
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Adventist Review -- April, 2001 |
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Excellence—On His Own Time
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By BILL KNOTT
Ring of Fire director Jason Wells has taken his teenage bell choir to national prominence while carrying a full
load of regular academic classes at Tualatin Valley Junior Academy. Though nothing is ever quite "extracurricular"
for the 30-year-old Walla Walla College graduate, his everyday teaching load includes classes in ninth- and
tenth-grade English, tenth-grade Bible, photography, a publications class—and the school yearbook.
"He wasn't hired to do Ring of Fire," says his wife, Heather, a nurse in a Portland-area hospital. "This is something
he just wants to do. When he chooses the one thing that he wants to focus on and go for, he takes it where no else
would take it, because of his intensity."
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The Wall Street Journal -- January 22, 2001 |
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Teens Ring Bells For Bush
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By SUSAN G HAUSER
By Portland standards, there was a media frenzy on the concourse.
Reporters from four television and two radio stations focused their cameras and mikes on the 13 members
of the Ring of Fire hand-bell choir, instant Oregon celebrities after being named the only musical group
in the Pacific Northwest invited to perform at the inauguration of George W. Bush.
More...
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Tigard Times --Saturday, January 11, 2001 |
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Bell Choir On Fire
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By JANIE NAFSINGER
This blazing young music group from Tualatin Valley Junior Academy is bound for the nation's capital to
perform at the presidential inaugural festivities.
More...
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Christian News Northwest -- January, 2001 |
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Hillsboro Froup to Play At Bush Inaugural
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By RICHARD KOE
HILLSBORO -- The Bells of Tualatin Valley Junior Academy, a 13-member junior high handbell choir from a local
Seventh-Day Adventist School, will be the only group from Oregon performing at President George W. Bush?s inaugural
parade in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 20.
?Ring of Fire,? the handbell choir whose name is taken from the volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest, will perform
before and after the inaugural parade. It might also play at one or more of the several inaugural balls in the nation?s capital.
Choir Director Jason Wells said bellringers, ranging from seventh to 10th grades, will perform several classic
American songs, including John Philip Sousa?s ?Stars and Stripes Forever,? and Katherine Lee Bates? ?America the Beautiful.?
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