Peggy Plank holds a mallet during a rehearsal for the High Peaks Ringers Christmas concert at Adirondack Community Church on Tuesday, Dec. 3. A mallet is used to strike the bells for a percussive sound.

LAKE PLACID — As snow piled in drifts outside the stone walls of the Adirondack Community church on Tuesday, Dec. 3, the eleven members of the High Peaks Ringers were hard at work — ringing the bells, striking them with yarn-covered mallets or thumping them on the padded tables for a dampened, percussive effect. In between songs, the women helped each other with their parts, or jokingly blamed their bells for not ringing on time.

This rehearsal was one of their last in preparation for their annual Christmas concert, a part of the Lake Placid Holiday Stroll. The group has been a feature of Lake Placid holidays and other occasions for more than 35 years.

Mary Dietrich moved to Lake Placid in 1978 and has been in the choir since it began in 1988. The music director of the church at the time had a background in bell choir and wanted to start one at the church. The director convinced the church to buy a 5-octave set of handbells (which would have cost tens of thousands of dollars) in addition to sheet music and other equipment. It was an enormous undertaking by the church.

The choir has been operating independently of the Adirondack Community Church for about a decade, Dietrich said, but they still meet in their building and use their set of bells.

“We’re really appreciative that they let us use the bells, they let us use the church,” Dietrich said.

Mary Dietrich counts beats during a rehearsal with High Peaks Ringers at Adirondack Community Church on Tuesday, Dec. 3. Her assigned bells are larger, heavier bells that sound notes in the bass range.

A bell choir is a unique ensemble where each ringer is assigned a few bells, which sound particular notes of the scale. The music resembles piano music, Dietrich said, and each person has to count carefully to play their bell at the exact moment that note appears on the page. It requires precision and focus — and keeping track of where you are in the music.

“It’s really a team activity,” Dietrich said. “You really have to listen to everybody.”

When the choir first started, they played easier music that only used three octaves of the bells. When there is a greater variety of notes in a piece of music, ringers each have to keep track of more bells, so the difficulty of the music often corresponds to the number of bells, or octaves, involved.

Eventually, they moved on to harder music and started attending festivals. These memories are some of the ones that stand out for Dietrich. She recalls participating in “mass ringings,” where many bell choirs are combined into one huge choir. One time, she walked by a room where one of these groups was practicing and thought she heard an organ playing with the bells because the sound was so full and strong.

“So I took the detour and went in to look. There was no organ. It was the bells sounding like an organ,” Dietrich said. “And it’s really a visual sight to see, especially the mass ringing — 50 Bell choirs all ringing at the same time with those beautiful bells.”

0370 - The High Peaks Ringers rehearse for their Christmas concert at Adirondack Community Church on Tuesday, Dec. 3, under the directorship of Dana Barney.

Handbells are a relatively accessible type of musical ensemble. Dietrich said each of the members have varied music backgrounds and abilities to read music. As a result, the music they work on is varied in difficulty.

“We’re nursing people along,” said Peggy Plank, another member who has been ringing with the group since it began.

For a time, there were also two bell choirs for two different age groups, which both Dietrich’s and Plank’s kids participated in when they were young. They even took the kids on tour to Germany once, which was quite an operation because they had to bring the enormous cases of bells and other equipment on the plane with them.

For the members, the choir provides a creative outlet as well as a social activity. Plank admitted she sometimes has a hard time dragging herself out of a warm house on a Tuesday night.

“Oh, I gotta go to bells,” Plank said, groaning. “But when I get here, I’m happy I’m here. I’m glad I’m playing.”

“It’s fun to make music with other people,” Dietrich said.

“And the camaraderie and the talking and showing pictures of grandchildren,” Plank added.

Over the years, the group has played in the schools and for weddings. Small ensembles from their group have added to the ambiance at Whiteface Lodge and Santa’s Workshop. Over the summer, they were invited to play at the dedication of the Harriet Tubman statue at John Brown Farm. They get a pretty good turnout at concerts.

“We have a little following,” said Laura Coffin, another member of the choir.

Their annual Christmas concert will be at 3 p.m. Sunday in the sanctuary of Adirondack Community Church at 2583 Main St. The program will be a “cavalcade” of traditional Christmas music and favorite numbers the choir has learned over the years.