I know that this is not official news I am about to give but who cares? This is my site and I can write anything I want! :) I was watching Eisenstein's classic film, ALEXANDER NEVSKY in the wee hours of the morning last night and was rediscovering Prokofiev's wonderful score. I did not realize until last night how many bells he added to the music. Then I thought, well, hey, I guess that would kind of explain where I got the idea to use bells in songs like THE KNIGHT AND THE QUEEN, I LOVE YOU and WON'T LEAVE YOU TOMORROW. Modest Mussorgsky, another great Russian composer, used them prominently in the Coronation scene in his magnificent opera, BORIS GODUNOV (Ok Rocky and Bullwinkle fans..there is something familiar about this name!:) ) and that influenced me as well. I think bells add a certain spiritual quality to a score if used at the right time. How about Mike Oldfield's classic TUBULAR BELLS? I guess my whole point in this article is that we composers really are what we listen to and the more we listen, the more we learn...bells can be quite handy in an arrangement(another example; Madonna's OPEN YOUR HEART: the synth bell carries the full counter melody of the song!)