The sweet sound of giving back

Playing in the children's hand-chime choir at his church when he was younger helped build the foundation for Rolf Frazier's later enjoyment of music as a player and a listener.

So when the music ministry director at St. Francis United Methodist Church in Cary asked Rolf, now 18, to lead The Cheerful Chimers, Rolf could hardly say no.

"I accepted because I figured it'd be a great learning experience for me, being on the giving end of what I received," he said.

And as director he's been learning, indeed, right along with the second- and third-graders he leads in rehearsals once a week and in three performances a year.

For one thing, he's learned some tricks for keeping little kids engaged with the task at hand.

"As you can imagine, it's hard to keep second- and third-graders focused for a solid hour of practice," said Rolf, who lives in Holly Springs. "So it's nice to give them a little break here and there. And you've got to remember they are in second and third grade, so they're not going to be focused the entire time. You just gotta roll with the punches I guess."

Rolf, who plays drums in his church's youth praise band and handbells in the Tintinnabulators choir for teens, credits his knowledge of music to his start in the hand-chime choir he now directs, and he hopes to provide a similar foundation to today's members.

"It's a good way to, one, learn how to read music," he said of hand chimes, often the precursor to handbells. "When I started, I had to color my notes so I'd know, like, left hand on pink, right hand on orange. But it's (also) a good way to gradually learn how to sight-read through the music. And you keep adding bells, so you're constantly challenging yourself."

Another challenge Rolf enjoys is herding younger kids through summer camp as a counselor at Camp Chestnut Ridge in Efland. He started as a camper there himself, in elementary school. And now, just like with the hand-chime choir, he lends his leadership skills to giving back.

"It was definitely one of the things that most motivated me and made me who I am today," he said. "And I thought that was really cool that older people would spend so much time focusing on trying to help younger people."

He completed counselor training three years ago, and has been going back - and giving back - ever since.

"I just found a lot of enjoyment in working with younger kids," he said, "and just, like, watching them grow over the summer."

Whether its canoeing or horseback riding at summer camp or learning to ring out a note with hand chimes, Rolf thinks having fun is key for the kids involved, but there's a little something more going on, too.

"I think they see it as a fun activity," he said of his hand-chime students. "But it's more getting them in the habit of being involved in good, beneficial activities and being productive and challenging themselves."