The Arkansas State University Ringers will travel to churches and an elementary school in Harrison, Berryville and Eureka Springs between Sunday and Tuesday, Dr. M. Ellis Julien, director of the handbell choir, said.

   "It should be a great event and a lot of fun," Julien, associate professor of music, said.

   The 11 ringers in the choir tour every semester, performing a mixture of traditional and contemporary music, Julien said.

   Featured selections for the fall tour include "Gloria," "Come Thankful People," "It Came upon the Midnight Clear" and "White Christmas," he said.

   "I think it'll be a good program for the area and ASU," Jodie Hohn, a member of the choir, said. "The handbell choir is unique to our university, and in that area they hear so much about (the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville).

   "This will get the word out about ASU, especially since we're doing something different and unrelated to sports or academia," Hohn, a junior journalism major of Jonesboro, said.

   During the past four years, Julien said the choir has toured in Missouri, Texas, Louisiana, Florida and throughout Arkansas.

   Julien said he began the choir in 1986 as a part of the sacred music program.

   "The program was discontinued a few years ago," Julien said. "But I kept it (the handbell choir) going because students learn a lot about music from participating in the choir, and it's fun. But it might be even more fun to watch.

   "At our Christmas program, we usually have standing room only," he said. "I have people tell me they bring their children, and they all look forward to it every year."

   Admission is free to this year's Christmas program, which will be at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2.

   Julien said he has recorded several ASU Ringers' Christmas and tour concerts, pieces from which he will compile into two compact discs.

   "I've been working on a Christmas CD and a concert CD for about four years," he said. "Once I've made the selections, we can begin production. It could be done by next year."

   Julien said he plans to sell the CD to maintain the three octaves of bells and three octaves of hand chimes ASU already owns and to purchase more.

   Pam Maynard, a choir member for the past three semesters, said she loved performing in the concerts.

   "It's something unusual," Maynard, a junior civil engineering major of Clinton, said. "It's something to take you away from the rest of your classes, and I think people really enjoy it."