The Distinctly Bronze West concert is tomorrow! We’ve been having fun rehearsing some exciting music at the Hilton Hotel, here in Portland, Oregon. It’s been an opportunity to perform on one of the largest sets of handbells available. Bill Payn has been our director for this event.
The concert will take place at the Hilton Portland and Executive Tower, in downtown Portland. Tickets will be $5 at the door.
If you’re a handbell musician and you didn’t get the opportunity to participate in this year’s event, you should come to the concert. You’ll be able to see what you missed, and consider taking part in a future event! If you don’t play handbells, or you’ve never heard a high-level handbell performance, now would be a great opportunity. Some of the music will be traditional pieces; music that you’ll recognise and want to hum along to. Other pieces have been written specifically for this instrument. They aim to demonstrate the beauty and excitement that handbells can convey so well. This year will be your opportunity to hear Larry’s arrangement of the exciting Brazilian piece Tico Tico no Fubá. The handbell musicians will be performing this piece on 7 octaves of handbells and 3 octaves of handchimes!
If you’re in the Portland area, we’d love to see you at the Distinctly Bronze West concert!
Our trip to Portland will be happening in just a few days’ time. We’ll be taking part in Distinctly Bronze West, a fun and challenging event where over a hundred experienced handbell musicians will gather together to rehearse and perform some exciting music, under the direction of Dr. Bill Payn.
This year’s repertoire is as follows:
Carillon on a Ukrainian Bell Carol – Gerald Near, transcr. Sondra Tucker
Consecration – William Payn
Down the River (Riding the Rogue) – Jason Krug
Festive Dance – Georges Bizet, transcr. Kevin McChesney
Gravitas – Michael J. Glasgow
Gwerzy – D. Armstrong/C. O’Snodaigh, arr. Clint Hagen
Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen, arr. Joel Raney
Horizons – William Payn
Light of Peace – Veronica Bigham and Derek Hakes
Passacaglia – G.F. Handel, transcr. William Griffin Beckenhorst
One of the challenges about Distinctly Bronze, and other high-level handbell events, is that it’s essential to know the music very well before you go there. It’s not the kind of handbell event where you can get there, sight-read the music, and hope for the best. You have to be familiar with each piece – and “learning the notes” is just the first part of that. If you think about it, playing handbells in a large group is like being just part of one big instrument; imagine a piano where you have just a handful of notes that are your responsibility (and they’re not necessarily all notes that are next to each other on the keyboard), and other people have control of the other notes around you.
The interesting challenge is to be able to play your notes at the right time, fitting them between other people’s notes, and playing them with the right touch to match what’s happening around you. The goal is to play your bells in such a way that the listener hears the music as a whole, and isn’t distracted by the fact that different bells are being played in different ways by more than a hundred different people. Events like these are not about individuals; they’re about a group of people making music together – and that takes teamwork and practice.
Using graph theory to position bass handbells
So we’ve been preparing for this since Christmas; annotating the scores to make sure we don’t miss a tempo change, or forget to pick up a bell or handchime in time to play it; marking difficult passages to remind us not to miss those accidentals or tricky rhythms. Yes, all those scribbles really do mean something important! And even the scribbles in the picture below mean something – at least, they do to Larry, who uses his knowledge of graph theory to help work out the best way to position the bass bells for each piece.
We’ve also been playing the music on actual bells, over and over – because even when you feel that you’ve stared at the notes on the paper until your eyes are burning, there’s no substitute for picking up some bells (preferably the right ones) and making sure all your ideas are actually possible – or will become possible with a lot more practice!
The upcoming performance of Larry’s arrangement of Tico Tico will be the first one ever! The piece has been the subject of much discussion among DB West participants, as we all get to grips with sharing bells with neighbours, changing bells at high speed, and working out the best ways to deal with fast chromatic passages. It’s going to be exciting to see how this piece sounds in performance next Sunday!
We’re looking forward to this year’s Distinctly Bronze West. Full details of the concert are below. If you’re in the Portland area on Sunday, March 1st, we’d love to see you there!
Introducing our first Surprisingly Easy™ Eight-Bell Hymn Collection! All the music, but without the twiddly bits. If you’re looking for some new handbell pieces to enhance your worship service, but you don’t want them to take too long to learn, this collection could be the answer. If you’re part of a duet, or your handbell choir is enthusiastic but small in number, these hymns could be what you’re looking for!
What’s included in this first collection?
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
Fairest Lord Jesus
Hyfrydol (also frequently sung as Alleluia! Sing to Jesus)
I Need Thee Every Hour
Take the Name of Jesus With You
Take My Life and Let It Be (Messiah tune)
This is My Father’s World
To God Be the Glory
Each of these hymns is also available separately. If you’d like to purchase and download this hymn collection for your group to play, it’s available from our music site.
More information about buying music from Choraegus
Purchasing this collection gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.
Please note that our music is designed to be downloaded as PDFs, so you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail.
If you haven’t purchased music online from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this guide to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about our music, please start by reading our Frequently-Asked Questions. Please contact us if you don’t find the answers you need, and we’ll do what we can to help!
Here’s our latest eight-bell piece – the folk hymn Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley. This sensitive and easy-to-learn arrangement is particularly suitable for Lent and Holy Week, but could be used throughout the year. Playable as a duet, trio or quartet, we hope you’ll add it to your repertoire!
Where to get the music, and more information about Choraegus
The sheet music for Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.
Please note that our music is designed to be downloaded as PDFs, so you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail.
If you haven’t purchased music online from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this guide to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about our music, please start by reading our Frequently-Asked Questions. Please contact us if you don’t find the answers you need, and we’ll be happy to help!
Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s our third one together since we closed the distance in August 2012!
Of course, we like to think that all you need is love and music, but that’s not exactly true. Coffee, for example. And who can live without cheese? Also a passport and visa, if you’re in a long-distance relationship. And great communication skills, a reliable internet connection and phone signal, and seemingly-endless patience. These last few things aren’t always easy to find, but they help a lot. If you’ve been following us on our Facebook page, you’ll know about some of the things we had to go through in our long-distance relationship. Being away from each other was a huge challenge, but now that we’re together in the same place, we’re glad we didn’t give up. Now we can say “Happy Valentine’s Day” face-to-face instead of on a computer screen… and we know that all the waiting was worthwhile.
Wherever you are in your own relationship, we wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day. If you have your partner beside you, and everything you need, that’s wonderful. If you’re still waiting for all the good things to come to you, hang in there. True love is worth waiting for.
Here’s our latest eight-bell piece. It’s a hymn called The Love of God, which has become one of our favorites in recent months. We started learning it while we were raising money for the Salvation Army at the Red Kettle in our local supermarket before Christmas. It was fairly easy to hide it among the Christmas and holiday music. There was a back-up plan that if anyone asked us what it was called, we’d tell them it’s also known as On Christmas Morn.
We also played The Love of God during a church service in Redding a couple of weekends ago. We think this piece could work nicely for a trio or quartet as well.
The Love of God is available for purchase and download from our music site.
More information about Choraegus handbell music
Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell ensemble – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials.
Please note that our music is designed to be downloaded as PDFs. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail.
If you haven’t purchased music online from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.
Any questions for us?
If you have any questions about our music, please start by reading our Frequently-Asked Questions. Please contact us if you don’t find the answers you’re looking for, and we’ll do what we can to help!
We don’t always play handbells. Hmm. Maybe we do. It might even be an addiction. What do you think?
Do you play handbells too? Would you like to play more?
If you want to spend more time playing handbells, check our our music site, Choraegus. You’ll find lots of handbell scores to keep you busy! Maybe try something new – a solo piece, or something for bass bells. Alternatively, grab an enthusiastic partner and try a 6- or 8-bell duet! Listen to lots of demonstration videos, and find out more about what’s available from our music site. Improve your bass-ringing skills with The Bass Ringer’s Notebook; the ultimate guide to swinging the buckets.
Do you actually NOT play handbells?
If you don’t play handbells, but you appreciate handbell music, there are still ways to get involved. YouTube is full of handbell videos to watch, from choirs all over the world. Another thing you could consider is booking a handbell choir (or a handbell duo) to play at your event. Host a concert, invite us to your worship service, have handbell music at a wedding ceremony or holiday event – there are so many options! Contact us, and let’s talk more about how we can bring our music to where you are.
Here’s another new piece for eight handbells – the popular hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness. We performed it for the first time at the Alzheimer’s Benefit Concert in Menlo Park in January, and it’s fast becoming one of our favorite pieces to play. It has just the right amount of challenge, without being anywhere close to impossible, and a nice loud ending. This piece would work for four-in-hand duet, or trio or quartet.
If you’d like to play Great Is Thy Faithfulness, it’s available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
Things to know about buying music from Choraegus
Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell ensemble – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.
Please note that our music is designed to be downloaded as PDFs. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail.
If you haven’t purchased music online from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide, designed to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.
Any questions for us?
If you have any questions about our music, please start by reading our Frequently-Asked Questions. Please contact us if you don’t find the answers you’re looking for, and we’ll do what we can to help!
Other news!
In other news… photos from the Alzheimer’s Benefit Concert are now on our Facebook page. Coming soon are photos from our trip to a local preschool, and pictures from the Redding Bronze event.
