December 28, 2025

Our 2025 holiday handbell performances

Our 2025 holiday handbell performances are finished! It’s time to thank everyone involved, and to look back at a fun December of duet-ringing!

We had busy holiday performance season this year. We were very fortunate with the weather, and the fact that we didn’t have to travel long distances to get to any of our Christmas gigs. That’s very helpful in Michigan. Our Christmas handbell performances are often booked months in advance, and there’s no way to know what the weather’s going to do! We just hope for the best, and remember to allow extra time for travel. We’ve never been late for any of our holiday handbell performances yet!

Here are some of the highlights from our 2025 holiday season:

Handbells on WOOD TV8

Our holiday performance season began early this year, with a short-notice booking for November 19th! This was for an appearance on the WOOD TV8 Daybreak show. The show was being presented live from the Christkindl Markt in Grand Rapids. Even though we wouldn’t be playing handbells while the market was open, we were invited to go and add to the holiday atmosphere with some Christmas ringing. This involved waking up at 3:30am, and arriving at the market at 5:15am on a very cold day! Still, we had fun, and we met Santa while we were there! Interestingly, the Santa we met there was not the official Christkindl Markt Santa. He was a very good one, though!

handbell ringers with Santa at Christkindl Markt Grand Rapids — *Trying not to look too cold, in Grand Rapids early in the morning*

Glad to be back indoors for a while!

After that wintry start to our holiday performances, we were thankful to be indoors for a candlelight Advent evening in Marne. This was a nice opportunity to play some of our “it’s not quite Christmas yet” pieces, although we were happy to fulfil a surprise request for Jingle Bells at the end of the evening!

Later in December, we were welcomed back to The Village at the Pines in Grand Haven, where we enjoyed sharing some Advent and Christmas handbell duets with residents. It’s always such a friendly place! Several of the residents (and a staff member) played Jingle Bells on handchimes, and did very well. We have a version that uses words instead of music notation, and that makes it easier, although a couple of the residents had played handbells before, and their experience definitely showed!

For the first time, we shared our handbell music at The Warm Friend (Resthaven) in Holland, and appreciated all the interesting questions we received from the audience. We felt as if we could have stayed all afternoon and talked about handbells with the residents there! We took extra handbells and handchimes with us to this performance, so we added a smaller percussion table to the side of our usual table. This enabled us to demonstrate Savior of the Nations, Come on lower bells than we’d usually use, and to use handchimes for a couple of our pieces too.

Holiday handbell performances - Resthaven The Warm Friend in Holland, Michigan — *A larger-than-usual set-up at The Warm Friend*

Handbells at the Kerstmarkt-Holland

We enjoyed two evenings ringing at the Kerstmarkt in downtown Holland. We’ve been playing at this European-style Christmas market for some years now, and we always love it there. This year, we were very fortunate with the weather. We had just a few flurries of gently swirling snow, but the temperature on both evenings was mild by Michigan winter standards. We were wearing multiple layers of clothing, which helped a lot too, and we were grateful for the loan of a heater from Shady Side Farm. This holiday market is always such a fun, festive event, and it turns out that Santa and Mrs Claus love handbell music too!

Santa at Kerstmarkt in downtown Holland — *So many layers of clothing, and we have a feeling Santa and Mrs Claus had the same idea!*

Another cold (but festive) evening at Otsego Hometown Christmas

Thanks to Otsego District Public Library for sponsoring our evening at Otsego Hometown Christmas! This is always a chilly event to play at, but the warmth of the welcome makes up for it, and this year we particularly loved how many children came to listen to our handbell music. They asked interesting questions too, and it was an opportunity for us to educate as well as to entertain. This is a wonderful community event, and we’re always happy to be part of it.

handbell ringers at Otsego Hometown Christmas — *Holiday handbell performances outdoors can be cold, but so much fun!*

A concert with the Zeeland Community Band

We joined our friends at the Zeeland Community Band for their concert at Freedom Village. This concert included some pieces that were familiar to us, and others that were new. We played a 15-minute prelude, then three of our own pieces in the middle of the concert, and added our handbells to three of the band’s pieces. The concert was very well attended, and was a wonderful way to share the spirit of Christmas with this retirement community in Holland. We also appreciated being able to play our recent arrangement of Ring the Bells, accompanied by the band’s director Rose Wiersma on piano. We didn’t get a video of the performance, but here’s our recording at home, so you’ll get the idea.

Another performance at the Gary Byker Memorial Library of Hudsonville

We were pleased to be invited back to the library in Hudsonville for another holiday handbell performance. This was our seventh year at this Ringing in Christmas event hosted by the Friends of the Library, and after last December’s slightly-too-exciting drive through the snow, we were thankful for much kinder weather this time! The event is always popular, and audience members appreciate homemade treats provided by the Friends, and the opportunity to ask all their burning questions about handbells! Well, we like to think they have burning questions, of course, even though they’ve probably had them all answered by now. Thanks to audience member Steve Snow for this photo of us in action!

*Deep in concentration at Hudsonville Libary’s Ringing in Christmas program. (Photo credit: Steve Snow)*

Handbells in worship during Advent

We have quite a lot of Advent hymns for just eight bells now, but it’s still rare for us to be invited to play in churches here in Michigan during the run-up to Christmas. This December, we played at three churches; one on the third Sunday of Advent, in Grand Haven, and two on Christmas Eve, in Holland and Kalamazoo.

Handbells at St Paul's UCC Grand Haven, Michigan — *Handbell duets at the Advent service at St. Paul’s UCC in Grand Haven, Michigan*

Playing in two different places made for a busy Christmas Eve and a very late night/early morning. It was worth it, though, because there’s something so special about welcoming Christmas morning with handbells, especially when candlelight is involved.

holiday handbell performances - Advent with Larry and Carla

Lots of activity on our Facebook page!

Apart from our handbell duet performances, and concerts with Kalamazoo Ringers, we also recorded and shared a lot of handbell duets on our Facebook page during the run-up to Christmas. If you didn’t catch up with us at any of our performances, we encourage you to look at Facebook and watch our videos (now called Reels). We hope you’ll enjoy continuing to celebrate Christmas with us online!

Special thanks to those who made our 2025 holiday handbell performances possible:

WOOD-TV 8
Kerstmarkt-Holland
Shady Side Farm, Holland, MI
St. Mary Catholic Church, Marne, MI
The Village at the Pines, Grand Haven, MI
Zeeland Community Band
Otsego District Public Library, MI
Zeeland Community Band
Resthaven The Warm Friend, Holland, MI
Friends of the Gary Byker Library, Hudsonville, MI
Internet Archive
St. Pauls United Church of Christ, Grand Haven, MI
Providence Church, Holland, MI
First United Methodist Church, Kalamazoo, MI
and others who booked us for private events.

We’d like to thank everyone who helped to make this holiday season bright and busy for us. If you booked us for a performance or Christmas program or wrote a review of a performance – thank you. To those who took the time to say thank you after a performance, offered us coffee, chatted with us, or wished us safe travels – thank you. If you followed our Facebook page, watched or shared any of our Christmas videos, emailed us, downloaded sheet music from our music site, or purchased a copy of The Bass Ringer’s Notebook – we appreciate you too!

holiday entertainment Michigan handbell duo Larry and Carla

To all who celebrated this holiday season, we hope you had a wonderful time. We wish you all a happy and healthy 2026!

August 15, 2025

Winter Dance, at the Bay View Week of Handbells

A note of gratitude from Larry Sue, to participants at the 2025 Bay View Week of Handbells

Last night 107 handbell musicians at the 2025 Bay View Week of Handbells performed my arrangement of Seiichi Kyoda’s Winter Dance. Maestro Fred Gramann led us in an amazing program, and it was a tremendous honor that he included this piece in the repertoire.

My gratitude goes to all of you who made this performance more than just a technical reality. There was an inescapable growing intensity throughout the music that you made. During our penultimate rehearsal, I made a video of part of Winter Dance. It was everything I could have imagined. The Thursday night concert performance was even better than that!

I put lots of dots and squiggles on the pages, and I hope they were true to Kyoda-san’s heart. You turned those dots and squiggles into a unified sound that drew our audience into the dance we were trying to imagine. I could envision the people from that small village in far northern Japan, their bonfire, and their celebration in its warmth. Thanks, from the bottom of my heart, to each of you for being part of this musical endeavor. I thank you for granting me the privilege of joining you in it. Thank you for giving our audience an experience that they can remember. Thank you for dancing (in 5/4, no less). Most of all, thank you for having fun! You all created magnificence, and I’m indebted to you all for the gift you’ve given me.

Winter Dance, arr. Larry Sue - Bay View Week of Handbells

Click here to look at Winter Dance on the Choraegus website

July 9, 2025

Clapping Music – Steve Reich

American composer Steve Reich wrote Clapping Music in 1972. It’s a minimalist piece that uses no instruments, and is performed entirely by clapping. We’d never heard of this piece until a couple of weeks ago, when we received an email from a friend, asking if we’d learn it to play at her late husband’s memorial service in Kalamazoo. He was also our friend, of course, and we were honored to be asked to do this.

We found videos of various people and groups performing this piece, and our first thought was: “Wait. We play handbells, not percussion. Can we even do this?”. We downloaded the score, and decided to have a go, but told our friend not to put it into the order of service quite yet, just in case! We really wanted to be able to do it, though, knowing how much her husband loved the piece.

How Clapping Music is constructed

Clapping Music starts with both performers clapping a basic rhythm (a variation on an African bell pattern) in unison. One performer continues clapping that rhythm all through the piece. After a certain number of measures (twelve, in the original score), the other performer claps the same rhythm pattern, but shifts ahead by one eighth note, skipping one note or rest in the rhythm and adding it to the end, in a continuous rotating of the pattern. The “skipping ahead/rotation” process continues, until eventually the pattern has come full circle. At that point, if all has gone to plan, the two performers are clapping in unison again.

This piece proved to be an interesting challenge for us. The first decision to make was which of us would play the continuous pattern, and who would play the “skipping ahead” rhythm. We opted to have Larry keep to the original pattern, and Carla to do the changing one. Both parts have their challenges. It may seem easy for the one person who keeps the steady rhythm throughout, but there’s the potential to be distracted by the other person. It takes concentration and focus, to keep playing the same thing, emphasising only the first beat of each measure, and not to be led astray by anything else you hear!

For the second person, the challenge is in making the quick changes, especially as some measures require clapping on the first beat, and others have a sneaky rest there. The tempo must be constant, of course. If anyone speeds up or slows down, the whole thing falls apart very quickly. Yes, we’re talking from experience! We started at a slightly slower tempo than indicated on the score, and had a lot of “oops” moments as we gradually started to understand more about how to make this piece work.

Stepping (well, clapping) out of our comfort zone!

We were surprised how much physical and mental effort it takes to play this piece. The original score calls for twelve repeats of every measure, but (after checking that we wouldn’t be the first to do it) we cut that down to four repeats, and that helped a lot. We read that the performers should try to match their sound as far as possible. We probably did a better job of that at the service than in the video we made afterwards. Having worried about sweaty palms on a hot day in church, they actually seemed to help, somehow. Unfortunately, we couldn’t replicate that when we clapped the piece again in our northern Michigan cottage!

We usually play handbell duets, so this felt like something that was far outside our comfort zone. We enjoyed the challenge, though, and plan to keep working on it! It might even be an interesting addition to our concert repertoire. If you book us for a handbell duet performance and you’d like to hear it, please let us know!

Clapping Music was very well received at our friend’s memorial service. We thought we’d make a recording to share, if only to prove that we did it. We encourage you to try it too!

January 5, 2025

Christmas handbell duets in a rather different holiday season!

At the end of the 2024-25 holiday season, it’s time to look back at our December handbell performances!

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is usually our busiest time of year, as far as handbell performances go. However, this year we didn’t have as many duet bookings as usual. That turned out not to be such a bad thing; we found out at the start of the holiday season that a family member in England was in hospital, and we really needed to go over there as soon as possible. Panic set in for while, because making an emergency trip overseas in December is not an easy thing to do. We’ve never cancelled a holiday handbell performance yet, and didn’t wat to start!

We looked at our calendar, and decided that we should continue as planned with our Christmas bookings, then fly to England as soon as they were all finished. We booked flights for December 21st, and a room in a hotel not far from the hospital. Then we took a few deep breaths, and continued with our December as planned.

Two chilly performances at the Kerstmarkt-Holland

Our 2024 holiday season started in the way that’s become a tradition for us in recent years. We always love to begin our Christmas ringing at the Kerstmarkt! This is a European-style Christmas market in downtown Holland. We even met Santa there this year! It was cold on both evenings we played, and we also had snow on one evening. We always wrap up warmly, though, so we’re well prepared. We go to this event feeling extremely wide, with several layers of extra clothing on! Thanks to the Kerstmarkt organizers, particularly Osman Flowers and Firs, and Shady Side Farm, for inviting us to take part in this festive annual event.

Another outdoor performance, at Otsego Hometown Christmas

We were excited to be asked to perform at Otsego Hometown Christmas again this year. This is another chilly outdoor event (we get a lot of practice with those!), but we enjoyed sharing our music there again. There’s always a lot happening at this community event. There are trailer rides, a live Nativity, and a parade, and it’s a fun way to celebrate the holiday season. Thanks to Otsego District Library for sponsoring our performance again this year.

Back to the Gary Byker Memorial Library of Hudsonville!

We were pleased to be invited back for this annual celebration with the Friends of the Library. If we’re remembering correctly, this was our sixth year at this event! We always enjoy the opportunity to play carols and talk about our bells with an attentive and enthusiastic audience. This year, we included a couple of accompanied duets in our program. We have lots of 6- and 8-bell accompanied pieces, and we really wanted to play some of them. We decided to try using an mp3 backing track instead of an actual pianist, and it worked well.

As you can see from the photo, it was a bit of a stormy day! We were scheduled to present a handbell duet program at Paw Paw District Library that evening too. Sadly (but wisely), that event had to be postponed. The snowflakes make for a fun photo, but driving conditions were definitely less than ideal! We’ll now be performing at the library on the evening of Thursday, January 23rd instead. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for no winter storm that day!

Finally, some indoor performances!

We were happy to be able to add our handbell music to another Christmas concert by the Zeeland Community Band. This festive community event has been a highlight of our holiday season for several years now. Here’s a rare photo of us in action!

We enjoyed a couple of performances for private events, including a luncheon for seniors in Wright Township. As December went by, we decided that we had enough time to fit in a couple of fundraising sessions at the Salvation Army Red Kettle too. We hadn’t done that in a few years! We were encouraged by how pleased people were to hear something different at our local D&W Fresh Market. It also helped that we were able to choose a location indoors. After the first few performances in December, we felt that we’d already done our fair share of outdoor ringing!

A quick trip to England

Our pre-Christmas performances in Michigan were all finished on December 20th. On the 21st, we flew to England, to meet with family in Berkshire. We took some of our handbells with us, packed in a carry-on case. We’ve travelled overseas with handbells before, but never risk putting them in our checked luggage. We spent Christmas Day at the hospital, and played carols for patients as they had their Christmas lunch. It was heartwarming to see how the hospital staff worked hard to make Christmas Day festive for patients there. In our “down time”, we enjoyed acting like tourists in the town of Reading, and admiring the old buildings there. We shared some of the photos from our trip on our Facebook page. Our week in England was over far too quickly, and it really didn’t feel like a vacation at all. There were friends and family that we didn’t have the opportunity to see, but we hope it won’t be too long before we can start planning another trip there.

Back to Michigan, for the last days of Christmas

We arrived back in Michigan, tired and a little overwhelmed from our trip. We’d been looking forward to playing at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ on Epiphany Sunday, though. We actually couldn’t remember the last time we’d played handbell duets in an Epiphany Sunday service! We were thankful for one more opportunity to play carols such as Silent Night, The First Nowell, What Child is This and We Three Kings. It was our first visit to this friendly church, but hopefully not our last!

Thank you!

Thank you so much to everyone who supported and encouraged us through our 2024-25 holiday season! If you booked us for a performance, came to one of our handbell concerts, bought music from Choraegus, communicated with us on our Facebook page, or did anything at all to lift our spirits during quite a stressful month – thank you. We’re looking forward to sharing more handbell music with you in the coming year!

January 31, 2024

Class information from the HMA Virtual Winter Workshop

The Handbell Musicians of America Virtual Winter Workshop took place last weekend. This was an online event, where participants could sign up to attend online class sessions on Zoom, to learn more about a wide variety of handbell skills. There were classes available on subjects such as Creative Ringing Assignments, Starting a Middle School Handbell Choir, Bells and Voices, Program and Concert Design… and more! We enjoyed teaching two classes on two of our favorite handbell-related subjects; Adventures in 8-Bell Music, and The Low Ding Zone: Bass Handbell Skills. It had been a while since we’d taught on Zoom, but after a training session with HMA experts, and a bit of reading online, we felt as if we were getting the hang of it again.

For anyone who attended one or both of our classes, here’s some of the additional information that was covered in each class:

Adventures in 8-Bell Music: Doing More With Less

During this class, we talked about music written for just 8 handbells. We discussed the reasons for playing 8-bell music, assigning the bells for each piece, options for 4-in-hand ringing, and special considerations like when to damp the bells, how to find the melody, and how to match movements and balance the sound within a group.

We also talked about where to find 8-bell music, and we went through some useful websites to look at, one of which was Choraegus. Group participants asked some additional questions, and we’ve provided some info and links here:

Is 8-bell music suitable for groups of ringers who don’t play 4-in-hand? What Choraegus music do you recommend?

Yes, 8-bell music is suitable for ringers who don’t play 4-in-hand. As we discussed in the class, it helps to choose the right level of music for each group, depending on not only the skills of the ringers, but the amount of rehearsal time available. For handbell quartet groups, we recommend starting with some straightforward 8-bell music, such as the Surprisingly Easy arrangements available from Choraegus. If you browse the Choraegus website, you’ll see that a lot of the hymn arrangements in particular are available in two versions; the standard version and the surprisingly easy version. The easier version will usually contain fewer sixteenth-notes, less syncopation, and less tricky stuff generally. We refer to it as “all the music, without the twiddly bits”. The standard versions of Choraegus 8-bell music range from fairly straightforward to fiendishly challenging, as we discussed in our workshop session.

Are there collections of music available, instead of having to buy individual pieces?

Yes. There are collections available, in both standard and Surprisingly Easy versions.

More information about British-style 4-in-hand ringing

There’s an article on our website that describes the method Carla uses to play 4-in-hand. It has descriptions and pictures!

If you’re find the bells too heavy to play 4-in-hand…

there’s an article on the Choraegus website that gives some information about how you can often use smaller bells to play the music in a range that’s more comfortable for you.

The Low Ding Zone: Bass Handbell Skills

If you’d like to purchase a copy of The Bass Ringer’s Notebook, it’s available from Choraegus.

And, just for fun, here’s Larry’s arrangement of Fairest Lord Jesus, bass handbell solo.

We’d like to thank everyone who came to our workshop classes. If you decide to purchase any 8-bell music (or The Bass Ringer’s Notebook), remember to use the top secret coupon code that was given to you, to get 20% off your purchase, for a limited time only.

Thanks also to Handbell Musicians of America for giving us the opportunity to be part of the Virtual Winter Workshop, and for being so helpful in hosting the Zoom calls and helping us navigate the process! The classes from the weekend were recorded, and if you’re a member of Handbell Musicians of America, you can still sign up to watch all the recordings, until the end of February. Look on the Handbell Musicians of America website if you’d like to find out more!

HMA workshop, Larry Sue with bass handbells

January 5, 2024

Our 2023 Holiday Handbell Performances

2024 is here, and our 2023 holiday handbell performances are finished. As we pack away our carols and start thinking about what’s next, we’d like to thank everyone who helped to make December 2023 a fun month for us!

A quieter-than-usual holiday season

The 2023 holiday season was probably the quietest one we’ve had since the pandemic. We were invited to perform at several events outside Michigan, which would have been exciting. Ultimately, though, we ended up sticking with bookings in an area very local to us. Our run-up to Christmas began with a couple of outdoor performances at the Kerstmarkt in downtown Holland. We always enjoy starting our Christmas ringing at this European-style Christmas market. It’s a fun way to practice ringing for a couple of hours at a time, even in icy weather. This time we even had our photo taken with Sinterklaas! We didn’t actually manage to persuade him to do any handbell-ringing, though.

Sinterklaas and handbells at Kerstmarkt Holland

An event that was new to us in 2023 was the Otsego Hometown Christmas. This was another outdoor performance, and wow, it was cold! It was a fun community event, though, and it was very well attended. The Otsego District Library sponsored our performance at the Hometown Christmas, and we’ll be going back there in April, to give a handbell duet presentation in the library.

2023 holiday handbell performances - Handbell ringers at Otsego Hometown Christmas

Handbell duet concerts and demonstrations

Christmas 2023 marked our return to Freedom Village in Holland; the first time we’d given a performance for the residents there since 2018! We also enjoyed sharing our music with the Century Club in Holland, and for the seniors of Chester Township. We made a return to Hudsonville Library, and also to the Village at the Pines in Grand Haven. The Century Club had requested a demonstration of our 19th-century Taylor handbells from England. Last time we played for that group, our Taylor bells were over in Ireland, being restored. We enjoyed being able to play them this Christmas, because they’re so different from our usual bells. You can see them on the table in the photo below:

Another Christmas performance with the Zeeland Community Band

One of our favorite 2023 holiday handbell performances was the Zeeland Community Band Christmas concert. This band just gets bigger and better with every passing year! This year’s Christmas concert was thoroughly festive, with some really good music by the band. This was how they looked from where we were, at the side of the stage:

2023 holiday handbell performances - Zeeland Community Band Christmas

Advent and Christmas worship services

We enjoyed playing handbell duets in Advent services at Ridge Point Community Church here in Holland. It was fun to play in the service on the first Sunday of Advent, then again in the Christmas Eve services on the Saturday evening and the Sunday morning as Christmas Day approached. We always enjoy the Christmas Eve services at this church, and we approved of the purple lighting this year!

Our final Christmas event of the season was at Glenn United Methodist Church, at the very end of the year. We played a total of six 8-bell duets in that service, to a small but friendly and appreciative congregation. The pastor gave a sermon about bells and Christmas, which we really appreciated. There’s definitely something special about bells at that time of year. Yes, we may be biased, but we believe it! It’s a very special church community, in a historic building, and we appreciated the turn-of-the-century architecture there. We also loved having the opportunity to chat and have coffee with the congregation afterwards. When the service was finished, and the coffee cups were put away, we went for a nice walk around the area. If you ever get the opportunity to visit Glenn (not far from South Haven), you should!

Glenn United Methodist Church, Grand Haven

Thank you to all for your support and encouragement in 2023!

As we start our new year, and look forward to snow finally arriving in our part of Michigan (fingers crossed!), we’d like to thank everyone for your friendship and encouragement in our busy holiday season. If you booked us for a performance, thank you! If you came to one of our concerts, or chatted with us after a worship service, thank you too! To the people who made coffee or tea for us, put money into our tip jar at the Kerstmarkt, or gave us flowers; thank you. If you prayed for us, sent us a Christmas card, or wished us safe travels, we appreciate you too.

Finally, thanks to everyone who bought music from Choraegus, liked or shared videos from our Facebook page, and generally helped to keep us smiling during our busiest month of the year. We appreciate you all, and wish you good health and happiness in 2024!

2023 holiday handbell performances - Larry and Carla

August 29, 2023

Escape from No-Note Island – for Handbells

Escape from No-Note Island is a Level 5 original composition for 5-7 octaves of handbells. Larry actually wrote the piece in 2018, but we’ve only just recently managed to record a demo video for it. It’s the perfect piece for the Position 11 diva in your handbell choir!

The story behind Escape from No-Note Island

Here’s Larry’s account of the story behind the piece, from Choraegus:

“Handbell compositions are usually written for note ranges that constitute complete octaves of bells. Having this agreed-on convention between manufacturers, composers, publishers, and performers makes it easier to maintain consistency within the ringing art. For instance, “five octaves” refers to the range C3-C8. Because of this, we start with a common knowledge about the music to be written and the bells needed to play it.

Although this is an excellent way of doing things, the resulting music tends to prefer the middle of its designated note range. This often results in the lowest and largest bells seeing less action. Bass ringers can often accept this situation because it means they can get a short break between spates of heavy lifting.

It’s a different matter for the upper treble ringers. Treble ringers generally prefer being active and occupied, and so there are some who have an aversion to being sent to the far right end of the table, which to them is a desolate place known as “Position 11”. This aversion has led some to label Position 11 with epithets such as “no-note island”.

This piece is dedicated to those of you who feel marooned and forsaken when you’re sent to the topmost position. I hope you’ll feel better about being there when you play this work.

Escape from No-Note Island is dedicated to our friend Caleb Onstead, who is also a published handbell composer. Caleb’s use of the phrase “no-note island” to describe the Position 11 assignment was the inspiration behind this piece. During the recent Bay View Week of Handbells event, Larry had the opportunity to present Caleb with a copy of the score.

More information about Escape from No-Note Island

Escape from No-Note Island is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. You can either purchase an individual copy (useful for massed ringing events, or for preview), or purchase the full choir license. Purchase of the full choir license gives you our no-fuss permission to print up to 15 copies for your group.

Your purchase of the full-choir license allows you to perform, broadcast and live-stream this piece as part of a concert or worship service. There’s no need for any additional license or fee. We ask that you credit the composer (Larry Sue) and publisher (Choraegus) in any printed media such as concert programs, and online (in video descriptions). Please see our licensing agreement for full details.

We appreciate your help in spreading the word about Choraegus handbell music. If you record a video of your group playing any of our pieces, we’d love to see it. You’re welcome to share it with us by email or on our Facebook page!

Please note that Choraegus handbell music is designed to come to you as a downloadable PDF file. 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, we recommend 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. If someone has asked us a question even once, it will be there, along with the answer. Please contact us if you don’t find the information you need, and we’ll be happy to help.

August 4, 2023

Larry’s Town Crier article about the Bay View Week of Handbells

The 2023 Bay View Week of Handbells starts on Monday, August 14th! Larry recently wrote an article about the event, and an abridged version was published in the Bay View Association’s newsletter, the Town Crier.

There was a lot of information in Larry’s article, but not enough space to publish the entire thing in the Town Crier. Click on the photo of the Town Crier below to read the article in full, and enjoy finding out more about the concert on Thursday, August 17th, this year’s music repertoire, and some interesting inside information about the composers and arrangers!

Larry's Town Crier Article - Bay View Week of Handbells

See you at the concert!

Remember to mark your calendar so that you don’t miss this year’s Week of Handbells concert! As mentioned in Larry’s Town Crier article, it will take place in the John M. Hall Auditorium on Thursday, August 17th. The concert starts at 7:30pm. It’s a popular event, so be sure to arrive early to get a seat in your favorite spot!

The two of us have been participating in the Week of Handbells since 2010. As always, we’ll be posting photos from this year’s event on our Facebook page, and you’re welcome to contact us if you have any questions about the concert, or the event in general.

We look forward to seeing you on August 17th!

July 21, 2023

Our Handbell Concert in Madison, WI

After a busy Saturday morning of handbell workshops, we presented a handbell duet concert in Madison, WI. The sanctuary at Westminster Presbyterian Church is a beautiful performance space!

We played a whole concert with music using just eight bells at a time, although not the same bells for every piece. You’ll notice in the photo that we used three tables for the concert, even though we were only playing 8-bell music. We decided to do that because then we’d have a place to put our sheet music after we’d played it, and also because we used handchimes for one of the pieces. We don’t actually need a lot of space generally, but when we do have room to spread out, we do appreciate it!

Our concert program

Our concert was designed as a sacred concert. We added a couple of not-quite-sacred arrangements, but most of our repertoire consisted of hymns. Chopsticks was a fun addition; added fairly last-minute because we remembered how the audience had enjoyed it at our recent duet performance in Decatur, MI.

Here’s the program for the concert, listing the pieces we played:

It looks like a lot of pieces for one concert, but we don’t take as much time to reset our bells between pieces as a “standard size” handbell choir usually would, so we can fit more music into the program. We were grateful to Joe Chrisman from Westminster Presbyterian, who played piano for two of our pieces. We’d been rehearsing with an mp3 backing track played on a phone, so it was a real treat to have an actual pianist with us!

Here’s a video of Amazing Grace, with thanks to Larry’s brother Aj, who was at the concert:

Our 8-bell music

All of our 8-bell music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus. The helpful thing about Choraegus handbell music is that (with very few exceptions) it comes with fuss-free permission for performance, broadcasting and live-streaming. No one need worry about applying for separate licenses to perform or broadcast the pieces. We want to make it easy for other handbell ensembles to be able to perform our music too!

We’re thankful to everyone who came to our handbell concert in Madison. It was our first time performing there, and we appreciated the warm welcome we received. After the concert, on the Sunday morning, we played in two church services in Madison. We played prelude and offertory music at Covenant Presbyterian Church, then drove back to Westminster Presbyterian in time for offertory and postlude there. We’d had some doubts about being able to play in both services, but it turned out to be no problem at all, since the organizers Joe and Melissa had worked out the timing of everything so perfectly. The two churches were only a 6-minute drive apart, and we weren’t even out of breath when we arrived at Westminster. Playing in worship on the Sunday morning was a nice way to end our visit to Madison, before starting our long drive back to Michigan.

During our stay in Madison, we were able to visit the Wisconsin State Capitol building, which was opened in 1917. It’s a fascinating place to visit. When the trip was over, we drove back to Petoskey through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, stopping at various places along the way. If you’d like to see more photos from our trip, take a look at our Facebook page!

Thanks again to everyone who made this Handbell Weekend possible. We hope to visit Madison again someday!

July 21, 2023

A Handbell Weekend in Madison, WI

Last weekend’s Handbell Weekend in Madison, WI was a lot of fun! The event was organised by two churches — Westminster Presbyterian and Covenant Presbyterian — who invited us to visit Madison and lead workshop classes on various handbell topics. We appreciated the opportunity to talk about handbells for an entire morning, with around 40 workshop participants from churches and community groups in the area. We taught five classes between us, and shared a lot of information during that time.

Handbell Weekend, Madison, WI event poster

Larry’s Bass Handbell Class

Larry’s class for bass ringers aimed to answer questions submitted by workshop participants before the event. He covered topics such as: how to lift bass handbells safely, how to assign parts when short-handed, bell placement on the table to avoid weaving, and how to use mallets effectively. The session also included an photo opportunity with bass shelleys; a chance for all the class participants to demonstrate their ability to hold two bass bells at the same time!

Notes for class participants: If you were at Larry’s class on Bass Ringing, and you’d like to learn more, you can find out everything you need to know and more by reading his very own book, The Bass Ringer’s Notebook. This book is available for purchase from Choraegus. If you were at the workshop and you regret not buying the Notebook at the special discount price, get in touch with us, and we’ll arrange to make that possible (although you’ll still need to pay for shipping). Alternatively, use the coupon code given out at the event to save 20% on Choraegus purchases.

Carla’s Treble Ringing Class

Carla’s treble ringing class focused on some of the challenges treble ringers face, including topics such as how to make quick bell changes, how to play stopped sounds, and how to make martellato easier.

Adventures in 8-Bell Music

We enjoyed sharing some of our 8-bell music with workshop participants. We talked about the reasons for playing 8-bell (or small group) music, handbell assignment, space requirements, and the challenges and considerations to bear in mind. Then we all enjoyed playing some 8- and 12-bell music together as a group. We were able to add higher and lower bells to fill out the sound, and it all sounded great!

Note for class participants: If you enjoyed our 8-bell music class on Saturday morning, you can find lots of small-group music available for purchase from Choraegus. Don’t forget to use the coupon from the event to save 20% on every purchase!

British-Style 4-in-Hand Ringing

This is not actually an accurate representation of how it’s done, but Carla always enjoys the opportunity to teach other ringers how to play 4-in-hand in the traditional British way. Some of the class participants were trying 4-in-hand for the first time, while others were proficient in the ring-and-knock style most often used here in the USA. Either way, learning a new technique is a challenge, but everyone rose to the occasion and eventually succeeded in making it work!

Note for class participants: If you went to the class, and your hands forgot everything the minute you left the room, you can find more information (with extra pictures) in this detailed article on our site. If you’re wondering where you can find some free music to practise your new skills without spending any money, you can find it here!

Choraegus “Speed Reading” Session

This was a top-speed sight-read though some of the full-choir music available from Choraegus. Some pieces were more challenging than others, but we kept the session low-stress, and just enjoyed making music together as a group.

The following pieces were included in the session. Click on each title to find out more!

Celebration

3-5 octaves, Level 1. An original composition with lots of chords! Suitable for worship or concerts.

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

3 octaves, Level 2. A new arrangement of this peaceful Christmas carol, to play on either bells or chimes.

Let Us Break Bread Together

2-3 octaves, Level 2. An accessible arrangement of this popular hymn.

Newness

3 or 5 octaves, Level 1, 2 or 3. An original composition, available in 3 levels to suit your choir.

Kingsfold

3-5 octaves, Level 2+. An arrangement of the traditional English hymn tune, with a little extra challenge.

Peace

3-5 octaves, plus optional handchimes, Level 2+. An original composition for worship or concerts.

Five

3-5 octaves, Level 2+. An original composition, with FIVE sharps, and FIVE flats in the key signatures!

The Heavens Declare Your Glory

3-5 octaves, Level 3. For more advanced groups, this uses mallet and mallet lift techniques in the bass.

‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime

3-5 octaves, plus optional 3-octave handchimes. An interesting arrangement of the traditional Huron Carol.

Processional

3-5 octaves, Level 2+. An original composition, suitable to memorize as a processional.

Jingle Bells

3-5 octaves, Level 3-. A laid-back, jazzy arrangement of the popular Christmas carol.

Woodlands

3-5 octaves, plus optional 1-octave handchimes, Level 3+. For groups looking for some extra challenge, this is a recent arrangement of the hymn Tell Out My Soul.

Of the Father’s Love Begotten

3 or 5 octaves and handchimes (3 octaves), Level 4. A fun, mixed-meter challenge for advanced handbell choirs at Christmas, this arrangement has options for suspended mallets, handchimes, and “unusual” bells. There’s also an additional cajón part, available for purchase separately.

All the “thank you”s

We’re thankful to everyone who worked so hard to make the Handbell Weekend a success. Thanks to Joe and Melissa, from Westminster Presbyterian Church and Covenant Presbyterian church for being such wonderful and welcoming hosts. Thanks also to the Madison Area Concert Handbells, who helped so much with the loan of equipment for the event, and to all the participants who came to the workshop and shared in the fun. We hope to be back in Madison to do it all again someday!