December 27, 2022

A busy month of holiday handbell performances

Christmas Day has been and gone, but we’re determined to celebrate the full twelve days of Christmas. We’re at the blissful stage of the year when we can finally take a break, catch our breath, and relax after a busy month of holiday handbell performances!

The holiday season is always our favorite time of year. We get the chance to go out and share our Christmas handbell music, meet new people, and visit new places. We were fortunate that the recent snowy-blizzard weather waited until the second half of December to hit West Michigan, so we didn’t have to make any long drives in bad conditions. It’s always a risk when we arrange our holiday performance schedule, because we all know how unpredictable Michigan winter weather can be! Having said that, we’ve lived in Michigan since 2016, so we’re more used to driving through the snow now. Remember when we drove six hours a day for Larry’s radiation treatment in the winter of 2021? If we can survive that, we can survive anything!

Our 2022 holiday performances

Our 2022 holiday performance season began early this year, on November 19th, with our first of three performances at the Kerstmarkt. This Christmas market in Downtown Holland is always a highlight of our holiday season, but this year was a bit different! The opening day of the Kerstmarkt arrived on a day when snow was falling, and the temperature was… well, chilly, to say the least. Still, we’ve never cancelled a performance yet, so we were determined that this one would go ahead. We still managed to have fun, and we admired the courage of anyone who came out to shop in such terrible weather!

Handbells in the snow

For anyone worrying about our handbells and how they cope with extreme cold, we did take some precautions. We took the bells out into the garage a couple of hours before the performance, so that they’d get used to the drop in temperature gradually. We also didn’t play them too loudly when we got to the event. When we play in the cold, we always notice the change in the way the bells sound, so we don’t put any undue strain on them. There are some bells that really, really don’t like the cold, and they simply refuse to play, so we generally leave everything higher than G6 in the case, and don’t play any pieces that involve any “unhappy” bells.

Holiday handbell performances - Kerstmarkt bell ringers in the snow

Fortunately, we had two more opportunities to play at the Kerstmarkt. The weather was never as fierce as that first session, and we even had a bit of sunshine and blue sky!

We were privileged to be invited to perform two duet concerts during Advent. The first was at First United Methodist Church in Kalamazoo, as part of their lunchtime Advent Concert Series. It was wonderful to be able to share our music in such a beautiful space.

Our second concert was at Second Reformed Church in Zeeland. We performed as part of their Second Series: Sublime Art in a Sacred Space concert series. We didn’t have piano accompaniment this time; just an hour of seasonal handbell duets. It was fun to meet and chat with audience members at the post-concert reception.

Second Reformed Church Zeeland handbell concert

“Return visit” handbell performances

We’re always pleased to be invited back to give handbell duet performances for groups we’ve played for in past years. This year was our fourth Christmas performance at the Gary Byker Memorial Library in Hudsonville. It’s always a popular event, run by the Friends of the Library. We also spent another evening in concert with the Zeeland Community Band. We’ve been at the ZCB Christmas concert since 2016, and it’s become an annual tradition for us. The band has been growing in number over the last few years, and they sound better than ever! We made return visits to several senior communities and local organizations this year too.

Corporate parties are some of our favorite holiday events, and we had fun playing at DeVos Place in Grand Rapids. We played Christmas music to welcome guests as they arrived at the party.

Concerts with the Kalamazoo Ringers

This December, we also enjoyed playing in a couple of concerts as part of the Kalamazoo Ringers. We took part in the annual Christmas in Kalamazoo event and the group’s Christmas concert at Grace Harbor Church. We even played one of Larry’s arrangements – Gaudete – and the full concert is now available to watch on YouTube.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this holiday season fun!

If you booked us for a performance or Christmas program or wrote a review of our performance – thank you. If you came to one of our concerts, we appreciate you too! To all those who offered us coffee or a meal, chatted with us, or prayed for us – thank you. We enjoyed sharing our handbell music with you, and we hope 2023 will be a happy and healthy year for you all!

March 2, 2022

Ukrainian Music for Handbells – While on the Sea

While on the Sea is a traditional Ukrainian folk hymn. The original title is Страшно бушует житейское море, but the English title is the only one we can pronounce! We’re thankful to Stephan Bilak (1926-2004) for the English translation:

“While on the sea, hear the terrible roaring!
See how the boat of my life rolls with me;
In fear of death and in deepest of anguish,
Lord, hear my prayer, watch my soul on the sea.“
(This translation ©1974 Abilene Christian University Press)

The hymn is hauntingly beautiful, often sung a cappella without accompaniment – as a prayer to God for protection from the stormy waters of life. There are videos on YouTube, where you can listen to it sung in the original language.

About our arrangement of While on the Sea

Our arrangement is for 8 handbells and piano. The sheet music is available to purchase and download from Choraegus, our music site. An mp3 accompaniment track is also available to purchase separately. This can be useful if you don’t have an available accompanist, or for rehearsing at home.

Choraegus is donating all proceeds from this arrangement to UNICEF. When you purchase the sheet music, you’ll be helping to support the relief effort for children and families in Ukraine. Please help us to spread the word, by sharing the video with your friends in the handbell world!

More information about Choraegus handbell music

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. Purchasing an 8-bell arrangement allows you to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group (plus the accompaniment score). Purchase also gives permission for recording, broadcasting, live-streaming and sharing on video-sharing sites and social media. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title (While on the Sea) and arranger of the piece (Larry Sue) on video-sharing sites and social media, and in any printed materials such as church service bulletins.

If you record your group playing any of our music, we’d love to see your videos!

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?

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!

August 25, 2021

Handbells at Bay View, August 2021

Handbells have been a traditional sight and sound at Bay View for many years. The annual Week of Handbells has been part of our lives since 2010. It’s the event where we first spent time together in person, during our long-distance relationship. It’s also where we celebrated our engagement in 2011 (with a cupcake reception). It was our first destination when we closed the distance and started our life together in 2012.

We were disappointed that the Week of Handbells was postponed in 2020, and canceled again in 2021. However, we understood the reasons; a global pandemic isn’t a trivial thing! The Week of Handbells needs a lot of advance preparation. The musicians spend months before the event learning their music, and the bells and equipment must be borrowed from various people and organizations. Participants have to arrange their travel and accommodation well in advance. The director, Fred Gramann, flies to Michigan from his home in France. The decision not to hold the last two handbell concerts at Bay View was a wise and necessary one.

“Definitely not a concert!”

This year, we decided to invite residents and guests of Bay View to attend a “not-concert” in the Bay View Association grounds. We started by playing some of our 8-bell duets, and we answered questions from audience members, about the techniques involved in playing our instruments, and how our shared love of handbells brought us together when we were living 5,347 miles apart. We played a selection of popular hymns, including Amazing Grace, Great is Thy Faithfulness, and I Stand Amazed. There were also some lively secular pieces – our 8-bell arrangement of Chopsticks, and the popular Irish jig Calliope House.

After our duet presentation, some of our friends from the Bay View Week of Handbells joined us for a sight-read of some of our 12-bell music. We were impressed and thankful that so many of the usual Week of Handbells participants were willing and able to join us. Some are based in northern Michigan, but others had traveled from as far as Illinois, South Dakota and Nebraska! Together we read through some music that most of the ringers hadn’t seen or played before. It was a fun challenge, and everyone did well. Several people commented that they hadn’t played handbells in over a year, so it was great to get back to it! We played Annie Laurie and Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, among others, and ended with a 16-bell arrangement of God Be With You Till We Meet Again.

Thank you to everyone who helped to make this event possible!

We’re thankful to the Bay View Association for allowing us to use the big events tent for this event. It was reassuring to be able to gather in an outdoor (but sheltered) setting. We provided masks, hand sanitiser and disinfectant wipes to try to make the event as COVID-proof as possible!

We’re also thankful to the musicians who came along to share their musical skills with each other and our audience. Special thanks go to everyone who helped by bringing bells and music stands.

Thanks also to everyone who dropped by to listen, and to everyone who asked questions, applauded, and encouraged us as we played!

Would you like handbell music at your own event?

As a professional handbell duo, we are available for worship services, weddings, memorial services and Christmas events. We’re members of the Bay View Association, and during the summer months you can often find us on our porch at the corner of Woodland and Pine. If you’d like to book us to play handbell duets at your event (and yes, we’re willing to travel outside of Michigan), please get in touch with us!

September 1, 2020

Play Music on the Porch Day 2020 – at Bay View, Michigan

We had a great time taking part in our first Play Music on the Porch Day! This is a worldwide annual event that takes place on the last Saturday in August – but we’d never heard about it until very recently.

It so happened that we were at our summer cottage in Bay View, Michigan on the day of this year’s event… and our cottage has a porch! However, our cottage is next to a busy street, so it’s quite noisy. We decided it would make more sense to borrow a quieter porch, so we headed over to Evelyn Hall, and played handbell duets there for a couple of hours.

As this “performance” was very much a spur-of-the-moment event, we ended up with an audience of just one person, plus some passers-by. It was a good opportunity for us to bring out some of the pieces we hadn’t played since our street-performing sessions in Downtown Holland last summer! We propped a phone up on a table, and managed to get a few videos, admittedly with a terrible camera angle, but you’ll get the idea. The weather started off rainy with a strong breeze, but later the sun came out, and more people started to appear.

You can find more videos from Play Music on the Porch Day on our YouTube Channel!

We enjoyed doing this so much that we’re already planning more random porch music sessions at Bay View. If you missed the opportunity to take part in Play Music on the Porch Day this year, mark your calendars for the end of August 2021!

Play Music on the Porch Day - Michigan handbells

January 1, 2020

All the Thank-Yous for a Busy Holiday Season

Wow! Where did the last month go? Maybe it was because Thanksgiving was late this year, or maybe we didn’t plan ahead enough. It seemed as if November was here one minute, then December was going by, faster than we could keep up with it!

We had a fun and interesting holiday performance season, and managed to escape without having to make any long trips in bad weather. That’s no mean feat in Michigan winters! Many of our Christmas performances are booked months ahead. That makes it impossible to predict if the weather’s going to be cooperative or not.

Our 2019 holiday performances

Our 2019 holiday performance season began the day after Thanksgiving, with our first of two performances at the Kerstmarkt. This annual Christmas market in Downtown Holland is a definite highlight of our holiday season. The bells seem to add something magical to the atmosphere at an outdoor holiday market. We hope to be back again in 2020!

A busy holiday season for Larry and Carla — Our handbells at the 2019 Kerstmarkt in Downtown Holland

An exciting new event for us was the Santa and Reindeer event at the Otsego District Public Library. We met Felix the Fox there!

Otsego Public Library Santa and Reindeer handbells — With Felix the Fox at the Otsego Library “Santa and Reindeer” event

We were pleased to present another holiday performance at the Gary Byker Memorial Library in Hudsonville. This was our second time at the Christmas program there, and we hope to return in December 2020. It’s always a popular, entertaining and educational Christmas event, run by the Friends of the Library.

A holiday handbell program at the GRAM

We had an exciting opportunity to present a handbell duet concert at the Grand Rapids Art Museum, as part of their Light the Night event. The audience was small but appreciative, and had not been expecting us, since the event had been given an air of mystery and advertised only as a “holiday bell music performance”. People were pleasantly surprised at the amount of music that can be made with only eight bells at a time, and we chatted with audience members afterwards and explained more about the history and techniques used in playing our instruments.

Holiday handbell Performance in Grand Rapids — A “holiday bell music performance” at the Grand Rapids Art Museum

Another performance with the Zeeland Community Band

We presented several handbell duet programs to residents at senior living communities again this year, and also joined the Zeeland Community Band for their annual Christmas concert.

holiday season for West Michigan handbell duo — With director Rose Wiersma after the annual Zeeland Community Band Christmas concert

Our handbell ministry activities

We continued our handbell ministry through Advent and Christmas, and shared our music with churches in Holland and Grand Rapids. We also went on a road-trip to Glenview, Illinois. It was a new experience for us to do fierce battle with Chicago traffic!

holiday season for handbell duo — Handbells at a Christmas worship service in Illinois

West Michigan's smallest handbell choir — Christmas Eve at Christ Memorial Church, Holland MI

Playing Christmas music for the Salvation Army

We gave ten hours to help raise funds for the Salvation Army of Holland, MI, and enjoyed playing Christmas music at D&W Fresh Market – our fourth year there! In recent years, some of our friends have questioned our decision to support the Salvation Army. However, we are always encouraged to hear from people who have received invaluable help from the organization here in West Michigan. This happens every year; people stop by the Red Kettle to tell us that the Salvation Army was there to support them at a time when they most needed it. We are constantly reassured that the local organization is doing amazing work in this community.

Salvation Army bell ringers with handbells — Volunteering at the Salvation Army Red Kettle at D&W Fresh Market in Holland

The New Year has arrived, and as we look back at the 2019 holiday season, we’re looking forward to the new adventures 2020 will bring.

We’d like to thank the following people and organizations:

The Kerstmarkt in Downtown Holland, MI
Cherry Republic of Holland, MI
D&W Fresh Market, Holland, MI
The Salvation Army of Holland, MI
Otsego District Public Library, MI
Zeeland Community Band
Waterford Place Assisted Living, Jenison, MI
Friends of the Gary Byker Library, Hudsonville, MI
Sunset Retirement Communities, Jenison, MI
Grand Rapids Art Museum, MI
Third Reformed Church of Holland, MI
The Village at the Pines, Grand Haven, MI
Wespath Benefits and Investments, Glenview, IL
Christ Memorial Church, Holland, MI
North Park Presbyterian Church, Grand Rapids, MI

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

We hope 2020 will be a happy and healthy year for you all!

September 13, 2019

Wrapping up the Summer, and Looking Forward!

In the weeks since we came back from the Bay View Week of Handbells, we’ve appreciated the opportunity to focus on our handbell ministry. We’ve very much enjoyed being a part of worship services at several West Michigan churches. Now we’re wrapping up the summer, and reflecting on the last few months’ activities.

Just after we returned from Bay View, we made our first visit to Muskegon Central United Methodist Church. We played prelude, offertory and special music in their traditional Sunday morning service.

Handbells at Muskegon Central UMC — Our handbells in the beautiful sanctuary at Muskegon Central UMC

This summer we also played in the morning service at Christ Memorial Church, here in Holland. We’ve previously played Christmas music there, so it was fun to go back and be part of a summer worship service! We also enjoyed the opportunity to attend a rehearsal and work with their handbell choir on bass and treble handbell techniques, as they prepare for the upcoming season.

Wrapping up the summer - Larry and Carla — At Christ Memorial Church, Holland

We also played duets in the morning service at our home church, Third Reformed, here in Holland. Larry had the chance to do something different too — and he enjoyed playing the cajón with the praise chorus!

Larry Sue, Third Reformed Church — Larry played the cajón at Third Reformed Church!

We’ve also been part of the Downtown Holland Street Performer Series; our third summer at this popular event.

Now that we’re wrapping up the summer, what’s next for us? We’re looking forward to giving a program of handbell duets at a senior community party in a few days’ time. After that, we’ll be preparing for a Sunday afternoon concert in Gregory, Michigan at the end of October.

Handbell concert Michigan with Larry and Carla

The holiday season is always our favorite time of year. Is it too early to mention Christmas? We’re still taking bookings, so let us know if you need us!

June 17, 2019

Street Performing in Downtown Holland

Since moving here in 2016, we’ve enjoyed street performing in Downtown Holland. Thank you to everyone who stopped to listen to our music at the first of this year’s Downtown Holland Street Performer Series. We played our handbell duets for more than two hours on Thursday evening, in perfect spring weather.

Downtown Holland handbells - Carla Sue — Carla at our first Street Performer Series of 2019

If you missed the first evening, the 2019 Street Performer Series runs on Thursdays until the end of August, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. We’ll be performing again on the following dates:

Thursday, July 25, outside the Knickerbocker Theatre at 86 E 8th St;
Thursday, August 29, outside Resthaven Warm Friend at 5 E 8th St.

We also play our handbell duets in Downtown Holland at other times during the summer. Look out for us on 8th Street on Sunday afternoons! If you’re going to be visiting Downtown Holland and you’d like to know when we’re planning our next street performance, please contact us. Sreet performing tends to be weather-dependent, so here in Michigan it’s often a last-minute decision!

Calliope House – one of the pieces we played in Downtown Holland (recorded in California)

Thursdays evenings are always fun in Downtown Holland. Stores and restaurants are open, and 8th Street is full of entertainment. The event is free to attend and enjoy, but tips for the performers are appreciated!

Downtown Holland street performers - handbell duo

June 3, 2019

Handbell Duets at the 2019 Downtown Holland Street Performer Series

After a successful application process, we’re pleased to be be taking part in the 2019 Downtown Holland Street Performer Series. It’s our third season of performances at this exciting summer event!

Downtown Holland Street Performer - Larry and Carla — Larry and Carla at the Downtown Holland Street Performer Series

The Street Performer Series is an annual event here in Holland, Michigan, taking place on Thursday evenings throughout the summer. Downtown Holland comes alive with the sights and sounds of musicians, magicians, circus acts, dancers, face painters and other talented performers. It’s a fun community event, and a great way to spend a summer evening with friends and family.

Our performances at this year’s event

The 2019 Street Performer Series starts on Thursday, June 13. It runs for twelve consecutive Thursdays until the end of August, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.

We’ll be performing our handbell duets on the following dates:

June 13, outside Resthaven Warm Friend at 5 E 8th St;
July 25, outside the Knickerbocker Theatre at 86 E 8th St;
August 29, outside Resthaven Warm Friend at 5 E 8th St.

A recent performance in California

Our thanks go to Gentex Corporation for sponsoring this event, and also to the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs for their support through the Holland Area Arts Council. We’re looking forward to another summer of music in Downtown Holland!

March 11, 2019

Spring Concerts with the Kalamazoo Ringers

We’re excited to have joined the Kalamazoo Ringers for their spring concert season. Concerts with the Kalamazoo Ringers are always exciting!

The Kalamazoo Ringers (KR) is one of the oldest continuously-operating community choirs in the country. Janet Van Valey founded the group in 1981, and Martha Matthews recently took over as director. We first connected with Martha in 2015, when we travelled to Pennsylvania to perform with Philadelphia Bronze. We were delighted when she invited us to be part of the Kalamazoo Ringers for the spring 2019 season!

As we usually play duets, it’s an exciting adventure to be performing as part of a bigger group. In particular, Larry’s happy to have the opportunity to get back to playing those aluminum bass bells again!

Concerts with the Kalamazoo Ringers - bass handbells

The first concert of the spring season

We enjoyed the first concert of the spring season on Sunday. This took place at First Congregational Church of Battle Creek, Michigan. The Kalamazoo Ringers performed as part of the Sunday Afternoon Live concert series.

The theme of the concert was The Versatility of Handbells, and the varied program included Cathy Moklebust’s beautiful arrangement of Greensleeves, Arnold Sherman’s Misty, a lively In the Mood arranged by Hart Morris, and the cherry blossom-inspired Moon Over the Ruined Castle arranged by Kazuko Okamoto.

We appreciated the considerable talents of Gary Matthews, who played organ and trumpet, and Rose Wiersma, who played the clarinet. Rose is a dear friend of ours who directs the Zeeland Community Band. We’ve been taking a break from collaborating with the band while Larry’s been recovering from surgery, but we’re hoping to get back to performing with them soon!

The next concert is in Holland!

If you missed Sunday’s concert, there are still several more opportunities to see the Kalamazoo Ringers this season. The next concert is on Sunday, March 24th at 5:00pm in Holland!

Further information about the Kalamazoo Ringers and their upcoming concerts can be found on their website. We’re looking forward to making more beautiful music with the group in the next couple of months!

October 8, 2018

The Zeeland Community Band Concert at PumpkinFest

Thanks to everyone who came to the Zeeland Community Band concert at Pumpkinfest!

We’ve been living here in Michigan for more than two years now, so we’re used to the idea that the weather can be unpredictable. It’s not unlike English weather. The rain tends to appear at those most inconvenient times when you have something fun and outdoorsy planned. That was the case this weekend at the annual Zeeland PumpkinFest! The Zeeland Community Band’s annual PumpkinFest concert was meant to be at Vande Luyster Park. Instead, we all moved to an indoor location at the Howard Miller Library. Congratulations if you managed to find us!

We were concerned that our audience might not get the message about the change of location. We pictured a crowd of disappointed people sitting forlornly in lawn chairs on sodden grass in front of the gazebo. However, we needn’t have worried. So many people arrived at the library that we had to fetch more chairs!

Rose Wiersma, Zeeland Community Band — Zeeland Community Band director, Rose Wiersma, welcomes everyone to the concert

The PumpkinFest concert is an ideal opportunity for orange accessories, and band members did not disappoint!

This year’s concert repertoire

This year’s concert repertoire included a few spooky Halloween-style pieces, as well as some popular marches. There was even some movie music! We started with The Billboard March, followed by Into the Storm, a very appropriate piece for this time of year! Ghost Riders in the Sky followed. After that, we strung our bells into “bell trees” for Highlights from Harry Potter. This is an unusual technique for us, as we usually play all our pieces holding two bells in each hand.

Pumpkinfest handbells — Bell trees, where the bells are gently struck with mallets instead of being played in the usual way

Eagle Lake March was followed by Clowns, then we enjoyed another opportunity to play the well-known Danse Macabre. This one involves some quick bell-changes for us! We first played this piece a year ago in concert with the Coopersville Community Concert Band.

March of the Marionettes was next on the program, followed by The Pink Panther. Band director Rose took a few moments to read to the younger members of the audience!

The next piece was the Sandpaper Ballet, which wouldn’t be complete without sand blocks and audience participation!

Pumpkinfest Zeeland — Handing out sand blocks to the audience!

The next piece was the fun Comedians Galop. The concert concluded with On the Mall, with another opportunity for the audience to participate with singing and whistling. Audience members rose to their feet with generous applause, which the band members appreciated. Finally, the band played Valley Forge as an encore. It takes a lot of effort to put together a concert, and it was reassuring to know that the rain hadn’t dampened anyone’s enthusiasm!

Pumpkinfest concert Zeeland — Thanks to everyone who came to this year’s PumpkinFest concert!

Thanks to the Zeeland Community Band for including us!

We thoroughly enjoyed being part of this year’s PumpkinFest concert, and we’re thankful to the Zeeland Community Band for continuing to welcome us as performers with their ensemble. This is a community band in every sense of the word; new members (with at least high school proficiency on their chosen instrument) are always welcome. Leave a comment below if you’d like more information about that, and we’ll connect you with the right people. The band continues to perform in local venues, with music that’s popular with people of all ages. It’s truly a privilege to work with these talented and enthusiastic musicians.

To find out more about the Zeeland Community Band, check out their website. We’ll be performing in concert with the band again at their Christmas Concert on Monday, December 10th, at the Cityside Middle School Auditorium, and we’d love to see you there!