The Kara Annual Service of Remembrance

Last night we played our handbell duets at the Kara Annual Service of Remembrance.

Kara is based here in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s an organization that provides grief support for children, teens, families and adults who have lost someone close to them. Kara also helps families dealing with terminal illness.

The annual candlelight service is a meaningful event where members of the community gather to light candles of memory, hope, courage and love. There’s live music, memories, laughter, tears, and a lot of support and genuine caring. After the service, there’s a reception, where people can gather to chat and share their stories with others in the community.

Annual Service of Remembrance - Kara

This is the third year we’ve taken part in the Kara Annual Service of Remembrance. We always find it a moving and humbling experience to share our music in an atmosphere of such love and support. There is grief too, of course, but so much courage and caring.

Handbell music seems to fit very well in remembrance services. People find comfort in hearing well-known hymns such as Amazing Grace, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing and Just As I Am. We’ve also played secular songs like Ma Navu and Moreton Bay – to soothe the soul and help to bring peace.

Our thanks go to all at Kara for inviting us to be part of this meaningful event.

Handbells at the Kara Annual Service of Remembrance

Our Photos from The Nutcracker Are Now on Facebook

It’s always fun to share our photos from The Nutcracker weekend at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Congratulations to the Pacific Ballet Academy on a successful weekend of performances! We saw the show on Sunday and enjoyed it a lot. There’s something about this particular ballet performance that that makes it such a wonderful start to the holiday season. The dancers are talented and the whole production is just beautiful.

We had a great time playing selections from our 8-bell The Nutcracker Collection. Those pieces are challenging but fun to play! We enjoyed playing other Christmas and holiday handbell duets too. We played in the lobby for audience members before each performance and during the intermission. This annual event is a lot of fun for us! We always feel as if we almost set up camp in the Performing Arts Center for the Nutcracker performance weekend each year. We bring our laptops, work and eat while we’re in downtown Mountain View, and only go home at the end of each day, after the final performance is over. It’s like a festive mini vacation weekend!

If you’d like to see our photos from The Nutcracker, they’re now on our Facebook page!

photos from The Nutcracker, handbells

The Nutcracker, at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts

We’ll be spending the coming weekend at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. We’ll be playing handbell duets in the lobby before the Pacific Ballet Academy’s performances of The Nutcracker.

The Nutcracker - handbell duo

This wonderful ballet performance is always one of the highlights of the holiday season here in Mountain View. It’s an annual tradition for the Pacific Ballet Academy, and we look forward to it every year. We’ll be playing a selection of popular handbell pieces before each of the six performances. You’ll hear our 8-bell Nutcracker duets, as well as many traditional Christmas and holiday carols, all played with just eight bells, in the 4-in-hand style.

This year is the 24th year of these Pacific Ballet Academy performances. There will be two shows each day – at 1:00pm and 6:00pm on Friday, November 28th and Saturday November 29th. Performances on Sunday, November 30th will be at 12:30pm and 4:00pm. Come early to gather with other guests before the shows, and listen to the sweet sound of handbell music to get us all in the mood for this exciting annual holiday tradition!

The Nutcracker - Mountain View

The Pacific Ballet Academy students have been working hard to make this another great season of Nutcracker shows. We hope to see you at one of the performances!

A Snail’s Pace, for 5-8 Octave Handbells

A Snail’s Pace is an original composition. Larry wrote it with a plush orange-pink-and-purple snail in mind. This laid-back jazz piece will challenge you – but you’ll enjoy it!

Thanks to the friendly bunch of folks at Pierpont Productions, we’re able to bring you this video. It was recorded at the Bay View Week of Handbells concert in August 2014.

A Snail’s Pace is written for 5-8 octaves and handbells, plus 5 octaves of handchimes. It’s Level 5+. We think you’ll love playing it!

How to get the sheet music

If you’d like to play this piece, it’s available for purchase and download from Choraegus. Purchasing the choir copy of this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to fifteen copies for your handbell group – so you only need to pay once. You can also buy an individual copy for your personal use only. 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 buying or playing our music, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help!

A Snail's Pace - Larry Sue handbell composition