Category Archives: Concerts, Performances and Events

Upcoming Performances in the San Francisco Bay Area

We have a busy few days ahead of us with upcoming performances across the Bay Area. If you haven’t yet managed to hear our Christmas handbell duets, you have four chances to see us this week!

Fundraising for the Salvation Army

This coming Thursday, December 11th, we’ll be fundraising at the Salvation Army Red Kettle. We’ll be playing Christmas carols and holiday music at Nob Hill Foods in Mountain View. Drop by and help the Salvation Army provide food, shelter and social services to those in need throughout the year.

San Jose Festival of Carols

On Friday evening, December 12th, we’ll be in San Jose, at the Festival of Carols. The Festival of Carols is at Foothill Presbyterian Church, 5301 McKee Road, San Jose, CA 95127, and starts at 7:00pm. This is an annual musical celebration that features performances by the Foothill musical ensembles. Other professional, semi-professional and amateur artists from the community will also perform at the event. The evening ends with a post-concert reception in the Fellowship Hall. There’s no admission charge. However, donations such as non-perishable food items, coats, jackets, and toys are appreciated, and benefit many local organisations.

Upcoming performances - Larry and Carla

Upcoming performances at the weekend

Saturday, December 13th, is a busy day for us. We’ll be at the annual German Holiday Market (Weinachtsmarkt) in Mountain View. The event takes place between 11:00am and 9:00pm at the plaza of the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. There will be German food and drinks, and handcrafted gifts from Germany and crafts by local artists. Students of the German International School of Silicon Valley will perform, and there will be an ice rink!  The event offers an opportunity to explore the famous tradition of German Holiday Markets right here in Silicon Valley. All proceeds will benefit GISSV’s high-quality bilingual programs.

We’ll be performing between 11:00am and 11:30am, and again between 12:45pm and 1:00pm.

Handbells at the GISSV Holiday Market

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display

After the German Holiday Market, we’ll drive to El Cerrito for the opening night of the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display.  This display is an unmissable holiday tradition. It’s on Moeser Lane, east of San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito. The display was first created in 1949, as a gift to the community from an El Cerrito resident, Sundar Shadi. Shadi passed away in 2002 at the age of 101. However, the display he constructed on the hillside next to his El Cerrito home each year continues today. There’s a team of devoted volunteers who care for his creations and ensure they’re on display for the holidays.

The display in the hills of El Cerrito will be lit nightly from December 13th to 26th. The display features shepherds, camels, donkeys and sheep, villagers and the town of Bethlehem. It’s just as Shadi envisioned it would have appeared on the eve of Christ’s birth.  We’re making it part of our holiday tradition. Why not make it part of yours?  We’ll be playing Christmas carols from 6:00pm (weather permitting!) on the opening night.

Sundar Shadi Holiday Display

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