December 2, 2016

Enjoying the Start of the Holiday Season… with A Carol a Day!

We’ve been rehearsing Christmas and holiday handbell duets for a couple of months now. Still, it’s hard to believe how quickly the holiday season has arrived. We probably say that every year… but for handbell musicians, it’s the truth!

A Carol a Day - handbells — Starting the holiday season here in Holland

The Salvation Army Red Kettle

In the last few weeks, we’ve been having fun playing festive handbell music at the Salvation Army Red Kettle here in Holland, at D&W Fresh Market. We had an exciting time being interviewed and filmed by Tracy Hinson from Fox 17, and we’ve been enjoying sharing our music with shoppers. We still have a few more sessions planned. You can see us between 10:00am and midday on the following dates:

Monday, December 5
Thursday, December 15
Tuesday, December 20

Salvation Army Bell Ringers at D&W, Holland. Photo courtesy of Fox 17

In the next few weeks, we’re looking forward to providing holiday entertainment at events and parties in Grandville and Holland, driving to Ypsilanti for a Christmas party at a Senior Living Community, and performing in concert with the Zeeland Community Band (more information coming soon!)

Our Carol a Day project

Our other project for this December has been to make new video recordings of some of our Advent and Christmas carols. We’re calling it A Carol A Day, and you can find our new videos on our YouTube channel or on our Facebook page, or by searching on Facebook for the hashtag #ACarolADay.

It’s not too late to book us for your holiday event

We still have a limited amount of availability for this holiday season. If you’re looking for last minute holiday music for your event, it’s worth contacting us to see if we have a space in our calendar!

April 1, 2016

New Music for handbells – For the Beauty of the Earth

As we say hello to the month of April, here’s a new 8-bell arrangement – the hymn For the Beauty of the Earth.

The useful thing about this tune is that it also doubles as the Christmas carol As With Gladness, Men of Old. Two titles for the price of one!

Would you like to play For the Beauty of the Earth?

If you’d like to play this piece, it’s available from Choraegus.

When you buy handbell music from Choraegus, it will come to you as a digital (PDF) file. That means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Your purchase will entitle you to print up to 4 copies of this 8-bell arrangement for your handbell group. Please see our licensing agreement for full details.

If you haven’t previously purchased music from Choraegus, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this to make the process as stress-free as possible!

Any questions?

If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, please check our Frequently-Asked Questions, in case the answer is there! If you don’t find the information you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

December 17, 2015

Music for Advent and Christmas, at the Chapel of the Chimes, Oakland

Here’s a little video of our warm-up session at the Chapel of the Chimes, Oakland, where we played duets at their Annual Night of Remembrance on December 9th. Apologies for the background noise (which does improve slightly as the video goes on). We made this recording while people were running around, setting everything up for the evening’s event.

We enjoy playing our handbell duets at the Chapel of the Chimes. It’s a beautiful building, and this annual event is always enjoyable and moving.

Nearly at the end of our holiday performances

We’re coming to the end of our Christmas and holiday performances now. We’ll be performing at a private holiday party on Saturday. Afterwards, we’ll be playing at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display in El Cerrito, returning for a second performance on December 23rd. The Holiday Display is an outdoor event, and we can’t play our handbells in the rain. Please keep an eye on our Facebook page for any changes, postponements or cancellations in the event of bad weather.

Would you like to book us for a holiday event?

Perhaps it’s too late to book us for a holiday event this year, but it’s never too early to plan for next year! If you’re organising a Christmas event, and you’d like to consider handbell music, please get in touch with us!

November 27, 2015

Thank You for Playing We Three Kings!

Thank you to everyone who visited Choraegus and showed an interest in playing We Three Kings. Lots of people downloaded this free 8-bell arrangement, and we hope it will be a useful addition to your Christmas repertoire!

We’ve been asked if there will be more free handbell music – and the answer is yes. Keep an eye on the Freebies section of our music site for future offerings. In the meantime, lots of other handbell arrangements and original compositions are available to download for a very reasonable price. If you enjoy playing We Three Kings, you might like our other 8-bell titles for Christmas, suitable for 2-4 ringers. There are also 12-bell pieces, and arrangements for full handbell choir. No matter the size or ability of your handbell ensemble, you should find something of interest. All Choraegus music is available to download and print at home. You never need to wait for a handbell score to arrive in the mail; it will come to you as a PDF file, so you can print it and get started on making music!

Any questions?

If you have any questions about buying, downloading or playing Choraegus handbell music, please check our Frequently-Asked Questions. If you don’t find the information you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help!

November 25, 2015

Free for a Very Limited time – We Three Kings

We recently gave away a free download of our eight-bell arrangement of Twas in the Moon of Wintertime. Our offer proved to be very popular – so we’ve decided to offer just one more free download this holiday season. Until Friday evening, you can download the score to the newly-updated arrangement of “We Three Kings” completely free of charge!

Here’s a video of us rehearsing the new version of this piece:

This arrangement is a little more challenging than Twas in the Moon of Wintertime, but is still very playable. It’s been one of our favourites since we started playing duets in 2012. If you’ve played our 8-bell arrangement before, you’ll notice that most of the changes are in the first half. If you can already play the previous version, you should have no trouble adding the extra notes in the updated version. You won’t need to learn the whole piece all over again.

And if you’ve never played our 8-bell music before – here’s an opportunity to try it without having to pay! We hope you’ll enjoy it enough to look at other music on Choraegus, and perhaps consider buying music from us in the future. However, there are no strings to this offer. If all you want to do is grab the free music and run, that’s fine. We’ll never pester you with emails or unwanted advertising; but you know where our music is if you ever need it.

How to get the free music

To get the music, just go to the We Three Kings page on our music site. Go to the standard version, enter your name and email address, and click on the download button. Then check your inbox for an email containing a link to download your music in the usual way. Contact us if you have any questions!

Happy ringing!

November 22, 2015

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who visited our website to download the free copy of our 8-bell arrangement of Twas in the Moon of Wintertime. We hope you enjoy playing it!

We’re thinking of offering just one more free handbell music download this holiday season. Keep an eye on our Facebook page over the next few days for an announcement! In the meantime, if you’d like to try more of our 8-bell Christmas and holiday music, there are lots of arrangements available to download from Choraegus. Some are surprisingly easy, others are more challenging, and all are suitable for 2-4 ringers.

Important information about Choraegus handbell music

When you buy music from Choraegus, it’s important to know that the music comes to you as a PDF file. It’s basically the same process as when you download free handbell music. Don’t wait for your sheet music to arrive in the mail, because it won’t! You’ll need to print copies for your group. Buying an 8-bell arrangement entitles you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell ensemble.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about buying, downloading or playing Choraegus handbell music, you might like to check our Frequently-Asked Questions. There are lots of answers there, but if you don’t find the information you need, please let us know, and we’ll be happy to help.

November 17, 2015

Free Handbell Music – ‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime

Here’s a little holiday gift for anyone who would like to play our eight-bell arrangement of “‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime”. We’ve updated the “standard version” for 2015, and this week you can download the score completely free of charge!

Here’s a video of us rehearsing the new version of the piece:

If you’ve played our 8-bell arrangement of this piece before, you’ll notice that most of the changes have been made to the first half of the piece. If you can already play the previous version, you should have no trouble adding the extra notes in the updated version. It won’t feel like having to learn a whole new piece. Best of all, those newly-added notes will cost you nothing!

And if you’ve never played our 8-bell music before – here’s an opportunity to try it without having to pay any money. What could be better? Okay, don’t answer that. There probably are better things. But hey… free music is free music, and we hope you’ll enjoy playing this piece.

To get the music, just go to the “Twas in the Moon of Wintertime” page on our music site. There’s no requirement to “like” our Facebook page. We don’t ask you to buy anything, subscribe to anything or jump through any kind of hoops. Just select the standard version, enter your name and email address, and click on the download button. You’ll receive an emailed link to download your music in the usual way.

Happy ringing!

In the Moon of Wintertime handbells — Christmas handbells

November 11, 2015

Let the Merry Bells Ring – a Concert with VoiceWorks

Let the Merry Bells Ring! We’re looking forward to presenting this holiday concert with VoiceWorks in Redwood City. The choirs will be singing, our bells will be ringing, and we’ll all be celebrating the sounds of the season with carols and wintry holiday music.

VoiceWorks is a community choir of young voices, directed by Catherine Doyle. Their music will be accompanied by pianists Leslie Chang, Brian Connor and Russell Green. We’ll be adding specially-arranged handbell parts to some of the choir pieces for this concert, and we’ll also be performing some duets on our own. There’s something very special about the combination of voices and bells at this time of year, and we’re looking forward to being part of this event.

It’s all happening at 4:00pm on Sunday, December 13th, at the Unitarian Universal Fellowship of Redwood City, CA 94062. Tickets are $15, or $10 for students or seniors. You can buy your tickets in advance, or at the door. Contact us if you have any questions, and we can put you in touch with the choir director.

We hope to see you at this concert. Let the merry bells ring, voices sing, and celebrate the holiday season in Redwood City!

November 9, 2015

Looking Forward to Christmas and the Holiday Season!

We’re looking forward to Christmas this year! It’s a busy and fun time of year for us, as we get ready for the upcoming holiday season. We’ve been rehearsing Christmas carols and preparing music for events and performances here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Handbells at the Salvation Army Kettle

We’ll be starting December with two sessions at the Salvation Army Red Kettle at Nob Hill Foods in Mountain View. We’ll be playing our duets there between 1:00pm and 3:00pm on December 1st, and between 3:00pm and 5:00pm on December 7th.

The Kara Annual Candlelight Service of Remembrance

We’ll be at the Kara Annual Candlelight Service of Remembrance on December 3rd. This will be the third year we’ve taken part in this very special event in Palo Alto. Members of the community are invited to join together to remember loved ones and significant others who have died. It’s a non-denominational service open to all.

Earlier that day, we’ll be taking our bells and handchimes to a private event in Campbell. We’ll be playing duets there, and leading a “have a go” session on chimes. The following morning we’ll be playing a selection of holiday pieces at a breakfast meeting in Palo Alto.

Chapel of the Chimes Night of Remembrance

We’ll be at the annual Night of Remembrance at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland on December 9th, playing duets as candles are lit in memory of loved ones who have passed away.

A busy weekend at the German Holiday Market and VoiceWorks concert

Saturday 12th December will be a busy day for us as we play duets at the German Holiday Market here in Mountain View, organized by the German International School of Silicon Valley. This will be our third year at this fun and festive event. In the evening, we’ll be heading to Los Altos to play holiday music at a private event there.

On Sunday 13th, we’ll be performing in a shared concert with VoiceWorks, in Redwood City. We’ve been enjoying working with this group, and are looking forward to presenting a festive program of holiday music featuring bells and voices. More information will be coming soon!

Handbell duets at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display

On December 19th and 23rd, we’ll be playing our duets at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display in El Cerrito. This is one of the highlights of our holiday season, and if you’re anywhere near El Cerrito, you should definitely take time to visit the display this December!

For more information about any of the above events and performances, please look at our Facebook page, or contact us. It’s not too late to book us to play handbell duets at your own holiday event, so get in touch if you’d like to!

October 6, 2015

Book us for the 2015 Christmas and Holiday Season!

Need music for your event this winter? It’s time to book us for the 2015 Christmas and holiday season!

Handbells can bring a magical and festive atmosphere to any Christmas or holiday event. We can give a seasonal performance of carols and holiday music. We can provide background music to add that special, welcoming touch to your corporate event or holiday gathering. Nothing says Christmas quite as well as the traditional sound of English handbells beside the Christmas tree. . Our duet performances can bring the sounds of the season to hotel lobbies, church services, shopping malls and private homes!

As the 2015 Christmas and holiday season approaches, we’re looking forward to some fun performances! We’ll be joining VoiceWorks for a concert on December 13th. You’ll also be able to see us at the German Holiday Market in Mountain View. If you’re near El Cerrito, look for us at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display. We’ll also be adding the beautiful sound of handbells to annual services of remembrance in Palo Alto and Oakland.

Why not listen to some of our handbell duets, and consider booking us for your 2015 holiday event? If you need more information or have questions, please contact us!