Category Archives: Christmas and Holiday Music

A New Video – Sing We Now of Christmas

Here’s a new recording of Sing We Now of Christmas, previously published as Now the Green Blade Riseth. We’ve been having fun rehearsing and recording some of our Christmas music!

If you’d like to play this piece, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

Information about buying music from Choraegus

Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell ensemble – so you only need to pay once. 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 Choraegus 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.

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 for us?

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’re looking for, and we’ll do what we can to help!

Sing We Now of Christmas 8-Bell

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display in El Cerrito

We were excited to be performing for the second time at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display in El Cerrito! This display has been a tradition since 1950, when El Cerrito resident Mr Sundar Shadi began by placing a single star in his hillside yard. Every year, the display grew as Mr Shadi made more handmade figures from papier-mâché and recycled materials. Soon it became a much-loved place to visit. Mr Shadi considered it his gift to the people in the community. He continued to put up the display annually until 1996, when age and failing eyesight forced him to stop.

Sundar Shadi Holiday Display

After Mr Shadi’s death in 2002, thanks to the efforts of the Soroptomists of El Cerrito, the Professional Firefighters Contra Costa County Local 1230, local businesses and volunteers, the Shadi sculptures made a triumphant return. They are now in a new location, on Moeser Lane. This year, you’ll be able to see them until December 26, lit up between 5:00pm and 10:00pm every evening.

Sundar Shadi handbells

We played handbell duets on the opening night of the display this year, and were pleased that it wasn’t as cold or windy as last year! Playing handbells on such a steep slope is a bit of a challenge, but we’re fortunate to need only our small percussion table and music stand, so there’s not too much likelihood of anything falling over.

Sundar Shadi handbell choir

You can find more of our photos of this year’s Holiday Display on our Facebook page.

If you have the opportunity to go to El Cerrito and see the display, we thoroughly recommend it! It’s a wonderful tradition; a reminder of times past, and a lovely way to start the holiday season.

The Angel Gabriel – a New 8-Bell Carol

The holiday season is upon us, and we know there’s not much time left to learn new handbell music in time for Christmas. But here’s just one more 8-bell arrangement – the pretty Basque carol The Angel Gabriel From Heaven Came, also known as Gabriel’s Message.

If you’d like to play The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came, it’s available for purchase and download from our music site.

Information about Choraegus handbell music

Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell ensemble – so you only need to pay once. 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, designed 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’re looking for, and we’ll do what we can to help!

The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came - 8-bell

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!

New Handbell Music – Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella – for 8 Bells

Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella is a very pretty French carol, originally written in the 16th century.  Here’s our 8-bell arrangement:

If you’d like to play Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

More information about this music

Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group – so you only need to pay once. 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. 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 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 do what we can to help!

Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella - handbells