In the handbell world, we know the importance of preparing early. We started the new year by preparing super-early for Christmas 2022 – with a new recording of the carol Gaudete! Okay, we we’ll admit it; we were actually late with this one. The original plan had been for us to record it before Christmas. However, December turned out busier than we expected it to be, and we had to postpone our recording until we’d finished our holiday handbell performances!
Gaudete! dates back at least as far as the 16th century, and this arrangement is fun to play. It sounds tricky, and it probably is, but once you’ve got the hang of the rhythms and mixed meter, it flows along quite nicely. It has handchimes, an opportunity for singing bell, and we added a lively cajón part too!
How to buy Gaudete! Handbell music from Choraegus
Gaudete! is a Level 4+ arrangement, and sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus. You can either purchase an individual copy (useful for massed ringing events, or for preview), or purchase the full choir license. Purchase of the full choir license gives you our no-fuss permission to print up to 15 copies for your group.
Your purchase also gives permission for you to perform, broadcast and live-stream this piece as part of a concert or worship service without the need for any additional license or fee, although we ask you to credit the arranger (Larry Sue) and publisher (Choraegus) in any printed media such as concert programs, and online (in video descriptions) where possible. See our licensing agreement for full details. We appreciate your help in spreading the word about Choraegus handbell music. If you record a video of your group playing any of our pieces, we’d love to see it. You’re welcome to share it with us on our Facebook page!
Choraegus handbell music is designed to come to you as a PDF file, which you’ll need to download. 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, we recommend 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. If someone has asked us a question even once, it will be there, along with the answer. Please contact us if you don’t find the information you need, and we’ll be happy to help.
December brought us a busy month of holiday handbell performances. After last year’s quiet holiday season, we launched back into live performances with a vengeance in the last few weeks of 2021.
Back to the Kerstmarkt-Holland
Our first seasonal performance was at this year’s Kerstmarkt in downtown Holland. This was our fifth time performing at this European-style Christmas market, and we always enjoy it. It was surprisingly cold this year, and we were thankful for the loan of a heater (thanks, Shady Side Farm!). Having said that, this event is always a highlight of our holiday season, whatever the weather. The market is a little slice of Europe here in West Michigan, and there are interesting things to buy, all made locally, and twinkling lights to add a festive atmosphere.
Here’s a video of us at the Kerstmarkt!
Christmas Handbell Program for Seniors
We performed handbell duets at several senior communities this year. Our program of holiday handbell music generally lasts around 40-45 minutes. We played a selection of Christmas carols, some familiar and some less well-known, and on several occasions we had time for a question-and-answer session with the audience. It’s always fun to talk about the history of our instruments and the techniques used in playing them. We also get asked a lot of questions about how we met, and how we ended up in Michigan!
The other thing we enjoy doing, time permitting, is demonstrating an 8-bell piece on handchimes. They have a very pure tone, and lend themselves well to Christmas carols. Our favourite demonstration piece this year was In the Bleak Midwinter, which worked well on chimes, and proved to be popular with our audiences.
We were also able to demonstrate our set of antique Taylor bells from England, at the Ringing in the Holidays event at Hudsonville Library. Playing these bells is more challenging for us, because the leather handles are more floppy than the handles on the bells we usually use, so we tend to use them to demonstrate some of our slower Christmas pieces – like Away in a Manger (Cradle Song), or the Dutch carol Hoe Leit dit Kindeke. It’s interesting to be able to show before-and-after photos of these handbells, which we bought from eBay and sent over to Ireland for restoration. Here’s how they look now:
Holiday handbell performances in (not so) far-off places
This year, we drove to Kalamazoo for a couple of our holiday bookings. We were thankful that the weather stayed mild all through December, so driving around wasn’t a problem at all. We enjoyed playing at a corporate holiday party, where we played an hour of “background music”, then gave a 30-minute duet performance. As it was a party, we handed out some handchimes to willing volunteers, and they had a go at playing Jingle Bells. Oh, what fun!
We went back to Burcham Hills, in East Lansing, where we’d played Christmas music outdoors at their socially-distant Festival of Lights last year. This year we were happy to be indoors, and we gave a two-hour performance during their Ho-Ho-Holiday Open House event.
Performing with the Zeeland Community Band
We were delighted to be able to perform in concert with our friends at the Zeeland Community Band again. After a two-year break, it was exciting to see how much this talented ensemble has grown, both in number and in skill. It was a wonderful concert, with a wide variety of Christmas and holiday tunes, and an appreciative audience. It’s been noticeable to us how people have rejoiced at having the opportunity to hear (and see) live music performances again.
Christmas Eve worship services
We concluded our busy month of holiday handbell performances with four Christmas Eve services. We played in the three services at Ridge Point Community Church, where we’d last played in December 2017. It was good to be back! We played a pre-service handbell prelude, and joined their talented band for Lincoln Brewster’s Miraculum in each of the services. Didn’t our handbells look pretty under those lights?
We finished our Christmas performance season with the 11:00pm service at Third Reformed Church, here in Holland. We played a 15-minute prelude, and added handbell parts to several of the hymns and the Silent Night organ postlude. After our busy day, and a hectic month of holiday handbell performances, the late service was exactly what we needed. As Christmas Eve turned into Christmas Day, we went home for some sleep!
Thank you so much for a wonderful 2021 holiday season. If you booked us for a handbell duet performance, we’re grateful to you. If you came to one of our public events and stopped to listen, or if you offered encouragement or kind comments about our music, please be assured that your words meant a lot to us. To everyone who bought handbell music from Choraegus, or ordered a copy of The Bass Ringer’s Notebook – thank you. And if you connected with us on our Facebook page or YouTube channel, or shared our music videos on social media, we’re grateful to you too. We look forward to sharing lots more handbell music with you in 2022!
You can now watch the Kalamazoo Ringers’ Christmas concert On a Winter’s Night on YouTube! If you missed the live-stream on Facebook, you can now catch up at your leisure. The whole concert is available to watch on the Kalamazoo Ringers’ official YouTube channel:
There are also individual videos of each of the concert performances, so you can catch up with your favorites, and share the videos with your friends and on social media.
We were honored that the concert contained several Choraegus handbell arrangements:
We enjoyed playing this 16-bell piece with Rhonda and Martha – in our house in Holland, Michigan! The beauty of a small-ensemble concert is being able to rehearse and record in smaller venues, and it’s fun to invite the audience into our homes for a short while.
Of the Father’s Love Begotten
This is a very recent arrangement – so new that we haven’t even published it yet. It’s an interesting twist on the Divinum Mysterium plainchant melody, familiar to many handbell ringers because of Fred Gramann’s famous arrangement. This is a quirky and fun arrangement, with the addition of a cajón part. We decided that a Kalamazoo Ringers Christmas concert was a good reason/excuse to put a recording together. If all goes to plan, the sheet music will be available to purchase from Choraegus in May 2022.
Wexford Carol is another of our 16-bell arrangements. It’s a traditional Irish carol that’s full of dissonance and rich chords. This arrangement has been popular with Choraegus customers this year! Rhonda and Martha joined us for this performance.
This 8-bell arrangement of the Huron Carol lends itself well to bass handbells! We met with Rhonda and John to rehearse and perform Matthew Prins’s arrangement of Fum, Fum, Fum. At the last minute, we decided it could be fun to drop this one a couple of octaves and see how it would sound. We think it worked well!
We’ve been playing this 8-bell arrangement for several years now, and always enjoy it. It brings back happy memories of a fun Christmas performance in California in 2014! We were thankful for the opportunity to record it again fo this year’s Kalamazoo Ringers Christmas concert.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
This is another recent arrangement from Choraegus. It’s pure fun to play! It has mixed meters, a lively feel, and a challenging flute addition. Our talented Holland-neighbors Martha and Gary Matthews joined us for this performance. We’ll be publishing this one in spring or summer 2022, along with a 5-octave version!
We hope that the Kalamazoo Ringers will be able to get back to in-person rehearsals and concerts in 2022. In some ways, the group’s time apart has been good for us; we’ve all been able to develop our skills in small-ensemble ringing. Having said that, we’re all very much looking forward to being able to make music together again!
If you have questions about any of the Choraegus music from the Kalamazoo Ringers’ Christmas concert, please get in touch with us, and we’ll be happy to help! We encourage you to share the Christmas concert videos with your friends, and we hope to see many of you at one of the Kalamazoo Ringers’ concerts in 2022!
“I heard the bells on Christmas Day, Their old familiar carols play”
Thank you to everyone who’s bought and downloaded handbell music from Choraegus this year. We appreciate you so much! Now it’s our turn to give something to you – with free handbell music! Did you catch our giveaway of Silent Night (12-bell) on Facebook yesterday? If you missed it, you can still get today’s free gift. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day is arranged for 8 handbells and piano accompaniment – and it can be yours, free of charge, for one day only! You can also get the accompaniment track mp3, to help with rehearsing or for those times when you don’t have a pianist available.
To get your free sheet music, add I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (and the accompaniment track if you need it) to your cart on the Choraegus site, and click on the yellow “Check out with PayPal” button (don’t worry; PayPal won’t ask you to make any payment). Enter your details, and click “Confirm Order” (there’s no need to click on the PayPal button a second time). You’ll receive a confirmation screen, with a link to download your music. We recommend saving it to your computer, so that you’ll have it ready for next year! If anything goes wrong, please let us know, and we’ll find another way to get your music to you.
More information (the small print)
As always, we recommend that you read the licensing agreement before buying music from us (or claiming your free music), especially if this is your first time downloading music from Choraegus. You won’t receive anything in the mail, and will be responsible for printing your own music.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about our music, please start by reading our Frequently-Asked Questions. If you don’t find the answers you need, please contact us, and we’ll do what we can to help!
We wish you a very happy holiday season, and a healthy and music-filled year ahead!
The 2021 Kalamazoo Ringers Christmas Concert is tomorrow!
We’re excited about this concert! On a Winter’s Night will be streamed on the Kalamazoo Ringers’ Facebook page at 4pm EST. We were all disappointed not to be able to rehearse and prepare our usual Christmas concert at Grace Harbor. Instead, we cautiously decided to gather only in small groups for this Christmas season – and it turned out to be a lot of fun! The concert is an interesting mixture of handbell solos, duets and small ensembles – with a lot of Choraegus music!
We’re particularly excited to share our 5-octave arrangement of Of the Father’s Love Begotten. This is a new piece that we haven’t published yet. It will be available to download from Choraegus in May next year. There’s also an exciting arrangement of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, where we’re joined by Martha and Gary Matthews on flute and piano. There’s a nice mixture of small ensemble pieces, from Jason Krug’s beautiful Coventry, played on bell tree, to the pure fun of Valerie Stephenson’s Caroler’s Hoedown… and if you stay tuned until the end, we’ll even show you some outtakes!
The Kalamazoo Ringers Christmas Concert will be live on the Kalamazoo Ringers Facebook page at 4:00pm on Sunday, December 19. The video will be available to watch on Facebook and YouTube afterwards.
We have high hopes of presenting an in-person concert next spring!
If you need a handbell performance for Christmas 2021, it might be a good idea to book soon! After last year’s very quiet holiday season, it’s encouraging to see Christmas events and worship services being planned. Our calendar is filling up fast!
Our holiday performance season will start on November 26, at the Kerstmarkt in Downtown Holland. We always look forward to this festive outdoor event, where we’ll be braving the chilly weather to play Christmas carols outdoors. It’s a great way to start the holiday season, and a wonderful place to shop for locally-made gifts, crafts and food.
Handbells are perfect for the holidays!
We’ll be back at the Kerstmarkt on December 10th. This year we’re also looking forward to performing with the Zeeland Community Band at their Christmas concert, as well as giving another handbell duet program at Hudsonville Library, and some private events throughout December. We’ll share more details about our public performances soon.
Handbell music 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, community group celebration, winter wedding, or holiday gathering. Nothing says Christmas quite as well as the traditional sound of English handbells. Our duet performances can bring the sounds of the season to community events, hotel lobbies, department stores, airports, shopping boutiques, social groups and private house parties alike.
Thinking of booking a handbell performance for Christmas?
As a handbell duo, we take up far less room than a traditional bell choir would. That makes us ideal for venues where space is limited, or where social distancing is still being observed. We still have a few dates available for 2021 (including some Sundays during Advent), so if you need handbells for your Christmas event or worship service, you’re welcome to get in touch with us. If we can fit your event into our schedule, we will.
Contact us with some details about your event, and we’ll check our availability and provide a quote for you. Handbells are the perfect way to celebrate the holiday season!
Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken is our most recent 8-bell arrangement. It’s an 18th-century English hymn, written by John Newton, who also wrote Amazing Grace. The tune used for this arrangement is Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser, written by Joseph Haydn – most often referred to in hymnals as AUSTRIA.
More information about this arrangement
Our 8-bell arrangement of Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken is suitable for 2-4 ringers. We demonstrate it as a 4-in-hand duet, but there’s no requirement to use 4-in-hand. There’s no bell-sharing, and no accidentals to pick up mid-piece, so if you have a small ensemble, this piece can be played with no need for tables or foam pads. Perfect for social distancing!
How to purchase the sheet music
Sheet Music for Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken (standard version) is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus. There’s also a Surprisingly Easy™ arrangement of this hymn – so you have a choice! Purchasing either of these arrangements gives you permission to print up to four copies for your handbell group – so don’t pay for more copies than you need! Your 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. We appreciate your help in spreading the word about Choraegus handbell music!
Choraegus handbell music is designed to come to you as a PDF file, which you’ll need to download. 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, we recommend 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. If someone has asked us a question even once, it will be there, along with the answer. Please contact us if you don’t find the information you need, and we’ll be happy to help.
PS If you missed the outtake video of Still, Still, Still that we shared on our Facebook page, now might be a good time to watch it! We apologise for the advertising on our YouTube videos. We didn’t ask for it, and don’t make any money from it. It’s one of the reasons for our gradual switch to Vimeo!
“Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head; the stars in the heavens looked down where He lay, the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.“
We’ve enjoyed putting together some handbell music that needs only 6 bells, a piano and an optional sling! Here’s an arrangement of the gentle Away in a Manger carol. It’s the CRADLE SONG melody, which is the standard tune used in the UK, rather than the MURRAY tune more familiar to people in the USA.
Please be reassured that Larry put the sling on especially for this video. He’s recovered well from his shoulder surgery, and doesn’t need the sling any more. Whenever we post a 6-bell video, we always receive concerned messages asking what injury Larry has suffered… but honestly, the sling is just to keep his right arm occupied while there aren’t enough bells to need both hands. We refer to it these days as a “concert sling”.
Of course, the alternative would be for Carla to give up one of her bells, so that we’d have three each. But have you ever tried asking anyone to give up a bell?
More information about Away in a Manger
This piece is arranged for just 6 handbells, with piano accompaniment. It’s suitable for 2-3 ringers to play, with no requirement to divide the bells in the same way we did. You can play it with just two bells each, or split between two ringers with three bells each. It’s a gentle melody, and one of our more straightforward 6-bell arrangements.
If you’d like to play Away in a Manger, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus, our music site. An mp3 accompaniment track is also available to purchase separately, for anyone who doesn’t have a pianist available or wants to practise at home.
Please note that sheet music from Choraegus 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. Purchase of a 6-bell arrangement allows you to print and maintain up to three copies for your handbell group (plus the accompaniment score). Purchase also gives permission for recording, broadcasting, live-streaming and online video-sharing. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites and social media, as well as in any printed materials.
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. Just about every question anyone has ever asked us is there, along with lots of answers. Please contact us if you don’t find the information you need, and we’ll be happy to help!
Our Victorian cottage in Northern Michigan, where we recorded our demonstration video
Gesù Bambino is an Italian Christmas carol, written by Pietro Yon in 1917. Frederick H. Martens translated it into English for his carol When Blossoms Flowered ‘mid the Snow.
“When blossoms flowered ‘mid the snows Upon a winter night, Was born the Child, the Christmas Rose, The King of Love and Light.“
We’re pleased to bring you our demonstration video of this new arrangement from Choraegus.
More information about Gesu Bambino
This arrangement is for 3 or 5 octaves of handbells, with piano accompaniment. It’s a Level 3 arrangement, with a lilting mood – perfect for Christmas worship. There are no shared accidentals, so if your handbell choir is still observing social distancing, the ringers could play from spaced-apart tables. If you’d like to play our arrangement of Gesu Bambino, you can purchase and download the sheet music from Choraegus.
Buying Choraegus handbell music
When you buy handbell music from Choraegus, the music score will come to you as a PDF file. That means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. When you’ve downloaded your music, your one-time payment (for the full-choir copy) entitles you to print up to 15 copies for your group. Please read our licensing agreement for full information about this. If you’re new to buying music from Choraegus, we recommend our step-by-step guide. We designed this to take you through the process in a (we hope) stress-free way!
Purchasing this arrangement gives you no-fuss permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and online video-sharing. Please take some time to read about what you’re allowed to do with Choraegus handbell music. In these times of live-streaming and online worship services, it’s particularly important that we all understand and follow the laws concerning performance licensing and copyright.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing Choraegus handbell music, please look at our Frequently-Asked Questions. Just about any question anyone has ever asked us is there – with answers. If you don’t find the information you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
Our lively arrangement of Ding Dong, Merrily on High was part of last year’s Kalamazoo Ringers online Christmas concert. We had a great time collaborating with Gary Matthews on piano, with the super-talented Martha Matthews playing a brand-new flute part. We promised that the flute part would be available to purchase in time for Christmas 2021 – and here it is!
More information about this arrangement
Ding Dong, Merrily on High is an 8-bell arrangement, available with either an organ or piano accompaniment, and now an additional optional part for flute. The flute really adds some extra sparkle! The organ accompaniment was created by T. Paul Rosas from California. Sheet music is available to purchase and download from Choraegus.
Buying handbell music from Choraegus
Your Choraegus music score will come to you in a download link, as a PDF file. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. You can order the music, download and print it on the same day, and be ready to rehearse!
Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group, plus the accompaniment score/s – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. You can find full details in our licensing agreement, and in our instructions about what you’re allowed to do with Choraegus music. 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. If you enjoy playing our music, please share our website link with other musicians, and help us to get the word out!
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. Just about every question anyone’s ever asked us is there, along with answers. Please contact us if you don’t find the information you need, and we’ll be happy to help.
