“The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended The darkness falls at thy behest; To thee our morning hymns ascended Thy praise shall sanctify our rest.
We thank thee that thy Church unsleeping, While earth rolls onward into light, Through all the world her watch is keeping, And rests not now by day or night.”
One of Carla’s all-time favorites, The Day Thou Gavest, is an English hymn. A Cheshire vicar, John Ellerton, wrote it in 1870. The hymn tune is ST CLEMENT. has remained popular in the UK since then.
Here’s our 8-bell arrangement, recorded in Los Altos, California in May 2016, before we moved to Holland, Michigan:
Would you like to play this arrangement?
If you’d like to play The Day Thou Gavest, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
When you purchase music from Choraegus, please note that it will come to you as a PDF file. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Your purchase entitles you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Please see our licensing agreement for full details.
If you haven’t bought Choraegus handbell music before, we recommend our step-by-step guide. We designed the guide to take you through the process and make it stress-free!
Any questions?
If you have any questions, you might like to look at our Frequently-Asked Questions. If you don’t find the answers you seek, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
The Kesh is a popular traditional Irish jig. It’s usually a fiddle tune, but it turns out to be a fun tune to play on handbells. That’s a good thing, since we have no idea how to play the fiddle!
We recently found this recording in a batch of long-forgotten rehearsal videos from before we moved from California to Michigan:
This arrangement is suitable for 2-4 ringers, and could be useful for St Patrick’s Day!
Information about the sheet music
If you’d like to play The Kesh, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
When you buy handbell music from Choraegus, it comes 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. Your purchase will entitle you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Don’t pay for more copies than you need! See our licensing agreement for full details.
If this is your first time buying music from Choraegus, you might find our step-by-step guide helpful. We designed it with pictures, to take you through the process in a stress-free way.
Any questions for us?
If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, you might like to check our Frequently-Asked Questions. If you don’t find the answers you need, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
We’re starting 2017 with a new arrangement for eight handbells. This is the German hymn O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright.
“O Morning Star, how fair and bright thou beamest forth in truth and light, O Sovereign meek and lowly! Thou Root of Jesse, David’s Son, my Lord and Master, thou hast won my heart to serve thee solely! Thou art holy, fair and glorious, rich in blessing, rule and might o’er all possessing.”
Over the years, this hymn has been popular for weddings and funerals in Germany. However, in the USA it’s now more often sang at Epiphany.
More information about this arrangement
This arrangement isn’t too challenging to play, and would be also be very suitable as a quartet piece. If you’d like to play it, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
When you purchase music from Choraegus, it 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. Your purchase of this 8-bell arrangement entitles you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell choir.
If you haven’t bought music from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed the guide to take you through the purchase process in a stress-free way.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, you might like to look at our Frequently-Asked Questions. If you don’t find the answers you seek, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
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!
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!
Our latest 8-bell piece is the hymn tune Diademata, written in 1868 by English organist and composer George J Elvey. It’s most often sung as Crown Him with Many Crowns.
We recorded this piece several months ago in Los Altos, California. We brought it out into the open again (quite literally) when we played duets on 8th Street here in Holland last Sunday. It prompted a surprise sing-along from a group of shoppers passing by. It’s always fun when people recognise a tune, especially when it’s one we haven’t played for a while!
Would you like to play this arrangement?
If you’d like to play Crown Him with Many Crowns, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
Please note that Choraegus handbell music comes to you as a digital score to download and print. You’ll be responsible for printing the correct number of copies of the sheet music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Your purchase of this 8-bell arrangement entitles you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Please see our licensing agreement for full details.
If you haven’t bought music from Choraegus before, you might like to read our step-by-step guide. We designed this to take some of the stress away from the online purchasing process!
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing Choraegus music, please let us know, and we’ll be happy to help!
We’ve recently added some more 8-bell wedding ceremony music to our repertoire. These three are all well-known classical pieces.
The first is Mouret’s Rondeau ( Fanfare-Rondeau). Mouret composed this in 1729, as part of his first Suite de Symphonies. This piece is also well-known as the theme from Masterpiece Theatre.
Handel’s Water Music is a collection of orchestral movements from the late 18th century. Handel originally composed the music for orchestra. However, if you only have a few people and 8 handbells, you can play two of the movements: the Bourée and the Air.
Would you like to play these 8-bell arrangements?
If you’d like to play these pieces, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
When you purchase music from Choraegus, the scores come to you as PDF files. That means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Purchase of an 8-bell piece entitles you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Please see our licensing agreement for full details.
If you’re buying Choraegus music for the first time, we recommend our step-by-step guide!
Would you like to book us to play handbells for your wedding ceremony?
If you’re getting married and you’d like us to play our 8-bell wedding ceremony music for your special day, please contact us and we’ll see if we can make it happen!
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, or about booking us to play handbell duets at your event, please contact us!
“Twas on a windy night, at two o’clock in the morning, An Irish Lad set out, all wind and weather scorning; Twas on a windy night, at two o’clock in the morning, An Irish Lad set out, all wind and weather scorning; At Judy Callaghan’s door, sitting upon the railing, His love tale he did pour, and this was part of his wailing; Only say, you’ll have Barney Brannigan, Dont say nay, Charming Judy Callaghan. Only say, you’ll have Barney Brannigan, Dont say nay, charming Judy Callaghan.”
Here’s our latest eight-bell piece – it’s a traditional Irish slip jig called Barney Brannigan – also known by several other titles, including Barney Brallaghan, Blewitt’s Jig and Twas on a Windy Night.
This piece is a nice challenge for four-in-hand duet. It is actually fun to play – not that you can tell from our faces in the video!
Would you like to play this arrangement?
If you’d like to play Barney Brannigan, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
When you purchase music from Choraegus, please note the music 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. Purchase of this 8-bell arrangement entitles you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Please see our licensing agreement for full details.
If you’re unfamiliar with buying music from Choraegus, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide!
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing our handbell music, please get in touch, and we’ll be happy to help!
Just a few months ago, we made the life-changing decision to move out of the San Francisco Bay Area… and we found a house in Holland, Michigan! Rather than fly to Michigan (which we’ve been doing every August since 2010 for the Bay View Week of Handbells), we decided it would be more of an adventure to take a road trip from California, and see some interesting places along the way.
We left our apartment in California on July 1st. This meant saying goodbye to Mountain View, where Larry had lived since 1980. We also had to leave the home we’d shared since Carla moved from England in 2012.
Leaving our apartment in Mountain View
Our first destination was Yosemite National Park, where we spent the Fourth of July weekend. We hadn’t wanted to leave California without seeing that breathtaking scenery just one more time! From there we headed to Redding, to meet up with a friend for dinner before leaving the state.
Some unexpected surprises along the way
One of the unexpected things about our road trip was the joy we’d find in stopping the car to appreciate an area of beauty right by the side of the road. Even though we’d plotted our entire journey in detail before we started, and we’d booked accommodation in carefully-chosen cities along the way, there were still some wonderful surprises to be found. For example, the pretty, tumbling waters of Hat Creek, in the Lassen National Forest. We noticed this when we stopped to take a photo of a mountain, and ended up wandering along a grassy trail at the side of the road.
Hat Creek, Lassen National Forest
So many bugs!
Another unexpected delight (haha) we discovered along the way… was the number of huge insects that splattered against our car. As we made our way to Reno, Nevada, massive grasshoppers and other insects rained down onto the car. This is a close-up of the front of the car when we arrived in Reno:
Insects on the front of our car!
The beautiful Angel Lake
A far more pleasant surprise came as we drove through northern Nevada and decided to take a break for lunch. A sign at the side of the road said “Angel Lake”, which sounded like a great place to stop and eat some sandwiches. However, we didn’t notice the “12 miles” sign until it was too late to turn back. After a short while, the road became very narrow and winding! After a rather nervous drive, we arrived at our destination, at an elevation of 8,400 feet!
The pretty, but slightly scary, road to Angel Lake.The beautiful Angel Lake – well worth the drive!
The Great Salt Lake
Driving from Nevada to Utah was a fascinating experience, as the landscape changed so dramatically. We had never seen salt flats before! We drove to the Great Salt Lake, parked the car, and walked across the beach to the lake, without actually going into the water. There were three surprises there: one was the swarms of tiny flies, which wafted like dust storms around our feet as we walked. Another was the smell, which grew stronger as we approached the water and made us glad we hadn’t planned to make this a lunchtime picnic spot! Another was the dead and decomposing birds which were scattered across the ground as we walked. They appeared to have been drying out in the salty air and harsh sunlight. It was actually quite fascinating to see the remnants of wings as they dried up and became part of the salty landscape. We had to be a bit careful where we walked, though!
The Great Salt Lake
Our stay in Utah was all too short. However, another highlight was our visit to Temple Square. This is the international headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. The grounds and buildings here are impressive and beautifully maintained. We’re not members of the Mormon Church. Still, we thoroughly enjoyed our tour of several of the buildings and the opportunity to hear about the history of the church from knowledgeable and friendly tour guides.
Temple Square
Mount Rushmore
Another major highlight of our road trip was our visit to Mount Rushmore. Nearly three million people visit this national monument every year. They come to see the gigantic sculptures of the faces of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. These are all carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
We went there shortly before sunset, and followed the Presidential Trail (be warned – there are a lot of stairs!) to get a great view of the sculpture and surrounding scenery. We stayed for the evening Lighting Ceremony. It was informative and very moving as military personnel and veterans were called to the front to participate in the flag-lowering ceremony and be honored for their service.
Mount Rushmore at sunset
Little House on the Prairie!
Another highlight of our road trip was our stay in Minnesota. We visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in the little town of Walnut Grove. This museum offered an informative look back at life in the area for pioneering families in the late 1800s. We thought it achieved a good balance between exhibits about the real-life story of the Ingalls family, the series of books, and the TV show. The museum is small, in keeping with the town it’s located in – and we were pleased that it hadn’t been made into a huge tourist attraction. We drove just a short way down the road from the museum, to a place where there were some reconstructions of prairie sod houses – and this was a very interesting and fun place to visit!
One of the prairie sod houses
After we left Minnesota, we headed to Wisconsin to meet up with family members there. It was the first opportunity we’d had to get together at their home since our wedding in 2012. We also went for a walk in the Owen Conservation Park in Madison, which turned out to be surprisingly peaceful and uncrowded. It was a lovely place to see flowers and nature, and even this tiny frog, which was about the size of a fingernail!
Such a tiny frog!
Finally at our new home in Holland, Michigan
We enjoyed our road trip so much! We were glad we’d chosen to drive east and see some of the sights along the way, instead of making the journey by plane. It was a trip with a purpose, but it felt like a much-needed vacation. We even managed to finalize the purchase of a house while we were en route to our destination.
Of course, the biggest highlight of our road trip was when we arrived in Michigan and drove to Holland. After eighteen days on the road, we were so glad to be home!
Our first day in our new home in Holland, Michigan!
Here’s our latest hymn arrangement for 8 handbells – it’s This is My Father’s World.
We were quite surprised to find out that the tune Terra Beata (Latin for beautiful world) is originally an English folk tune.
How to get the sheet music for this arrangement
This arrangement is fairly straightforward to play, and suitable for 2-4 ringers. If you’d like to play This Is My Father’s World, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
When you buy music from Choraegus, please note that the music will come to you in digital (PDF) format. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Your purchase of this 8-bell arrangement will entitle you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Please see our licensing agreement for full details.
If you haven’t purchased music from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this (with pictures) to help make the process stress-free!
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, please take a look at our Frequently-Asked Questions. If you don’t find the answers you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
Children of the Heavenly Father is our latest 8-bell piece. It’s an arrangement of a tune that is thought to have originally been a Swedish folk melody.
We played this hymn for the first time at Burlingame United Methodist Church, California, at their Father’s Day service last month.
Our 8-bell arrangement is straightforward to play, and would also be suitable for a trio or quartet.
Would you like to play this arrangement?
If you’d like to play Children of the Heavenly Father, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
When you purchase Choraegus music, the music score will come to you as a digital download. That means you’ll be responsible for printing it yourself, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Your purchase of this 8-bell arrangement will entitle you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell choir. Please don’t pay for more copies than you need!
If you’re not familiar with buying our music online, we recommend 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 handbell music, you might like to check our Frequently-Asked Questions. If you don’t find the answers you seek, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
