Today is Larry’s birthday! Thank you to everyone who took the time to wish him a happy day on our Facebook page today. We decided to celebrate with a new arrangement of Happy Birthday – for handbells!
More about Happy Birthday – for handbells
Happy Birthday is our gift to you, completely free of charge. You’ll find it in the Freebies section of our music site. There’s also free music for an 8-bell version of Happy Birthday, arrangements of the Doxology, Dona Nobis Pacem, Auld Lang Syne and several other pieces.
There’s no obligation to make any other purchase from Choraegus to get the free handbell music. Of course, we hope you’ll take a look at other titles we have to offer, but if you want to grab the free music and go, we don’t mind at all. It’s a good way to try our music without having to spend any money! We’re hoping this music will prove to be a useful addition to your group’s repertoire.
Instructions for downloading the free handbell music
To get your free sheet music, add it to your cart on the Choraegus site, and click on the yellow “Check out with PayPal” button. Enter your details, and click “Confirm Order” (there’s no need to click on the PayPal button a second time). Then check your email inbox. If the download link doesn’t arrive, check your spam folder, and it might be there.
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!
Larry – celebrating having made it through another year!
The new year has been here a while now; it’s hard to believe that we’re already well on the way to February. The holiday decorations in our home are still up, including two Christmas trees. We’re obviously easing our way into 2023 rather slowly! The snow has finally returned to West Michigan, and we’re enjoying it!
This is Carla here, by the way, in case you hadn’t realised that. Larry takes care of our Choraegus music site, and I look after “the purple website” and our Facebook page. I’m pretty certain there would be a lot less purple in this website if Larry were running that too. Anyway, something Larry and I haven’t yet talked openly about… is that I’ve recently been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Yes, it was a bit of a shock to me too!
A hint of troubles yet to come
So, how did it start? Originally, it seems, with random symptoms in 2018, including a sudden (and scary) worsening of my eyesight. At that time I had brain and spine MRIs, and saw various doctors. I emerged from all those medical adventures with a lot of bills to pay, but no diagnosis of anything but optic neuritis. Over the course of a few months, my vision issues became less of a distraction, and life continued pretty much as normal. After a while, Larry’s medical stuff took over, with his diagnosis of prostate cancer, and his subsequent treatment, and then shoulder surgery, then a return of his cancer, and more treatment.
Finally, in 2022, with Larry doing well, we dared to hope that we might get a break from medical issues for a while. We even managed to go to England in July, to see my family for the first time in six years. We caught Covid while we were there, but still managed to salvage a few days of real “vacation time” to spend with family and friends. We’ve since been telling ourselves that we need a do-over of that trip, without Covid getting in the way. We really don’t want to have to wait another six years to see our UK family and friends again!
Enjoying life in sunny Basingstoke!
Unexpected health problems in 2022
I started to experience some weird symptoms in September. Larry and I were at our summer cottage at Bay View, and I noticed that my left leg felt numb. I thought perhaps I’d done too much walking, or had some kind of injury that I hadn’t noticed before. When the situation didn’t improve, I reluctantly dragged myself along to see a doctor in mid-September, and was referred to a neurologist, just in case.
With a neurology appointment safely scheduled for November, Larry and I continued to enjoy our time “up north”. I walked around on legs that felt like Bambi’s (but definitely didn’t look like Bambi’s), and tried not to worry too much. We drove back and forth between Bay View and our home in Holland, and continued with all our usual activities. I had some strange and random symptoms during that time, but I didn’t panic, because I had a neurology appointment booked anyway. No problem, right? A lot of British people are like that, by the way. I tell people that we don’t generally see a doctor unless it feels possible that we actually might not last the day. That’s a joke, but there’s a fair amount of truth in it.
Enjoying life at Bay View. Not shown: wobbly legs
A very scary Halloween
My plan to continue life as normal went badly wrong on October 31st. I woke up that morning feeling as if I’d been drinking – a lot! That’s not something I do, so the feeling of lightheaded wooziness was very unfamiliar to me. My right arm felt as if it wanted to detach itself from my shoulder and float away, and my eyesight had once again taken a turn for the worse. When the situation hadn’t improved by lunchtime, I was concerned enough to go to Urgent Care. I spent several hours having various tests, but getting no obvious explanation for the mystery symptoms. Eventually, I was referred to the ER, in an attempt to “rule out some of the big, ugly things”.
In the ER, still smiling behind the mask
The big, ugly things (and why we missed the trick-or-treating)
Halloween is always such a fun evening where we live. We’d been looking forward to handing out huge amounts of candy and treats to groups of children. Instead, we spent the evening in the hospital, where Larry did some reading, finished a crossword or two, and took a nap… and I had a brain MRI. A few days later, I had a follow-up appointment with a neurologist here in Holland, who confirmed my diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. Next, I had a spine MRI, three steroid infusions (that sadly didn’t ease my symptoms) and another neurology appointment to talk about the MRI results. It was interesting (in a slightly odd way) to look at the scan images. It turns out that a lot has been happening in my brain and spine since my last scans in 2018!
Starting treatment
Multiple Sclerosis is a disease that affects the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord), and causes a wide range of symptoms. It’s different for everyone. In December, I started taking medication that’s designed to slow down (or stop) the progression of the disease. This medication is not for the faint-hearted, and comes with a variety of possible side-effects. Potential side effects… or worsening MS symptoms? The choice was clear to me, so taking the medication seemed to be the wise course of action. Once again, we had a stressful time with our health insurance company (nothing new there), and they refused to authorize the medication for me (insert a heavy sigh of frustration here). I’m thankful for the drug company’s Patient Assistance Program for making it possible for me to take this medication, at least for the next year.
Continuing with our busy Christmas!
One thing Larry and I were determined about… was that we didn’t want my new MS diagnosis to get in the way of our holiday performances! We’ve never cancelled a performance yet, and didn’t want to start! Having established that I’m still able to play handbells (thank goodness!), we went ahead with our busy month of duet performances, and had a great time sharing our music with local audiences. December was insanely busy for us. November had been chaotic and stressful, with doctors’ appointments and tests, and we’d never really managed to get ready for Christmas. We decided to make the handbell performances our priority, and let everything else go, apart from making an exciting trip through the snow to cut down our Christmas tree. Apologies to all the people who didn’t get a Christmas card from us in 2022!
When Christmas Day arrived, we spent a quiet day at home together, and that was all we needed.
What happens next?
There are lots of things I can’t do, now that I have MS. I’ll probably never be able to play the flute. I can’t drive a car, or even ride a bike. It’s unlikely that I’ll ever run a marathon. I can’t play the flute or the cello, and my dream of being a superstar harpist will never come true.
Of course, I couldn’t do any of those things before I had MS either. The truth is that I plan to continue doing everything I normally do. I’ll have more neurology appointments in my future, and regular blood tests, and brain and spine MRIs. It’s reassuring to know that I’ll be closely monitored for any changes, but there’s no reason to think I’m going to go downhill any time soon.
Larry and I have dealt with difficult stuff before. We know for certain that we can’t live in “what if…” mode. We have to focus on all the things we can do, and not stress about things that might never happen. We’re both looking forward to more handbell duet performances in the coming months, as well as rehearsing and performing with the Kalamazoo Ringers. In just a few months’ time, we’ll be able to open our summer cottage at Bay View again. If enough snow falls in northern Michigan in the next few weeks, we might even take a bonus drive north. The Victorian cottages at Bay View look so pretty with a covering of freshly-fallen snow!
There’s also the Bay View Week of Handbells in August to look forward to, so I’ll have lots of music to work on in the months ahead. This year’s concert will include two of Larry’s handbell arrangements, which makes the whole event extra exciting for us!
A few words of thanks
Thank you to the handful of close family and friends who’ve kept my secret, and helped to keep my spirits up since my diagnosis. I’ve appreciated your messages of support, thoughtful advice, prayers and smiles. I’ll admit that I was somewhat shaken to receive this unexpected diagnosis, and there have definitely been some frustrations in recent weeks. My way of dealing with frustration is to vent constantly; if I have something to complain about, I’ll have a self-pitying rant, then I’ll feel better. I appreciate the friends and family who’ve listened to my whining/complaining and managed not to bash me with kitchen utensils.
I had originally planned not to share the news about my diagnosis more widely – and I’ve been reliably informed that I “still look fine from the outside” – but I think I cope better with things out in the open. So, now you know what’s been happening, and thank you for reading this far. I’m doing well, and I’m optimistic about the future. MS is definitely not fun, but life is still good. If you have any questions, you’ll find me on our Facebook page!
A popular saying here in Michigan (and probably in other places too) is “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes!” It often seems that the weather can go through several seasons in a single day. We wake up to clouds, the sun comes out and we dress for spring… then suddenly the weather turns cold, and rain is pouring down!
Here’s an original handbell composition called Wait Five Minutes. Michigan weather was Larry’s inspiration for this piece. Carla took the photos and video; most of them at Bay View, a summer community in northern Michigan. Highlights include footage of a torrential downpour, a foggy day on a Lake Michigan beach, and an unusual-looking squirrel!
More information about Wait Five Minutes
Wait Five Minutes is for 3 octaves of handbells, Level 2+. Sheet music for this original composition is available to purchase and download 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 of the full-choir license 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 composer (Larry Sue) and publisher (Choraegus) in any printed media such as concert programs, and online (in video descriptions). 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 too!
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.
More Choraegus handbell music about the weather
People often ask us about handbell music on a particular theme. Here are some other pieces on the theme of “weather”:
Winter Dance – a 5-octave, Level 4 arrangement of Seiichi Kyoda’s wonderful, wintry piece
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.
Christmas Day has been and gone, but we’re determined to celebrate the full twelve days of Christmas. We’re at the blissful stage of the year when we can finally take a break, catch our breath, and relax after a busy month of holiday handbell performances!
The holiday season is always our favorite time of year. We get the chance to go out and share our Christmas handbell music, meet new people, and visit new places. We were fortunate that the recent snowy-blizzard weather waited until the second half of December to hit West Michigan, so we didn’t have to make any long drives in bad conditions. It’s always a risk when we arrange our holiday performance schedule, because we all know how unpredictable Michigan winter weather can be! Having said that, we’ve lived in Michigan since 2016, so we’re more used to driving through the snow now. Remember when we drove six hours a day for Larry’s radiation treatment in the winter of 2021? If we can survive that, we can survive anything!
Our 2022 holiday performances
Our 2022 holiday performance season began early this year, on November 19th, with our first of three performances at the Kerstmarkt. This Christmas market in Downtown Holland is always a highlight of our holiday season, but this year was a bit different! The opening day of the Kerstmarkt arrived on a day when snow was falling, and the temperature was… well, chilly, to say the least. Still, we’ve never cancelled a performance yet, so we were determined that this one would go ahead. We still managed to have fun, and we admired the courage of anyone who came out to shop in such terrible weather!
Handbells in the snow
For anyone worrying about our handbells and how they cope with extreme cold, we did take some precautions. We took the bells out into the garage a couple of hours before the performance, so that they’d get used to the drop in temperature gradually. We also didn’t play them too loudly when we got to the event. When we play in the cold, we always notice the change in the way the bells sound, so we don’t put any undue strain on them. There are some bells that really, really don’t like the cold, and they simply refuse to play, so we generally leave everything higher than G6 in the case, and don’t play any pieces that involve any “unhappy” bells.
Fortunately, we had two more opportunities to play at the Kerstmarkt. The weather was never as fierce as that first session, and we even had a bit of sunshine and blue sky!
We were privileged to be invited to perform two duet concerts during Advent. The first was at First United Methodist Church in Kalamazoo, as part of their lunchtime Advent Concert Series. It was wonderful to be able to share our music in such a beautiful space.
Our second concert was at Second Reformed Church in Zeeland. We performed as part of their Second Series: Sublime Art in a Sacred Space concert series. We didn’t have piano accompaniment this time; just an hour of seasonal handbell duets. It was fun to meet and chat with audience members at the post-concert reception.
“Return visit” handbell performances
We’re always pleased to be invited back to give handbell duet performances for groups we’ve played for in past years. This year was our fourth Christmas performance at the Gary Byker Memorial Library in Hudsonville. It’s always a popular event, run by the Friends of the Library. We also spent another evening in concert with the Zeeland Community Band. We’ve been at the ZCB Christmas concert since 2016, and it’s become an annual tradition for us. The band has been growing in number over the last few years, and they sound better than ever! We made return visits to several senior communities and local organizations this year too.
Corporate parties are some of our favorite holiday events, and we had fun playing at DeVos Place in Grand Rapids. We played Christmas music to welcome guests as they arrived at the party.
Concerts with the Kalamazoo Ringers
This December, we also enjoyed playing in a couple of concerts as part of the Kalamazoo Ringers. We took part in the annual Christmas in Kalamazoo event and the group’s Christmas concert at Grace Harbor Church. We even played one of Larry’s arrangements – Gaudete– and the full concert is now available to watch on YouTube.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this holiday season fun!
If you booked us for a performance or Christmas program or wrote a review of our performance – thank you. If you came to one of our concerts, we appreciate you too! To all those who offered us coffee or a meal, chatted with us, or prayed for us – thank you. We enjoyed sharing our handbell music with you, and we hope 2023 will be a happy and healthy year for you all!
O Holy Night is one of the most beautiful and popular carols for Christmas. Also known as Cantique de Noël, it was written as a poem by Placide Cappeau, and set to music by Aldolphe Adam in 1847.
“O holy night! the stars are brightly shining; It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope–the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn! Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born! O night, O holy night, O night divine!“
We’re in the middle of a snowstorm here in West Michigan. It’s unusual for us to have so much snowfall on the ground this side of Christmas. But one thing’s for certain; it makes a beautiful backdrop for a Christmas handbell video. Here’s our new 12-bell arrangement of O Holy Night:
More about O Holy Night, 12-bell version
As with all Choraegus 12-bell pieces, O Holy Night is suitable for 3-6 ringers. We’ve deliberately kept it free from techniques that need tables or foam pads, so that handbell musicians can play from music stands easily. Sheet music is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. This arrangement is available for three different ranges of handbells – one version using C5-G6, another for F5-C7, and another for Bb4-F6. Be sure to refer the bells-used charts on the Choraegus webpage to make sure you have all the bells you need, and be certain to purchase the right version.
Other arrangements of O Holy Night from Choraegus
O Holy Night is also available as an arrangement for 8 handbells.
Things to know about Choraegus handbell music
Choraegus handbell music scores are designed to be downloaded as PDF files. That means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Purchasing a 12-bell arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to six copies for your handbell group – so please don’t pay for more copies than you need! A practice track is also available separately – useful if your ringers need to practise their parts without the full group being available.
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 arranger (Larry Sue) and the publisher of the piece(Choraegus) on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs. We appreciate your help in getting the word out about Choraegus handbell music – and if you make a video of your handbell choir playing any of our pieces, we’d love to see it!
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. Please contact us if you don’t find the answers you need, and we’ll be happy to help!
The Monday Musical Club is a non-profit organisation dedicated to music education and promotion of creative and performing arts. Based in St. Joseph, Michigan, they hold a wide variety of education events and music performances. We were excited to be asked to present a shared concert with our friends Gary and Martha Matthews!
About Gary and Martha Matthews
Gary and Martha also live in Holland, and they’re a talented couple! Gary studied organ, music education, and sacred music, and holds a doctorate in Worship Studies. He served as Pastor of Worship and the Arts at Highland Park Baptist Church in Southfield, MI, and at Christ Memorial Church in Holland, MI. He’s a published composer, and has been performing for more than forty years, with piano, organ, trumpet and voice.
Martha holds a Bachelors in Music Education and a Masters in Flute Performance. She has played principal flute with Florida Symphonic Pops, Florida Wind Symphony, Gold Coast Opera, Gold Coast Ballet and the Washington Idaho Symphony. Martha directs the Kalamazoo Ringers, and is a sought-after handbell clinician. In concert with Gary, she plays flute, whistles, bell tree, and piano.
A concert with handbells, flute, piano, trumpet, and more!
We held our shared concert at First Congregational Church of St. Joseph. This is a beautiful sanctuary for a music performance! It was a treat for the four of us to be able to perform together. We’d spent most of our summer at our cottage near Petoskey, and Gary and Martha had been in Holland. Planning a concert and rehearsing is a challenge when you’re in different towns! Thanks to the power of email, and our individual rehearsals, we made it work.
Our program included music on a variety of instruments, including handbells (of course!) Gary and Martha opened the concert with a piece for piano and trumpet, and we continued with a couple of our favorite handbell duets. We also enjoyed the opportunity to get together as a quartet to perform some pieces – including Larry’s infamous arrangement of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing that the four of us had previously played for one of the Kalamazoo Ringers’ online Christmas concerts. We all played Blessed Assurance together, with a brand-new flute part that Larry had written specially for this concert. It was fun to find that some of the audience hadn’t seen handbells played in our 4-in-hand style before. We talked to audience members afterwards, and answered questions about our technique and the way we move.
Here’s the full program!
We enjoyed listening to Gary and Martha’s pieces, particularly Brent Olstad’s I Love to Tell the Story. Martha’s flute-played was enthralling to hear, and the audience clearly loved this piece. We finished the concert with an extra surprise – Larry’s lively arrangement of Ding Dong, Merrily on High. This is another arrangement for handbells, piano and flute, and it makes a perfect ending for a concert.
Our thanks go to the Monday Musical Club for inviting us to share our music in concert, and to everyone who came to listen. We hope to have the opportunity to perform in concert with Gary and Martha again someday!
If you’d like to provide an opportunity for us to perform in concert with Gary and Martha again, or you’d like to host a handbell duet performance, please get in touch with us, and we’ll talk more!
Today we’re celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary. Here’s a chance to celebrate with us, with a discount code for handbell music from Choraegus! You can save 15% on all your purchases, from today until next Thursday.
It’s a great time to stock up on handbell music!
There’s no limit to how many times you can use the discount code. Now is a great time to stock up on handbell music for fall, and for the holiday season! We’re always adding new pieces to the catalog, and we have a wide range of arrangements and original compositions.
Our music is available to download for your handbell choir; no more waiting for music to arrive by mail! If you’re looking for 5-8 octave arrangements, we have lots, and if your handbell ensemble is down to just a few ringers this season, we have plenty of music for smaller groups too. You’re welcome to browse the site, and if you don’t find what you’re looking for, please ask us, and we’ll do our very best to help you find something suitable.
Don’t forget The Bass Ringer’s Notebook – the must-have guide for anyone who wants to dig deep into the world of playing bass handbells. That’s also available from Choraegus (and you can use the discount code for that too). The only difference is that it’s not available to download. If you order a copy, we’ll lovingly package it up and mail it to you from Michigan.
How to use the coupon code
To use the discount code, simply make your selections from Choraegus in the usual way using the Add to Cart button. In your shopping cart, enter the code ANNIVERSARY in the coupon code box, and your discount should magically appear. If you haven’t purchased music from Choraegus before, and you’d like to test the process, we recommend looking at the Freebies section, where you can download some free handbell music, and see how it all works, without spending any money.
We hope you’ll enjoy playing Choraegus handbell music, and thank you for your interest! If you have any questions, please contact us, and we’ll be happy to help.
It’s hard to believe that the 2022 Bay View Week of Handbells was the 11th year we’ve attended this evening together! Of course, that would have happened sooner, if the pandemic hadn’t happened. The 2020 and 2021 Week of Handbells events were cancelled because of Covid-19, so it was a particularly good feeling to get back to it this year.
Our history with the Bay View Week of Handbells
We attended this annual event for the first time in August 2010, when we were still in our long-distance relationship. Carla flew to Chicago from England, and Larry flew in from California. We met in person for the very first time at Chicago O’Hare, and took the short flight to Traverse City together. Until then, we’d only ever communicated online, via Facebook messages, so it was exciting for us to be able to see each other in “real life” and spend time together.
After the 2010 Week of Handbells, we flew back to England and California, and spent a very long year apart. Finally, we were able to meet again at the 2011 Week of Handbells, where we celebrated our engagement with cupcakes at the Monday evening reception. Then we were separated again, returned to England and California, and went through all the challenges of the K-1 fiancée visa process. When the U.S. visa was approved, we were able to make plans to close the distance permanently. Planning the trip was complicated, but we made it all coincide with the 2012 Week of Handbells, and after the event was over, we flew to California to make our wedding plans. Apart from the two years when the event was cancelled, we’ve attended together every year since.
The 2022 Bay View Week of Handbells
This year’s Week of Handbells was a bit different for us, for an important reason; we now have our own Bay View cottage! We bought this Victorian cottage in October 2019, when we became members of the Bay View Association. It was built around 1887, and is a quirky little place, with uneven floors and some interesting features!
We appreciated being able to be “at home” between rehearsals, and to relax in our own place at the end of the day. In previous years, we’ve stayed in hotels, and also rented another of the Victorian cottages on campus. Our cottage is at the bottom of the hill, so we got plenty of exercise walking to and from rehearsals in the auditorium! We also had a steady stream of visitors, and enjoyed giving cottage tours to our handbell friends.
The 2022 event
Once again, Larry had the opportunity to play the aluminum bass bells, in the Deep Pit. Carla played AB5, as coordinator of the Position 7 team. Rehearsals went smoothly this year, and everyone was thankful to be back after the long break. We also heard that Bay View Association members were happy to see the return of the bell ringers, and eagerly awaited the Thursday evening concert.
The repertoire for the 2022 Week of Handbells was as follows:
Festive Praises(Fred Gramann) Tales of the Great Water (Sandra Eithun) Finale (Widor, arr. Fred Gramann) The Entertainer (Joplin, transcribed by Paul Kingbury) – available from Choraegus Intrepid (Jason Krug) Change Ring Prelude on ‘Fred Gramann’ (Jantz Black) Aurora (Matthew Compton) Aria (Donald Allured) São Paulo (Elizabeth Peters) The Sound of Silence (Paul Simon, arr. Matthew Compton) Bulwarkana (Alex Guebert) Puttin’ on the Ritz (Berlin, arr. Hart Morris) The Lord Bless You and Keep You (Peter Lutkin)
There were five winners of the Donald E. Allured Composition Award at this year’s concert. Was this a record? Sandra Eithun’s Tales of the Great Water was performed for the first time at the 2022 Week of Handbells, and we were all happy that she came to the concert to hear it!
Catherine McMichael, Sandra Eithun, Larry Sue, Alex Guebert and Matthew Compton
As usual, the week was a very busy one. Rehearsals are long and intense, and there isn’t a lot of spare time, although we always appreciate the Bay View sunsets, the opportunity to gather with friends on the Wednesday “evening off”, and the Bay View Memorial Garden, where the flowers never disappoint.
What’s next?
Now that we’ve put away our 2022 Week of Handbells music, we’re moving on to more duet performances, writing and playing new music, and preparing for the holiday season. We’ll still be spending as much time as we can at Bay View – driving back and forth between Holland and Petoskey – until the time comes to close up the cottage for the winter months. Before too long, it will be time to sign up for the 2023 event – and we’re already looking forward to it!
Our latest handbell piece is a lively arrangement of the 1917 song Smiles!
“Dearie, now I know Just what makes me love you so, Just what holds me and enfolds me In its golden glow; Dearie, now I see ‘Tis each smile so bright and free, For life’s sadness turns to gladness when you smile on me.”
Smiles is a popular song, featured in The Passing Show, a Broadway musical review, in 1918. The music was written by Lee S. Roberts, and the lyrics by J. Will Callahan. This song is particularly interesting to us because Callahan wrote the lyrics in a cottage at Bay View, Michigan – the place where we have a summer cottage of our own!
Here’s our demonstration video of Smiles – arranged for handbells. If you keep watching after we’ve finished playing on the video, you’ll see a picture of the sign at the Bay View Association, marking the place where the lyrics were written.
More information about Smiles
Smiles is for 4-5 octaves of handbells, with an optional 2 octaves of handchimes. It’s a Level 3+ arrangement. Sheet music is available to purchase and download 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 of the full-choir license also grants 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 do ask you to credit the arranger (Larry Sue) and publisher (Choraegus) in any printed media such as concert programs, and online (in video descriptions). 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 by email or 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.
This spring we were excited to have the opportunity to play handbells on Mackinac Island again! Mackinac Island is situated between Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas, and it’s a beautiful place to visit. Cars are not allowed on the island, so it really is like stepping back in time. Horses are brought to the island every spring, and they spend the summer pulling carriages, carrying freight around the island, and giving rides to visitors.
Before this year’s event, the most recent Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 spring conference on the island took place in 2018. We were the featured artists for that event. We had such an enjoyable time there, and we were happy that the event could finally go ahead this spring. This time, we didn’t have the pressure of preparing the opening concert, or teaching classes (although we’d have been happy to teach if we’d been asked). It meant that we were able to do more tourist-things and treat it as a much needed mini-vacation!
The conference started on the Friday, with registration beginning on the Thursday evening. We decided to go across to the island on Wednesday, to give ourselves time to settle in and enjoy some of the sights while it was quiet. This turned out to be a really good idea!
Spring takes a long time to arrive in northern Michigan. On our way to the ferry in Mackinac City, we stopped to look at this huge tower of ice. A nearby signed called it the Ice Tree. The ice had started melting away – but there was still a lot left. This gave us a clue that the temperature on Mackinac Island might be a little chillier than at home in Holland.
Arriving on Mackinac Island
We took the Shepler’s ferry from Mackinac City to the island, and had a short and uneventful journey there. We arrived on the island, and decided we could manage to carry our stuff up the hill to Grand Hotel. The wind was blowing fiercely and it was a lot colder than we’d anticipated. Still, we coped, and soon reached the hotel, where we checked in and settled into our room.
Each of the guest rooms at Grand Hotel is individually decorated. We were there before the hotel officially opened for the season, so we could peek inside unoccupied rooms! The one in the photo above was ours; below are a couple of others:
Time to explore the island!
We spent Wednesday evening, and most of the day on Thursday, exploring the island. The handbell conference was being held before the hotel (and the island) officially opened for summer visitors. That meant that a lot of the shops and restaurants weren’t open yet. There was a fair amount of activity downtown, though, as the shops and hotels prepared for the influx of guests. We enjoyed walking along the uncrowded streets and beaches, and admiring some of the beautiful houses… and the horses! It’s always fun to play the “which house would you choose?” game. We can all dream, right?
We wouldn’t like to give the impression that this trip was more about a vacation than handbells… but we did have a lot of fun before the event started. There’s so much to see in this part of Michigan! We walked around 15 miles during the first couple of days on the island.
Rehearsing our 8-bell duets at Grand Hotel
We decided to play through some of our 8-bell duets on the Wednesday. We’re thankful to Grand Hotel for allowing us to rehearse in their Cupola Bar, on the top floor of the hotel. It was a lovely place to practise, with views across the lake. Here’s a video of our 8-bell arrangement of Amazing Grace:
If you’d like to see all the videos we recorded at the hotel, you can see them in a showcase on our Vimeo channel.
The handbell conference started on Friday, with the first massed ringing rehearsal and an excellent concert by Quadrants Handbell Quartet. We didn’t count how many handbell choirs were at the event, but the auditorium was full. There were classes on various topics too. We attended one about handbell music for small groups, featuring some of our 8-, 12- and 16-bell music, along with music by other arrangers. It’s wonderful to know that there’s so much music available for small groups now. Fred Gramann was the director for the event, and we had a surprisingly large number of people in the audience for the final concert on Saturday afternoon. We performed pieces by Fred Gramann, Linda Lamb, Sandra Eithun, Jason Krug and Dan Edwards, and all were well received.
Thanks to HMA Area 5!
After the pandemic-related delay, it was wonderful to gather and play handbells on Mackinac Island again! Our thanks go to all at Area 5 of the Handbell Musicians of America – for all the hard work that went into organising this year’s spring conference. It takes a lot of time and effort to create an event like this, and we appreciate everyone who worked so hard to make it a success.
So, when will we get to play handbells on Mackinac Island again? That’s a good question. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we won’t have to wait too long!
