“Jesus, good above all other,
gentle child of gentle mother,
in a stable born our brother,
give us grace to persevere.
Jesus, cradled in a manger,
for us facing every danger,
living as a homeless stranger,
make we thee our King most dear.”
We were recently going through some old memory cards from our video camera, and we found a forgotten-about recording we’d made of this gentle hymn. The tune is QUEM PASTORES – a 15th century tune, sometimes shortened to Quempas, also used for Christmas to describe the shepherds and their journey to Bethlehem. In more recent years, the melody has also been used for the hymn Like a Mighty River Flowing – so it’s a very versatile tune!
Here’s the recording we made, many months ago. It’s a little unpolished, since it was one of our first attempts at playing full-choir music with just the two of us. Still, you should get a reasonable idea of how the piece sounds:
More information about this arrangement
Jesus, Good Above All Other is for 2-3 octaves of handbells. The handchimes add something extra, but if you don’t have handchimes, the notes can all be played on handbells with no problem. It’s a Level 2+ arrangement, in 6/8 – and it’s one of our most straightforward full-choir arrangements. If you’d like to play it, you’ll find the sheet music available to download from Choraegus – available either as an individual score or as a full-choir score.
Buying Choraegus handbell music
When you purchase 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 note that this only applies to the full-choir licence. If you buy an individual copy as a preview score, you’ll need to come back and purchase the full-choir version in order for your group to play it. 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, designed 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. If you don’t find the information you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
