We love the sound of handbells, but sometimes it’s fun to combine handbells with other instruments, such as organ, piano or flute. Our list of “collaborations” is growing all the time! You’ll find plenty of music on Choraegus, for handbells and other instruments.
Music for Handbells with Piano or Organ (and sometimes flute!)
Handbell Solos
As you’d probably expect, most of our arrangements for handbell solo have piano accompaniments. There are solo handbell arrangements for bass and treble bells, available to download from Choraegus
Handbell Duets
When we play handbell duets, we generally play 8-bell music. However, we do have one accompanied “table duet”, with more coming soon! Away in a Manger (NORMANDY) is a delightful French tune that’s an unusual setting for this popular Christmas carol.
6-Bell Music
All of our 6-bell arrangements are for handbells and piano. These have no boring accompaniments; Larry wrote the piano parts to be interesting for the pianist! Choraegus 6-bell music is for 2-3 ringers, without requiring any special techniques, and with no need for tables or foam pads. Mp3 backing tracks are also available.
Titles include Advent and Christmas carols, hymns for year-round worship, and traditional melodies – all available to download from Choraegus. Here’s Silent Night:
8-Bell Music
Much of our 8-bell music is designed to stand alone, without accompaniment. However, we do have a selection of arrangements for eight bells with piano or organ accompaniments. Again, they’re designed to be fun and interesting to play! Some examples are below, but click on the link above to find them all!
Our arrangement of Blessed Assurance is written for handbells and piano, with an additional part for flute. Here’s a video from a concert performance with Gary and Martha Matthews:
From the same concert, here’s Ding Dong, Merrily on High. This exciting Christmas carol arrangement will liven up any Christmas worship service or concert! It’s arranged for handbells with keyboard accompaniment (organ accompaniment by T. Paul Rosas), and also has an optional part for flute!
Our arrangement of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day is another arrangement for handbells and piano that we particularly enjoy.
12-Bell Music
You’ll find a full list of our 12-bell music on our Choraegus website. There are several that have piano accompaniment, including In the Bleak Midwinter, Savior, Like a Shepherd, Lead Us, Still, Still, Still, and Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.
Full Choir Music
We have two full choir arrangements with piano and organ. The first is Gesu Bambino; a Level 3 arrangement for handbells with piano accompaniment.
Larry’s 3-5 octave arrangement of Be Thou My Vision was included in the Michigan AGO’s gift to their conference participants in July 2019. This arrangement is for handbells and organ.
Music for Handbells with Flute
8-Bell Music
Larry’s first original composition for 8 handbells and flute came about when we traveled to Pennsylvania for a shared concert with Philadelphia Bronze. Martha Matthews joined us to perform Silver and Bronze for the first time there! Ding Dong, Merrily on High (mentioned earlier as an arrangement for handbells with piano or organ) also has an additional flute part.
Full Choir Music
Those Were the Days is arranged for handbells, flute and other instruments. There are more details below, so scroll down a bit! Also available from Choraegus Hark! The Herald Angels Sing; a super-exciting, Level 5 arrangement, full of mixed-meter festivity, with an optional flute part to add to the sparkle!
Another piece that we’re proud to include in our selection is the beautiful Elysium. This 3-5 octave piece for handbells and flute was written by our friend Susan T. Nelson, who passed away in 2025. With Elysium and other beautiful compositions for handbells and many other instruments, her legacy lives on through her music.
Music for Handbells with Other Instruments (harp, percussion… kazoo!)
Small Ensemble
Heather’s Dance is an unusual trio (… a quartet if you add bodhran!), originally scored for handbells, harp, and bowed psaltery. Keyboard may be substituted for the harp, and other transpositions have been included for C/Bb/Eb/F instrument.
Full Choir Music
We have several handbell pieces that include a variety of other instruments that add to the fun!
A Minor Crash is an original composition that’s full of interesting (and interacting!) rhythms. This is for 5-8 octaves of handbells, plus optional handchimes, and a percussion part written by Alex Guebert. This piece was performed at the HMA Area 8 Festival in 2019, and at the Bay View Week of Handbells.
The Final Crossing was written for the Siskiyou Summit Handbell Conference in Ashland, Oregon. This original composition is scored for 3-6 octaves of handbells plus chimes D4-D6. There also is a solo part for piccolo or regular trumpet which is provided in the original spectacular (“unearthly”?) form as well as a simplified version which is more accessible. If you don’t have a trumpeter available, a concert key version that can be played on synthesizer is also with the score.
Gaudete is a Christmas song dating back to at least the sixteenth century. Larry’s 3-8 octave, Level 4+ arrangement is for handbells and optional cajón. It’s exciting to play!
Mack the Knife is a Level 5 arrangement for 5-8 octaves. It’s not an easy piece to play, but it’s worth the effort! It was originally arranged just for handbells, but now has an optional drum part.
Of the Father’s Love Begotten is an arrangement based on the 13th-century Latin plainchant DIVINUM MYSTERIUM. It’s written for handbells and cajón, with additional opportunities to use “alternate” bells, such as Silver Melody Bells or Petit & Fritsen handbells.
Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow is a recent 3- or 5-octave arrangement, dedicated to the Praise Ringers at Portage United Church of Christ, Michigan. It’s a lively spiritual, for handbells and cajón.
Those Were the Days: This is the Gene Raskin song that was recorded by Mary Hopkin in 1968. It’s based on the Russian song “Дорогой длинною” (Dorogoi dlinnoyu, literally “by the long road”). This Level 3 arrangement is for handbells (5-7 octaves), with optional mandolin, tambourine, flute, wood block, and kazoo. Level 3+
Send Us Your Suggestions!
We’ve only covered a small selection of pieces in this article, but we hope you’ll take the time to look at more on our Choraegus music site. We also hope you’ll enjoy playing some of our music for handbells with other instruments. What other instruments would you like to hear with handbells? Let us know if you have any ideas for us!
