Here’s a 12-bell Christmas carol arrangement of As With Gladness Men of Old. The hymn tune DIX is also used as one of the settings for For the Beauty of the Earth.
Recording a 12-bell piece with just the two of us
Our demonstration video was our first attempt at recording a 12-bell piece during a time of COVID-19 and social distancing. We didn’t have a third person to join us for a trio, so our best option was to play all the bells ourselves, and put two videos together. It’s not perfect (and we hope to improve as we get used to doing this!), but you’ll get the idea of how the music should sound.
Information about playing this piece
This arrangement is straightforward to play, and has no bell-sharing, no accidentals, and no need for tables. It’s particularly suitable for a small group of socially-distanced musicians, and can be played by 3-6 ringers. Two versions are available – either using bells C5-G6 (as in our demo video), or using F5-C7.
If you’d like to play As With Gladness Men of Old, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus. Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to six copies for your handbell group – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details, and 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.
Please note that our music is designed to be downloaded as PDFs, so 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, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide, designed 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 do what we can to help!
