Christmas Music for Handbell Choirs

Here’s a list of Christmas music for handbell choirs, available from Choraegus. Many of these pieces are suitable for Advent and Epiphany too! Click on a title, and you’ll be taken to our music site, where you’ll find more details about each piece, with preview pages, audio files, and information about how to purchase music from us!

As With Gladness, Men of Old (DIX) / For the Beauty of the Earth
3-5 octaves of handbells and 2 octaves of handchimes, Level 3-

This is a popular carol for Christmas or Epiphany! You can also use it year-round as a setting for the hymn For the Beauty of the Earth.

Away in a Manger
3 octaves of handbells and 2 octaves of handchimes, Level 2

Our handbell choir arrangement of James Murray’s Away in a Manger is written for three octaves of handbells and two octaves of handchimes (you can add doublings for your bells beyond C4-C7, of course). Its gentle feel will add a reflective touch to your Christmas Eve service.

Gaudete!
3-8 octaves of handbells and 3-4 octaves of handchimes, Level 4+

Gaudete! is a Christmas song dating back to at least the sixteenth century. You’ll find this arrangement (with handchimes, singing bell, and optional cajón part) exciting and fun to play!

Gesu Bambino
3 or 5 octaves of handbells, with piano – Level 3

Gesu Bambino (“the Christ Child”) is a Nativity song from 1917. It’s a lullaby for the Child, but also a call to worship for all others as He awaits them at the Bethlehem manger. You’ll enjoy this arrangement for handbells and piano.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
3 or 5 octaves of handbells, Level 5

This exciting arrangement will be a sparkling addition to a holiday concert. It’s a mixed-meter celebration, with an optional (but worthwhile) flute part!

How Far Is It to Bethlehem?

Our 3-5 octave arrangement of the folk melody Stowey can be used with this Christmas/Advent title.

Sing We Now of Christmas (NOEL NOUVELET)
3-5 octaves of handbells, Level 3

Here’s a dual-purpose arrangement that you can play as Sing We Now of Christmas for Christmas, or as Now the Green Blade Riseth for Easter!

‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime
3 or 5 octaves of handbells, with optional handchimes

This is the oldest known Canadian carol. Gitchi Manitou is Algonquian for “Great Spirit”, the Native American name for God, and the lyrics tell the Christmas story as it might have told been near the Great Lakes.

Winter Dance
5 octaves of handbells and 2 octaves of handchimes, Level 4

Seiichi Kyoda composed this wonderful piece. His group Uttara-Kuru performed it with a synthesis of traditional Japanese instruments (shakuhachi, koto, etc.) and electronica. The picture is of the citizens of a remote village celebrating life with a community dance.