The 2018 HMA Area 8 Festival in Omaha, Nebraska

We enjoyed our trip to the Area 8 Festival in Omaha!

The last time we’d been in Omaha was for the River City Radical Ring in 2013. We were very happy to be invited back to direct, perform and teach at the 2018 event. Besides, what’s not to love about a 600-mile road-trip?

Larry on the way to Omaha
Larry just loves a road trip!

Lots of driving!

The journey from Holland, Michigan took us more than ten hours, and we were glad we’d decided to travel the day before the festival! We arrived in Omaha in plenty of time to enjoy an evening concert by Rezound! Handbell Ensemble before settling in for the night.

Area 8 Festival in Omaha
We made it to Omaha!

Music and classes at the Bring It! Ring It! festival

The festival began on Thursday. Larry was looking forward to directing the BronzeFest ensemble, preparing for a Saturday afternoon concert. The chosen pieces for BronzeFest were: Festival Sanctus (Cathy Moklebust), Elysium (Susan T. Nelson), Rescue (Larry Sue), Sympatico (Jason Krug), Song of the Flowers (Kevin Mazimas Ko), The Final Crossing (Larry Sue) and A Minor Crash (Larry Sue).

With repertoire like that, there was work to do, but it was wonderful to see how well prepared the BronzeFest participants were. It meant that we could use our limited rehearsal time together to do more than just learn notes. Much progress was made between the first rehearsal on Thursday and the concert on Saturday.

The Area 8 Board of Directors had done a great job of organizing for festival participants to be able to attend a wide variety of classes in addition to rehearsals. There were classes with such titles as “Processionals”, “In-Depth Score Study”, “If Bells Grew on Trees” and “There’s More than One Way to Peel a Banana”. Carla taught several classes on British-Style Four-in-Hand Ringing, and Larry taught classes on Ringing Bass Bells and Bass Bell Layout.

Area 8 Festival in Nebraska - bass ringing
One of Larry’s Bass Handbell Techniques classes

A concert by Timbré from California

Thursday ended with a banquet for all festival participants, followed by a concert presented by Timbré, a lyrical percussion ensemble based in Southern California. Their program, entitled “She Dreams the Stars” featured poetry, live and electronic music, and dance, telling the story of a young woman on a journey of discovery. The show was entertaining and thought-provoking, the costumes were sparkly, and it was good to see our friends from Timbré again. Some of them had played handbells at our wedding in California back in 2012!

Timbré - handbell concert
Timbré – She Dreams the Stars

Our handbell duet concert

Friday was the day of our own 8-bell duet concert. We’d chosen some of our favourite pieces from the repertoire we’d used for the opening concert at the Area 5 Festival on Mackinac Island earlier this year.

Larry and Carla handbell duo
Our 8-Bell Duet Concert at the Area 8 festival

The pieces we played were: Creator of the Stars of Night, Holy Manna, Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, What Child Is This, Sakura, I Vow to Thee, My Country, Calliope House and To God Be the Glory – all arranged by Larry Sue, and all using only 8 bells each (but not necessarily the same eight!) We appreciated the kind and positive comments we received after our concert. It was interesting to find that there were many people who hadn’t previously imagined that so much music could be made using so few bells!

Showcase concerts

On Friday afternoon, we enjoyed a showcase concert – by Des Moines Concert Handbells (directed by Patrick Gagnon) and A Lovely Shade of Blue Handbell Duet. Lauren and Eric are skilled musicians, and most of their pieces used three octaves of bells. However, their first piece was our 8-bell arrangement of Angus MacDonald’s lively slip jig Chloe’s Passion. Our only regret from the festival is that we didn’t find a few spare moments to try playing it together as a double duet!

Larry and Carla, A Lovely Shade of Blue
Yay! Two handbell duos in the same place!

Adventures in 8-bell music!

Saturday was the final day of the festival. Our day started at the ridiculously early time of 8:00am, so we needed coffee for our “Adventures in Eight-Bell Music” class! We enjoyed introducing people to the idea that it’s not always necessary to use dozens of bells to make music that’s worth listening to.

HMA Area 8 Festival - 8-bell music
Larry directs a read-through of “Kingsfold” at our 8-Bell Music class on Saturday morning

We enjoyed a HymnFest presented by River City Ringers, directed by Joyce Miller. The group had commissioned a piece from Cathy Moklebust in Joyce’s honor, and had somehow managed to rehearse it in secret. What a wonderful surprise that turned out to be!

After one more rehearsal, it was time for the BronzeFest concert, which was so much fun! All seven pieces went well, and we think (hope!) everyone enjoyed the experience. Here’s a recording of the final piece in the program – Larry’s original composition A Minor Crash:

Special thanks go to Alex Guebert for writing and playing a cajon part for A Minor Crash, and to Lily Acatina, who stepped in at the last minute to sight-read the trumpet part in The Final Crossing on keyboard. Both these musicians are members of Timbré, and we appreciated their willingness to share their talent at short notice.

The final festival concert

After the BronzeFest concert, we had just one more class each to teach, then we were free to relax at the Festival Concert, directed by Tim Waugh and Barbara Meinke. The festival participants performed a varied concert of music ranging from O Worship the King (Michael Mazzatenta) to the Sesame Street Theme (Michael Glasgow) – and we enjoyed it all! The concert was accompanied by the buzzing of various audience members’ phones, as flash-flood warnings appeared and thunder rumbled overhead! We finished the evening with a reception and an opportunity to catch up with some of the friends we hadn’t seen for a while – including Tim Waugh. He and Carla had previously met at a handbell event in England in 2009!

Larry and Carla with Tim Waugh at the Area 8 Festival in Nebraska
With Tim Waugh at the end of the festival

Thanks to everyone involved!

Our thanks go to the Handbell Musicians of America Area 8 Board for inviting us to be part of this wonderful event. Thanks also to everyone who participated in the BronzeFest Ensemble or attended our classes. We felt very welcome as visitors to HMA Area 8. We hope we won’t have to wait another five years before we make it to Nebraska again!

The Program for our 8-Bell Concert at the Area 8 Festival

We’ll be presenting a short 8-bell duet concert on Friday, June 29th at 12:00pm, at Bring It! Ring It! – the 2018 Handbell Musicians of America Area 8 Festival in Omaha, Nebraska. We only have half an hour at lunchtime for this concert, so we’re including just a few of our favorite pieces. There will be a mixture of well-loved hymns, traditional melodies, and an Advent carol thrown in, even though it’s completely the wrong time of year for it. Here’s the program!

Area 8 festival - duet concert

If you can’t be at the concert…

We hope to see you at the concert! If you won’t be at the Area 8 Festival, you might enjoy our YouTube channel, where you’ll find lots of our handbell duets.

Alternatively, why not consider hosting a handbell concert? We can bring a concert of handbell duets to your church, and combine it with playing during a worship service. When you book us for a concert, we take up less room than a traditional handbell choir, and we bring everything we need with us. We have a wide repertoire of hymns and traditional tunes to entertain your audience. Take a look at our reviews, and contact us if you’d like to book us for your event!

New Music for Handbells – Klein Vogelijn

Klein Vogelijn – “Little Bird”. Since moving to Holland, Michigan, we’ve enjoyed seeing how the people here still celebrate their Dutch heritage today. We’ve tried on traditional Klompen (wooden shoes) and watched them being made. We’ve had several tours of the De Zwaan windmill, and we’ve tiptoed through the tulips at the city’s annual Tulip Time event.

Klein Vogelijn - handbells
Tulip Time in Holland, Michigan

We’ve eaten Dutch food, and even risked the Michigan December weather to play Christmas handbell duets at the wonderful Kerstmarkt in Downtown Holland. We’ve been living here for nearly two years now, and we thought it was time for a new adventure – Dutch music!

Our first Dutch piece is an arrangement of the traditional song Klein Vogelijn. We performed this piece for the first time at our concert on Mackinac Island, for the opening of the Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 spring festival. Our video is from a rehearsal at the beginning of the year.

We’re looking forward to expanding our repertoire of traditional Dutch music over the next few months!

Would you like to play this piece?

If you’d like to play Klein Vogelijn, the sheet music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

Please note that Choraegus handbell music is designed to be downloaded and printed at home. Don’t wait for anything to arrive in the mail! If you’re new to buying our music online, we recommend our step-by-step guide. We designed this guide to help make the process (we hope!) a stress-free experience!

When you buy 8-bell music, your purchase entitles you to print up to 4 copies of the sheet music for your handbell group. Don’t pay for more music than you need! Purchase also gives permission for you to perform this piece and make a video of your group playing it.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about our handbell music, please read our Frequently-Asked Questions first. However, if you don’t find the answers you need, you’re welcome to contact us, and we’ll be happy to help!

Handbells at the 2018 Downtown Holland Street Performer Series!

After a successful application process, we’re excited to announce that we’ve been invited to perform our handbell duets as part of the 2018 Street Performer Series in Downtown Holland!

Downtown Holland Handbell Duo
Larry and Carla at the 2017 Downtown Holland Street Performer Series

The Street Performer Series is an annual event here in Holland, Michigan, taking place on Thursday evenings throughout the summer. Downtown Holland comes alive with the sights and sounds of musicians, magicians, circus acts, dancers, face painters and other talented performers. It’s a fun community event, and a great way to spend a summer evening with friends and family.

The 2018 Downtown Holland Street Performer Series starts on Thursday, June 14, and runs for twelve consecutive Thursdays until the end of August, from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

We’ll be performing on the following dates:

  • July 5, outside Tin Ceiling at 10 E 8th St, Holland;
  • July 19, outside Resthaven Warm Friend at 5 E 8th St, Holland;
  • August 9, outside R.I.T. Music at 74 E 8th St, Holland.

Here’s a look at one of our performances from the 2017 series:

Our thanks go to Gentex Corporation for sponsoring this event. We also thank the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs for their support through the Holland Area Arts Council. We’re looking forward to being part of the Street Performers Series this summer!

New Music for Handbells – Botany Bay

Here’s our latest 8-bell piece – Botany Bay!

“Farewell to old England for ever,
Farewell to my rum coes as well,
Farewell to the well-known Old Bailey
Where I used for to cut such a swell.

Botany Bay first became popular in theatre shows of the late 1800s, in London, England and Melbourne, Australia. However, its roots may be from an even earlier time! The song describes the period in the late 18th and 19th centuries, when many British convicts were deported to penal colonies in Australia. We have another 8-bell piece about this period of history – Moreton Bay.

How to get the sheet music for Botany Bay

If you’d like to play our arrangement of Botany Bay, the sheet music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

Please remember that Choraegus handbell music is designed to be downloaded. You’ll be responsible for printing the music at home, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. If you haven’t purchased music from Choraegus before, we recommend our step-by-step guide!

Purchasing this 8-bell piece entitles you to pay once, and print up to 4 copies for your group. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please don’t pay for more copies than you need!

Any questions?

If you have any questions about buying or playing Choraegus handbell music, we have some Frequently-Asked Questions that might help. If you don’t find the answers you need, please contact us!

Botany Bay Handbells

9 Out of 10 Foo Dogs Recommend The Bass Ringer’s Notebook

Would you recommend the Bass Ringer’s Notebook to your bass-ringing friends?

We’ve read that Chinese Guardian Lions have mystical powers of protection. For many years, they have traditionally stood in front of Imperial palaces, government offices, temples and the homes of high-ranking members of society. You’ll find a pair of them in the Terrace Room at Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan. We were there recently, for the Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 spring handbell conference.

In Western society, people often refer to these lions as “Foo Dogs”. We’re not sure that they’ve mastered the techniques needed to play bass handbells. They lack a certain flexibility, it’s true. But who cares about that, when they’re so golden, so mystical, and so protective and wise?

Totally scientific research

From our detailed research at Grand Hotel, we’re confident that this one would definitely recommend The Bass Ringer’s Notebook. It’s the ultimate guide to playing bass handbells. Have you bought your copy yet?

We recommend The Bass Ringer's Notebook!

Any questions?

If you need more than just a recommendation from some Chinese foo dogs, Larry will be happy to give you more information. If you have questions about The Bass Ringer’s Notebook, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help!

The 2018 HMA Area 5 Spring Festival on Mackinac Island

It was an honor for us to be invited to be guest artists at the Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 Spring Festival on Mackinac Island. We were excited to go back to the island! We’d only visited a couple of times before – in 2010 and 2013 – and hadn’t stayed for more than a few hours.

No cars on Mackinac Island!

One of the unusual things about Mackinac Island is you can’t drive your car there! Motorised vehicles have been banned since 1898. For this reason, our journey there began by parking our car in Mackinac City and taking the ferry across to the island.

Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island
Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island – seen from the ferry!

Being West Michigan’s smallest handbell choir has its advantages. We didn’t need to transport tables, foam pads and multiple cases of bells over to the island. We had just one handcart loaded with our equipment, and we pushed it all the way from the ferry dock, up the hill to Grand Hotel.

On our way to Grand Hotel for the Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 Festival!
On our way to Grand Hotel for the Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 Festival!

We arrived at Grand Hotel on Thursday morning and the staff instantly made us welcome. The hotel hadn’t officially opened for the 2018 season yet. We were fortunate to be able to stay there and enjoy the very special and unique atmosphere. We were also able to observe some of the preparations as the hotel staff prepared for the first guests of the season to arrive. The hotel has 393 guest rooms, and each one is decorated in its own individual style. If you like flowers (particularly geraniums), you’d love Grand Hotel!

Guest room at Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island
Our room at Grand Hotel!

A handchime workshop at the school

Thursday afternoon’s adventure involved some handbell education! We went to Mackinac Island Public School, where a group of us presented a program of music on handbells, flute and keyboard. The event was coordinated by Martha Matthews, with Gary Matthews playing keyboard. Members of the Area 5 Board were also there, to supervise the students with the sets of chimes.

The students were each given a color-coded handchime to play. They were able to play chords to accompany “Amazing Grace” and “Jingle Bells”, with the aid of a chart showing coloured dots. It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm of the students as they played. For most of them, it was their first opportunity to play these instruments. They did very well, learning how to use the correct techniques for playing the chimes and stopping the sound afterwards.

We demonstrated several of our handbell duets for the students. Martha and Gary joined us to perform Silver and Bronze (for handbells and flute) and Ding Dong, Merrily on High (for handbells and piano, with additional soon-to-be-published flute part).

Performing for the students at Mackinac Island Public School
Performing for the students at Mackinac Island Public School

The festival begins!

Friday marked the start of the festival, and we enjoyed a wonderful evening meal at the hotel before performing the opening concert in the beautiful theatre there.

Larry and Carla Handbell Concert Mackinac Island
Here’s the list of pieces we played at the opening concert!

Performing a concert for an audience of “handbell people” can be an intimidating experience. There’s definitely some additional pressure involved when performing in front of people who know about handbell stuff! However, handbell people are, in general, a friendly and supportive group. We felt much more relaxed than we’d expected to during our concert. Afterwards, we were pleased to receive some really nice comments from audience members.

Teaching about 8-bell music

On Saturday morning, we had the opportunity to teach a class on 8-bell music. We were pleasantly surprised by how many people arrived for the class! We answered questions about our music, specific techniques involved in playing it, and how to buy our sheet music online. Participants enjoyed played some simple pieces such as Aura Lee, Kingsfold and The Water is Wide. Finally, they tried the more challenging I Saw Three Ships. 

Larry and Carla handbells class at Grand Hotel
Our eight-bell music workshop at Grand Hotel. Did we mention the weekend involved lots of coffee?

Other classes at the festival

During the festival, participants had the chance to attend other interesting classes, such as Artistry and the Big Box of Crayons: Techniques for a Variety of Tone Color and Handbells: a Full-Body Sport, both led by Martha Matthews, Maori Sticks, led by Susan Oxley, Music Theory, led by Ann Wood, and Finale and Handbells, led by Judy Phillips. There was also FredChat – an opportunity to chat with guest conductor Fred Gramann. We enjoyed a fascinating tour of Grand Hotel, where we were able to find out more about the building and its history. We even saw “behind the scenes” in the impressive kitchen!

The closing concert

Throughout the weekend, rehearsals continued in the Grand Hotel Theatre, as the festival participants prepared five pieces, ready to perform at the closing concert. The massed ringing pieces were Acclamation in G Minor (Karen Thompson), Within the Darkest Night (Derek Hakes), Hosanna (Jason Krug), What Child is This (Brenda Austin) and Jubilation (Fred Gramann). Fred Gramann conducted the festival choirs during rehearsals and at the closing concert.

Festival choirs rehearse under the baton of Fred Gramann
Festival choirs rehearse under the baton of Fred Gramann

We added two of our eight-bell duets to the concert on Saturday afternoon – Holy Manna and I Vow to Thee, My Country.

Fred Gramann at the closing concert at the 2018 Area 5 Spring Festival
Fred Gramann at the closing concert at the 2018 Area 5 Spring Festival

The closing concert was well attended, with audience members coming from Grand Hotel and the island. Afterwards we spoke to several people who had never heard handbells before, and wanted to hear more!

Leaving the island

We’d have liked to stay longer on the island, but we were playing duets in a worship service in Harbor Springs the following morning. We’d made plans to travel back on the 6:00pm ferry to Mackinac City. Before we left, though, we had time to walk for a while and admire the scenery. We followed a trail of steps, thinking it would lead to a beach. Maybe it would have done, but before we reached the bottom of the steps, the ground was covered in a thick (and sloping) layer of ice. It seemed that winter was as reluctant to leave the island as we were!

Larry and Carla, guest artists at the HMA Area 5 Handbell Festival on Mackinac Island
Enjoying a walk on the island after the festival

Handbells and equipment leaving the island

It was fun to see the handbell equipment at the Shepler’s ferry dock. Transporting bells, chimes and foam pads is an interesting challenge on an island that doesn’t allow cars. All the equipment had to come to and from the hotel on horse-drawn transport, and it was transferred onto luggage carts to be loaded onto the ferry. Our own equipment was much more manageable, and we were able to wheel our handcart onto the ferry ourselves.

Handbells at the Sheplers Ferry dock, Mackinac Island
Handbells and foam pads ready to go onto the ferry. Our own equipment is in the foreground.

Thanks to all at HMA Area 5

We had an amazing time at the Area 5 Spring Festival on Mackinac Island. Grand Hotel is a dream location for any conference or vacation. It’s a fascinating place, full of history, with people who go out of their way to make guests feel cared about. Our thanks go to the Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 for inviting us to be guest artists at this event. We appreciated the opportunity to stay at Grand Hotel and share our music with other handbell musicians and students on the island. We hope to go back there again someday!

New Music for Handbells – Morning Song

Our latest 8-bell arrangement is the beautiful hymn tune Morning Song. You might also know it as The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns.

We recently performed this piece for the first time at the opening concert for the Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 Spring Festival on Mackinac Island. We’ll be sharing photos and information about that event soon!

Here’s a video of us, recorded a few months ago, rehearsing this piece for the concert:

We’ve enjoyed working on this piece, and think it’s set to become one of our favorites for playing in church. If you’d like to play Morning Song, the sheet music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

More information about buying handbell music from Choraegus

Choraegus handbell music is designed to be downloaded and printed at home. That means you’ll be responsible for the printing, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. If you haven’t purchased our handbell music before, we recommend our step-by-step guide. We designed this to help make the process stress-free!

Purchasing this 8-bell piece gives you permission to print up to 4 copies for your group. You only need to pay once, so please don’t pay for more copies than you need! See our licensing agreement for more details.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about buying or playing our handbell music, please check our Frequently-Asked Questions first. If you don’t find the answers you need, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help!

Morning Song - 8-bell handbells
On our way to Grand Hotel for the Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 Festival!

Yay! Both our Websites are Working Again!

Hello world! Our websites are working again!

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks since this website unexpectedly disappeared into a black hole between two web hosting companies. We’ve been working hard (with a new web hosting company) to get the site up and running again. Fingers crossed, we think that today both websites are working again. May they stay that way!

We apologise to anyone who noticed the website’s absence and missed it while it was gone. We’re hoping there won’t be any “teething problems” with the site in the next few days. However, sometimes things happen – so do let us know if you get any surprise error messages or problems,. We’ll do our best to fix them quickly. Our Choraegus music site has had its fair share of problems too. Thankfully, that’s been up and running for a few days now, and is now working reliably again.

Now would be a great time to go and look for handbell music to purchase, and to book a handbell duet performance!

If you notice any problems with the website – anything missing or still not working properly, please contact us and let us know. Thank you for your patience, and for still being here!

Websites are working again - Larry and Carla

New 12-Bell Music – Thou Hidden Source of Calm Repose

“Thou hidden source of calm repose,
thou all-sufficient love divine,
my help and refuge from my foes,
secure i am, if thou art mine:
and lo, from sin, and grief, and shame,
I hide me, Jesus, in thy name.”

This is an 18th century hymn by Charles Wesley. We hadn’t heard it until very recently! The tune is ST PETERSBURG. If you’re looking for an unusual hymn for your worship service, this could work well. It’s suitable for 3-6 ringers, and it’s available in two bell ranges – either C5-G6 or F5-C7.

Thanks to J.C for joining us for this recording during his recent visit to Michigan!

Would you like to play this arrangement?

Sheet music for this new 12-bell arrangement is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. You only need to pay once, and you can print up to 6 copies for your group.

We ask you to read our licensing agreement, and if you’re new to buying our music online, we recommend our step-by-step guide.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, you might like to check our Frequently-Asked Questions. If you don’t find the answers you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help!