Here’s our latest 8-bell piece; it’s the hymn Faith of our Fathers (ST CATHERINE). We recorded this video during a rehearsal at the AGO Silicon Valley January Jubilee event earlier this year.
Would you like to play Faith of Our Fathers?
If you’d like to play this arrangement, the sheet music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
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. Your purchase of this 8-bell hymn arrangement allows you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Please see our licensing agreement for full details, and don’t pay for more copies than you need to!
If you haven’t bought music from Choraegus before, you might find it helpful to read our step-by-step guide. We designed this to take you through the process and make it stress-free!
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing our handbell music, please take a look at our Frequently-Asked Questions, in case the answer is there! If you don’t find the information you need, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
We’re excited that Larry’s arrangement of Tico Tico no Fubáis on the repertoire list for this year’s Bay View Week of Handbells! The Week of Handbells is an event that’s very special to us.
Information about the sheet music
If you need to purchase a copy of Tico Tico no Fubá for the event, you’ll find it on Choraegus. Please note that the music will be sent to you as a PDF file for you to download and print for yourself. You won’t receive anything in the mail. If you’re unsure about what’s involved in buying music from us, you may find our buying guides helpful, and the step-by-step guide.
If you have any questions, or you’re unable to order online for any reason, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
Videos of Tico Tico
Here are two videos. The first is a demonstration video, produced before this arrangement had ever been played on handbells. The second video is from a rehearsal at the 2015 Distinctly Bronze event, which took place in Portland, Oregon.
This year’s Bay View Week of Handbells repertoire looks as exciting as ever. Here’s the full list of pieces, with composers/arrangers and publishers’ information.
PROCESSIONAL by Arnold Sherman (organ and bells) (Agape 2195)
ALLEGRETTO arr. Michael Mazzatenta (From the Top Music 20428)
ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING arr. Alex Guebert (Choristers Guild CGB962)
OBLIVION by Douglas Anderson (From the Top Music 20426)
SONATA IN BAROQUE STYLE by Michael Helman (Beckenhorst HB497)
GIVE ME JESUS arr. John Behnke (AGEHR AG46025)
TOCCATA ON ‘KING’S WESTON arr. Matthew Compton (Agape 2767)
THE DRUNKEN SAILOR arr. Carl Wiltse (Stained Glass Music)
TICO TICO NO FUBÁ arr. Larry Sue (Choraegus)
AUTUMN LEAVES arr. Andrea Handley (Red River Music RRG5018)
NOLLIRAC CARILLON by Fred Gramann (Unpublished; available only from Heitz Handbells and Music)
GIVE US PEACE IN OUR TIME arr. Donald E. Allured (Composers Music Company HW0550)
CONCERTO FOR HANDBELLS AND ORGAN IN BAROQUE STYLE by Michael Helman (Beckenhorst HB424A)
THE LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU by Peter Lutkin (sung; not played)
We can’t wait to get started with rehearsing for this event. This year’s Week of Handbells will be another great one!
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty is the latest addition to our 8-bell repertoire. The hymn tune is based on Joachim Neander’s German chorale Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, published in 1680.
This is another video from our rehearsal during the American Guild of Organists’ January Jubilee event that took place at Los Altos United Methodist Church earlier this month.
Would you like to play this arrangement?
If you’d like to play Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus. The arrangement is suitable for 2-4 ringers.
Choraegus handbell music will come to you as a digital download, in PDF file format. This means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Your payment entitles you to print up to 4 copies of the sheet music for your handbell group.
If you’re new to buying music from Choraegus, you might find our step-by-step guide helpful.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, you might find the Frequently-Asked Questions helpful. If you don’t find the answers you need, please contact us, and we’ll be happy to help.
Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above is our latest 8-bell arrangement. The hymn tune MIT FREUDEN ZART was first published in 1566. We recorded this video during our rehearsal at the American Guild of Organists’ January Jubilee event in Los Altos just a couple of weekends ago. “With healing balm my soul is filled And every faithless murmur stilled: To God all praise and glory.”
Would you like to play this arrangement?
If you’d like to play Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above, the sheet music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
Choraegus handbell music is entirely a digital product. When you order music from us, you’ll receive a download link containing your music score. This means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. If you’d like to know more about how the process works, we recommend our step-by-step guide. Your purchase entitles you to print up to 4 copies for your group, so don’t pay for more copies than you need!
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing our handbell music, please take a look at our Frequently-Asked Questions. If you don’t find the answers you seek, please let us know, and we’ll be happy to help.
“One day when heaven was filled with His praises, One day when sin was as black as could be, Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin— Dwelt among men, my example is He!
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me; Buried, He carried my sins far away; Rising, He justified freely forever: One day He’s coming—O glorious day!“
Charles Howard March composed this beloved hymn tune, to words by John W. Chapman. It was published in 1911. The hymn tells the life of Christ, in a song that’s particularly popular at Easter. Our 8-bell arrangement is fun and challenging!
Where to get the sheet music
If you’d like to play this arrangement, the music is available from Choraegus.
Please note that Choraegus handbell music is downloadable. That means you won’t receive anything in the mail! You’ll receive a download link with your music, and you’ll need to click on the link to receive the music score. If you’re new to buying music from Choraegus, you might like to read our step-by-step guide. We designed this to take the stress out of the online purchasing process.
Your purchase of this 8-bell arrangement entitles you to print up to 4 copies of the music for your group. Please don’t pay for more copies than you need! See our licensing agreement for full details.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, you might like to read 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.
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise is our second new 8-bell piece of 2016. The tune is originally a ballad from Wales, called ST. DENIO.
Here’s a rehearsal video, from the day of the AGO January Jubilee event. Carla made a decision to rehearse this piece without shoes. She then decided that it was the wrong decision, and managed to put them back on without missing a note. Multi-tasking is a good thing, right?
More information about this 8-bell arrangement
Sheet music for Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise is available for purchase and download from Choraegus. We play it as a duet piece, of course, but it’s suitable for 2-4 ringers. It’s not essential to play it 4-in-hand.
Please note that when you purchase handbell music from Choraegus, you won’t receive anything in the mail. Your music will come to you in digital (PDF) format, and you’ll be responsible for printing it yourself. Your purchase will entitle you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Please see our licensing agreement for full details.
If you haven’t bought music from Choraegus before, we recommend our step-by-step guide!
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help!
“O worship the King all-glorious above, O gratefully sing his power and his love: our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days, pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.“
Here’s our first new handbell piece for 2016! It’s the English hymn O Worship the King. William Croft composed this hymn tune (HANOVER), in the early eighteenth century. The tune is also used as the setting for the hymn You Servants of God, your Master Proclaim.
If you’d like to play this piece, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
Important things to know about Choraegus handbell music
Choraegus handbell music comes in a digital (PDF) format. When you buy the music, you’ll receive a download link, and you’ll be responsible for printing your own music. You won’t receive anything in the mail!
Your purchase of this 8-bell hymn arrangement will entitle you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Please read our licensing agreement for full details. If you haven’t bought Choraegus music before, we recommend our step-by-step guide. This will take you through the process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.
Any questions?
If you have questions about buying or playing Choraegus handbell music, you might like to look at some of 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.
Welcome 2016! As we get ready to ring in the New Year (yes, literally), we wish you all good health and happiness. May the year ahead bring you the blessings of love, friendship and peace, and all the other good things you’ve been hoping for.
In the traditional way, we’ll welcome 2016 and greet the new year with our handbell version of Auld Lang Syne. We recorded this 8-bell duet in a hotel room in England during a visit there. If you’d like to play this arrangement as you say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new, you can find the music on our music site, Choraegus. The sheet music is free to download, and straightforward for 2-4 ringers to play. And if you’re making a New Year’s Resolution to play more handbell music, you’ll find other free arrangements to download. There are also lots of other pieces for small ensembles and full choirs, all available to download and print. No more waiting for music scores to arrive in the mail!
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying, downloading or playing Choraegus handbell music, please get in touch with us. Have a wonderful and happy start to the new year. Welcome 2016!
We’re nearly at the end of another interesting year, so it’s time for a look back at 2015. We always remember how slowly the time seemed to pass when we were separated by thousands of miles and waiting to see each other. Things are very different now we’re together in the same place, and the months seem to fly by! Here’s a look back at some of the moments that made us smile this year.
Supporting the Alzheimer’s Association
In 2015 we continued in our efforts to support the Alzheimer’s Association. A concert in Menlo Park at the beginning of the year also featured music from talented organist Angela Kraft Cross. We joined with Bay Area musicians T. Paul Rosas, Dylan Damonte and Brian Holmes for another concert in October. There, we had our first-ever opportunity to hear Alphorn music! We also participated in a Walk to End Alzheimer’s in San Francisco in September. That was a first for us, but something we’ll hope to do again!
We enjoyed a fun trip down to Riverside, California in March. Larry was invited to be the guest clinician at the Southeastern California Conference Advanced Handbell Festival. He spent the day helping high school students prepare for an evening concert. We also played our eight-bell arrangement of Great Is Thy Faithfulness. You can find a video of the SECC Advanced Festival rehearsal and concert excerpts on YouTube.
We also had the opportunity for a quick tour of Riverside, and a very nice lunch, before flying back to the San Francisco Bay Area.
A trip to the Siskiyou Summit Handbell Festival
At the beginning of May, we took a long road-trip to Ashland, Oregon, for the Siskiyou Summit Handbell Festival. Larry was the clinician for the event, and Carla taught a class on British-style four-in-hand ringing. We had a fun weekend, making some great music with other handbell musicians from Oregon and California, and performing in a well-attended public concert.
Our first visit to Philadelphia
The end of May brought us a really exciting opportunity to travel to Philadelphia for the first time ever. We performed in a shared concert with Philadelphia Bronze, an advanced auditioned handbell ensemble.
We had so much fun in Philadelphia! Our trip started with a guided tour of the city from one of the Philadelphia Bronze members, and a visit to the Liberty Bell.
It was exciting to visit Malmark Bellcraftsmen, the manufacturers of the handbells we use to play our duets. The factory tour was absolutely fascinating – and if you’re a fan of shiny bronze stuff, you should definitely put it on your “things to do/places to go” list!
Another member of Philadelphia Bronze took us to Valley Forge Park – the site of the third winter encampment of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. It’s a very scenic and peaceful place. We drove through and stopped at various historical buildings and monuments along the way.
Special thanks go to all at Philadelphia Bronze for making us so welcome – especially to Sarah, Martha and Rise for being great tour guides! You can read more about our trip in an earlier website post, and see a video from the concert on YouTube.
Carla received her 10-year Green Card
An important milestone happened for us in July this year. Carla received her 10-year Green Card, and became a permanent resident of the USA. It marks a welcome end to our immigration process, and means that we no longer have to be obsessive about keeping evidence of our relationship, to be able to prove to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services that our marriage is genuine. It is, of course, but still, it’s nice not to hear ourselves saying, “Oh! We’d better keep that for the immigration people” while we go about our daily lives.
Back to the Bay View Week of Handbells!
August is always a highlight of our year – because it’s when we go to Michigan to take part in the Bay View Week of Handbells. We’ve been to this annual event together since 2010. It’s the place where we first spent time together in real life! It’s also the place where we celebrated our engagement in 2011, and where we closed the distance in 2012. This event is always such a special week of music and friendship, and this year was no exception.
One disappointment for us this year was that we didn’t manage to make our planned trip back to England to visit family and friends there. Travelling overseas is always expensive, and our handbell trips seemed to use up all our budget and vacation time. But all is not lost, because we’re hoping to make the trip in 2016. Instead, a couple of our English friends and family visited us this year. We had the chance to do “tourist things” around San Francisco and take that long-awaited trip to Alcatraz Island in October!
(Don’t worry; they did let him out eventually!)
A busy holiday season
The 2015 holiday season was our busiest yet. It’s always a crazy time of year for handbell musicians. People think of Christmas, and they think of bells! We enjoyed sharing our holiday music with enthusiastic audiences at events across the Bay Area. Two beautiful candlelight services of remembrance – one for Kara in Palo Alto and one at the Chapel of the Chimes, Oakland – gave people from the local community an opportunity to honor and remember loved ones who have died.
We played duets at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts before the Pacific Ballet Academy Nutcracker performances. The German Holiday Market in Mountain View was another fun event! We also enjoyed the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display in El Cerrito.
One of the highlights of our holiday season was our shared concert with VoiceWorks in Redwood City. We played duets, and also arranged 8-bell accompaniments to the pieces being sung by the choir. We’re grateful to all who braved the rain to come and enjoy the music! We ended our holiday season by welcoming in Christmas Day at the candlelight services at Los Altos United Methodist Church.
Thank you so much to everyone who’s helped to make this year special for us. We’re grateful to family and friends, and anyone who came to one of our handbell performances or played our music. We hope 2015 was a good year for you too, and wish you all much love and happiness for 2016.
Here’s a little video of our warm-up session at the Chapel of the Chimes, Oakland, where we played duets at their Annual Night of Remembrance on December 9th. Apologies for the background noise (which does improve slightly as the video goes on). We made this recording while people were running around, setting everything up for the evening’s event.
We enjoy playing our handbell duets at the Chapel of the Chimes. It’s a beautiful building, and this annual event is always enjoyable and moving.
Nearly at the end of our holiday performances
We’re coming to the end of our Christmas and holiday performances now. We’ll be performing at a private holiday party on Saturday. Afterwards, we’ll be playing at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display in El Cerrito, returning for a second performance on December 23rd. The Holiday Display is an outdoor event, and we can’t play our handbells in the rain. Please keep an eye on our Facebook page for any changes, postponements or cancellations in the event of bad weather.
Would you like to book us for a holiday event?
Perhaps it’s too late to book us for a holiday event this year, but it’s never too early to plan for next year! If you’re organising a Christmas event, and you’d like to consider handbell music, please get in touch with us!
