Silver Bells is a wonderfully nostalgic Christmas song from the 1950s. It was written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston, and was used in the 1951 movie The Lemon Drop Kid. It was first sung by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards, and has since been recorded by many others, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis, Michael Bublé and The Temptations. We recently had fun arranging and recording a brand-new arrangement of Silver Bells for handbells!
Silver Bells is a Level 4 arrangement for 3-7 octaves of handbells and 3 octaves of handchimes. If you don’t have handchimes, you could still play it without them, but the chimes definitely add an interesting texture. We have some borrowed Silver Melody Bells, so we used those instead of the handchimes at the beginning and end of the piece, so that’s another option if you have “alternate” bells, like Petit and Fritsens or Whitechapels. You could even use malleted bells on a bell tree. You get to decide how creative you want to be!
The score for Silver Bells is available to download from Sheet Music Plus/Sheet Music Direct, either as a single copy (for massed ringing events, or as a preview) and as a full-choir version. If you’d like to find out more about purchase options, please visit our Choraegus website!
Other recent Christmas titles from Choraegus
Winter Wonderland
Larry’s recent 5-octave arrangement of Winter Wonderland is an exciting challenge for advanced handbell choirs! This piece is available from Sheet Music Plus, in either a single-copy version, or a full-choir score. Find out more on our music site!
Ukrainian Carol of the Bells
This 5-7 octave, Level 4 arrangement makes the perfect concert-closer or encore piece for a holiday concert! Sheet music is available to download from Choraegus.
There are lots more Christmas and holiday arrangements available from Choraegus, so please feel welcome to browse our music site! If there are any Christmas carols or songs you’d like to see an arrangement for, you’re always welcome to contact us to suggest it. As always, if you have any questions, please let us know!
