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!
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.
We Gather Together is also known as We Praise Thee, O God, Our Redeemer. It’s the perfect hymn to celebrate Thanksgiving!
We played this new arrangement for the very first time yesterday. Here’s our rehearsal video.
Would you like to play this arrangement?
If you’d like to play We Gather Together, the sheet music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.
Please note that Choraegus handbell music will come to you as a PDF file, ready for you to download and print. You won’t receive anything in the mail! Purchasing this 8-bell piece gives you permission to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Please see our licensing agreement for full details, and ask us if you have any questions. Don’t pay for more copies than you need!
If you haven’t bought Choraegus handbell music before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this guide to help make the process as stress-free as possible.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, you might like to check out some Frequently-Asked Questions. If you don’t find the information you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
We recently gave away a free download of our eight-bell arrangement of Twas in the Moon of Wintertime. Our offer proved to be very popular – so we’ve decided to offer just one more free download this holiday season. Until Friday evening, you can download the score to the newly-updated arrangement of “We Three Kings” completely free of charge!
Here’s a video of us rehearsing the new version of this piece:
This arrangement is a little more challenging than Twas in the Moon of Wintertime, but is still very playable. It’s been one of our favourites since we started playing duets in 2012. If you’ve played our 8-bell arrangement before, you’ll notice that most of the changes are in the first half. If you can already play the previous version, you should have no trouble adding the extra notes in the updated version. You won’t need to learn the whole piece all over again.
And if you’ve never played our 8-bell music before – here’s an opportunity to try it without having to pay! We hope you’ll enjoy it enough to look at other music on Choraegus, and perhaps consider buying music from us in the future. However, there are no strings to this offer. If all you want to do is grab the free music and run, that’s fine. We’ll never pester you with emails or unwanted advertising; but you know where our music is if you ever need it.
How to get the free music
To get the music, just go to the We Three Kings page on our music site. Go to the standard version, enter your name and email address, and click on the download button. Then check your inbox for an email containing a link to download your music in the usual way. Contact us if you have any questions!
Thank you to everyone who visited our website to download the free copy of our 8-bell arrangement of Twas in the Moon of Wintertime. We hope you enjoy playing it!
We’re thinking of offering just one more free handbell music download this holiday season. Keep an eye on our Facebook page over the next few days for an announcement! In the meantime, if you’d like to try more of our 8-bell Christmas and holiday music, there are lots of arrangements available to download from Choraegus. Some are surprisingly easy, others are more challenging, and all are suitable for 2-4 ringers.
Important information about Choraegus handbell music
When you buy music from Choraegus, it’s important to know that the music comes to you as a PDF file. It’s basically the same process as when you download free handbell music. Don’t wait for your sheet music to arrive in the mail, because it won’t! You’ll need to print copies for your group. Buying an 8-bell arrangement entitles you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell ensemble.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about buying, downloading or playing Choraegus handbell music, you might like to check our Frequently-Asked Questions. There are lots of answers there, but if you don’t find the information you need, please let us know, and we’ll be happy to help.
Let the Merry Bells Ring! We’re looking forward to presenting this holiday concert with VoiceWorks in Redwood City. The choirs will be singing, our bells will be ringing, and we’ll all be celebrating the sounds of the season with carols and wintry holiday music.
VoiceWorks is a community choir of young voices, directed by Catherine Doyle. Their music will be accompanied by pianists Leslie Chang, Brian Connor and Russell Green. We’ll be adding specially-arranged handbell parts to some of the choir pieces for this concert, and we’ll also be performing some duets on our own. There’s something very special about the combination of voices and bells at this time of year, and we’re looking forward to being part of this event.
It’s all happening at 4:00pm on Sunday, December 13th, at the Unitarian Universal Fellowship of Redwood City, CA 94062. Tickets are $15, or $10 for students or seniors. You can buy your tickets in advance, or at the door. Contact us if you have any questions, and we can put you in touch with the choir director.
We hope to see you at this concert. Let the merry bells ring, voices sing, and celebrate the holiday season in Redwood City!
We’re looking forward to Christmas this year! It’s a busy and fun time of year for us, as we get ready for the upcoming holiday season. We’ve been rehearsing Christmas carols and preparing music for events and performances here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Handbells at the Salvation Army Kettle
We’ll be starting December with two sessions at the Salvation Army Red Kettle at Nob Hill Foods in Mountain View. We’ll be playing our duets there between 1:00pm and 3:00pm on December 1st, and between 3:00pm and 5:00pm on December 7th.
The Kara Annual Candlelight Service of Remembrance
We’ll be at the Kara Annual Candlelight Service of Remembrance on December 3rd. This will be the third year we’ve taken part in this very special event in Palo Alto. Members of the community are invited to join together to remember loved ones and significant others who have died. It’s a non-denominational service open to all.
Earlier that day, we’ll be taking our bells and handchimes to a private event in Campbell. We’ll be playing duets there, and leading a “have a go” session on chimes. The following morning we’ll be playing a selection of holiday pieces at a breakfast meeting in Palo Alto.
Chapel of the Chimes Night of Remembrance
We’ll be at the annual Night of Remembrance at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland on December 9th, playing duets as candles are lit in memory of loved ones who have passed away.
A busy weekend at the German Holiday Market and VoiceWorks concert
Saturday 12th December will be a busy day for us as we play duets at the German Holiday Market here in Mountain View, organized by the German International School of Silicon Valley. This will be our third year at this fun and festive event. In the evening, we’ll be heading to Los Altos to play holiday music at a private event there.
On Sunday 13th, we’ll be performing in a shared concert with VoiceWorks, in Redwood City. We’ve been enjoying working with this group, and are looking forward to presenting a festive program of holiday music featuring bells and voices. More information will be coming soon!
Handbell duets at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display
On December 19th and 23rd, we’ll be playing our duets at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display in El Cerrito. This is one of the highlights of our holiday season, and if you’re anywhere near El Cerrito, you should definitely take time to visit the display this December!
For more information about any of the above events and performances, please look at our Facebook page, or contact us. It’s not too late to book us to play handbell duets at your own holiday event, so get in touch if you’d like to!
Need music for your event this winter? It’s time to book us for the 2015 Christmas and holiday season!
Handbells can bring a magical and festive atmosphere to any Christmas or holiday event. We can give a seasonal performance of carols and holiday music. We can provide background music to add that special, welcoming touch to your corporate event or holiday gathering. Nothing says Christmas quite as well as the traditional sound of English handbells beside the Christmas tree. . Our duet performances can bring the sounds of the season to hotel lobbies, church services, shopping malls and private homes!
As the 2015 Christmas and holiday season approaches, we’re looking forward to some fun performances! We’ll be joining VoiceWorks for a concert on December 13th. You’ll also be able to see us at the German Holiday Market in Mountain View. If you’re near El Cerrito, look for us at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display. We’ll also be adding the beautiful sound of handbells to annual services of remembrance in Palo Alto and Oakland.
If you haven’t hard an alphorn before, here’s your chance! There are only a few more days to go until Saturday’s Alzheimer’s Benefit Concert. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, we hope you’ll come along!
More information about the concert, written by organizer T. Paul Rosas:
Date and time: Saturday, October 3rd 2015 at 3:00pm
Place: LAUMC Sanctuary, 655 Magdalena Ave., Los Altos (at the corner of Foothill Expressway and Magdalena)
This year’s concert includes compositions by two of the Bay Area’s favorite composers, Sondra Clark and Brian Holmes. Sondra’s piece, “That Time of Year” is a setting of one of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Anne Janzer sings it beautifully. Brian Holmes will demonstrate and play the Alphorn for us. He has written two delightful pieces, “Amazing Grace” for Alphorn and organ and “Twilight in the Alps” for Alphorn and vocal trio. Casie Walker, Anne Janzer and Mayo Tsuzuki are the trio.
The program also includes a groovy piece for jazz organ and percussion, played by Paul Rosas and Dylan Damonte; evocative piano and organ duets by Dirk Damonte and Paul Rosas and the extraordinary dancing bells of Bay Area handbell duo, Larry and Carla Sue. The program will end with a “Jig for Handbells and Organ” written by Paul Rosas that will have everyone dancing.
It promises to be unique and entertaining event given to support the ongoing research into Alzheimer’s disease as well as the home services provided by the organization. Please invite your friends and family to come. It really is going to be a special concert.”
Admission to the concert is free, but a collection will be made to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association. If you can’t come to the concert, but would like to support our fundraising efforts for this important cause, please visit our Walk to End Alzheimer’s fundraising page and make an online donation there.
In the handbell world, our thoughts turn to Christmas and holiday music before most people have even started thinking about the end of the summer. The dilemma is whether to risk being annoying by talking about Christmas when there are still several months to go, or whether to go full-tilt into the festive season, release new Christmas music, and give all the handbell musicians out there plenty of time to practise it before the season arrives. The end of September is approaching. It feels like the right time to introduce our new 8-bell muisc for Christmas 2015.
The following pieces are all available for purchase and download from our music site – and if you click on each individual title, you’ll be taken to the page with more information about each piece, the bells required, and how to make your purchase. Each piece can be played by two, three, four or more people – and we hope you’ll enjoy them!
We hope you’ll enjoy playing some of our new 8-bell music for the holiday season. If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to check out our new Christmas music for twelve bells too!
