We’re excited to announce that an arrangement of the Estonian folk song Mu Süda, Ärka Üles is now available from Choraegus! This arrangement is by Susan T. Nelson. We commissioned it to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary and Campanelli Handbell Ensemble’s visit to the USA from Estonia in July 2017.

The title of the piece translates as Awake, my Heart. This interesting and beautiful arrangement is scored for handbells (4-7 octaves). There are optional handchimes, a handbell duet part, alternate bells, and bar or wind chimes. Campanelli performed the piece for the first time at Estonian House, in New York City.

An opportunity to use your “alternate bells”!

In one of the performances during the Campanelli tour, a variety of “alternate bells” were also used: Petit & Fritsen and William Dunn handbells, Deagan Pear Bells and Whitechapel Cup Bells. These were all from Susan T. Nelson’s personal collection. However, the piece works perfectly well without the alternate bells, as demonstrated in the video recorded at the Estonian House concert.

In the video, we’re playing an augmented 8-bell duet part. Larry created this to give us slightly more of a challenge than Sue’s original duet part that accompanies the full-choir score. This augmented duet part is not essential to the piece, but you can purchase it as a separate add-on if you’d like to play it. Please note that the 8-bell duet part is not a stand-alone arrangement. We’ll be publishing an eight-bell duet version at some later date!

Would you like to play this piece?

If you’d like to play Mu Süda, Ärka Üles, you can download the handbell score from Choraegus. You’ll also find more music from Susan T. Nelson there!

The Campanelli tour was one of the highlights of 2017 for us, and this piece is a wonderful reminder of the happy times we shared with the group from Estonia. We hope other handbell ensembles will enjoy playing this piece as much as we all did!

Mu Süda, Ärka Üles, for handbells — With Campanelli Handbell Ensemble and composer Susan T. Nelson – at the Malmark factory

October 15, 2018

Handbells at the 2018 Rietberg Concert in Holland, Michigan

The 2018 Rietberg Concert will feature handbells for the very first time! We’ll be the guest musicians for the 21st annual performance, which will take place here in Holland.

This informal Sunday afternoon program will feature some of our favorite hymns and traditional melodies, all played using just eight bells. We’ll talk about the history of our instrument and some of the techniques we use. We’ll also give you some information about our music, and share how handbells brought us together across thousands of miles. Did you know that we first met online on a website for handbell musicians? Handbells brought us together, when we were living thousands of miles apart!

Organist Linda Strouf will join us for a couple of pieces. There will be a reception afterwards. We’ll be happy to talk more, and answer any questions you might have. Ask us about handbells, music in general, or what brought us from California and England, all the way to Holland!

2018 Rietberg Concert in Holland - handbell duo

The 2018 Rietberg Concert will take place at Third Reformed Church, 111 W 13th St, Holland, MI 49423 on Sunday, November 4th, 2018 at 3:00pm. The concert is a tribute to the 45 years of service of Roger and Evelyn Rietberg to the music program of Third Reformed Church.

October 14, 2018

The 2018 Rietberg Concert in Holland, Michigan

Handbell duo Larry and Carla will be the guest musicians for the 21st Annual Rietberg Concert. This concert is a tribute to the 45 years of service of Roger and Evelyn Rietberg to the music program of Third Reformed Church.

Larry and Carla are originally from California and England, and were brought together by their passion for handbells. They moved to Holland in August 2016, and are members of Third Reformed Church. This informal Sunday afternoon program will feature hymns and traditional melodies, all played using just eight bells.

October 8, 2018

The Zeeland Community Band Concert at PumpkinFest

Thanks to everyone who came to the Zeeland Community Band concert at Pumpkinfest!

We’ve been living here in Michigan for more than two years now, so we’re used to the idea that the weather can be unpredictable. It’s not unlike English weather. The rain tends to appear at those most inconvenient times when you have something fun and outdoorsy planned. That was the case this weekend at the annual Zeeland PumpkinFest! The Zeeland Community Band’s annual PumpkinFest concert was meant to be at Vande Luyster Park. Instead, we all moved to an indoor location at the Howard Miller Library. Congratulations if you managed to find us!

We were concerned that our audience might not get the message about the change of location. We pictured a crowd of disappointed people sitting forlornly in lawn chairs on sodden grass in front of the gazebo. However, we needn’t have worried. So many people arrived at the library that we had to fetch more chairs!

Rose Wiersma, Zeeland Community Band — Zeeland Community Band director, Rose Wiersma, welcomes everyone to the concert

The PumpkinFest concert is an ideal opportunity for orange accessories, and band members did not disappoint!

This year’s concert repertoire

This year’s concert repertoire included a few spooky Halloween-style pieces, as well as some popular marches. There was even some movie music! We started with The Billboard March, followed by Into the Storm, a very appropriate piece for this time of year! Ghost Riders in the Sky followed. After that, we strung our bells into “bell trees” for Highlights from Harry Potter. This is an unusual technique for us, as we usually play all our pieces holding two bells in each hand.

Pumpkinfest handbells — Bell trees, where the bells are gently struck with mallets instead of being played in the usual way

Eagle Lake March was followed by Clowns, then we enjoyed another opportunity to play the well-known Danse Macabre. This one involves some quick bell-changes for us! We first played this piece a year ago in concert with the Coopersville Community Concert Band.

March of the Marionettes was next on the program, followed by The Pink Panther. Band director Rose took a few moments to read to the younger members of the audience!

The next piece was the Sandpaper Ballet, which wouldn’t be complete without sand blocks and audience participation!

Pumpkinfest Zeeland — Handing out sand blocks to the audience!

The next piece was the fun Comedians Galop. The concert concluded with On the Mall, with another opportunity for the audience to participate with singing and whistling. Audience members rose to their feet with generous applause, which the band members appreciated. Finally, the band played Valley Forge as an encore. It takes a lot of effort to put together a concert, and it was reassuring to know that the rain hadn’t dampened anyone’s enthusiasm!

Pumpkinfest concert Zeeland — Thanks to everyone who came to this year’s PumpkinFest concert!

Thanks to the Zeeland Community Band for including us!

We thoroughly enjoyed being part of this year’s PumpkinFest concert, and we’re thankful to the Zeeland Community Band for continuing to welcome us as performers with their ensemble. This is a community band in every sense of the word; new members (with at least high school proficiency on their chosen instrument) are always welcome. Leave a comment below if you’d like more information about that, and we’ll connect you with the right people. The band continues to perform in local venues, with music that’s popular with people of all ages. It’s truly a privilege to work with these talented and enthusiastic musicians.

To find out more about the Zeeland Community Band, check out their website. We’ll be performing in concert with the band again at their Christmas Concert on Monday, December 10th, at the Cityside Middle School Auditorium, and we’d love to see you there!