Tag Archives: 2026

Our Handbell Concert in Midland, Michigan

We were pleased to be invited to present a handbell duet concert as part of Midland First United Methodist Church’s Next Generation concert series. The concert took place in the Chapel of this impressive church that was designed by Alden B. Dow in 1947.

We enjoyed a tour of some of the church when we arrived. The church has a thriving handbell program, and the handbell choirs have their own dedicated rehearsal and storage room. We enjoyed seeing some of their bells, and meeting a couple of the ringers at the concert. If you ever get the opportunity to visit this place, it’s well worth it. It’s the kind of building that’s easy to get lost inside, because it takes up a whole city block! The church building opened in 1950, and the Chapel was added in 1952, with this beautiful window that looks out over the reflecting pool. The Chapel seats 120. The space and acoustics there are ideal for a handbell duet performance.

Midland First UMC Chapel stained glass windows and reflecting pool
Stained glass windows at the Chapel, with the reflecting pool outside

Handbells in the Chapel at Midland First UMC
Our handbells, all ready for the concert in the Chapel

A whole concert of just 8-bell music

We didn’t have a pianist or any other collaborative musicians with us for this concert, so the whole repertoire had to be played on handbells, unaccompanied. For a bit of variety, we decided to play one piece on handchimes, and another using bells an octave lower than we’d usually play. We used three tables for the performance; our “main table” (the one we usually use for our duet performances), plus two additional smaller tables, which we used to put bells and chimes on while they weren’t being used, as well as the music scores after we’d finished playing them. Here’s how it all looked, before the start of the concert:

Handbells and handchimes at Midland First United Methodist Church

Concert repertoire

Most of our repertoire for this concert was sacred, with just a few classical and secular pieces. Here’s the list of music we played:

Holy Manna (19th-century American folk hymn)
Wedding Bells (traditional bell peals)
He Leadeth Me (William Bradbury)
Lucerna Laudoniae (David Evans)
Bells of St. Mary’s (A. Emmett Adams)
Allegro, from the Concerto in A Minor, first movement (Antonio Vivaldi)
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee (Ludwig von Beethoven)
Calliope House (David Richardson)
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (John Wyeth)
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise (traditional Welsh)
What Child Is This? / Greensleeves (traditional English)
It Is Well With my Soul (Philip Bliss)
Ma Navu (traditional Hebrew melody)
I Vow to Thee, My Country (Gustav Holst)
O, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus (traditional)
Shenandoah (traditional American)
Amazing Grace (John Newton)
To God Be the Glory (William H. Doane)

All of these 8-bell pieces are arranged by Larry Sue. With the exception of Shenandoah, which is still unpublished (coming soon!), they are available for purchase and download from Choraegus. Note that the Wedding Bells score is available to download free of charge.

Thanks to all at Midland First United Methodist Church!

Our thanks go to Gabrielle Cook-McIlvenna, Director of Music Ministries, for the warm welcome to Midland First UMC. We enjoyed the tour of the building, and the opportunity to share our music with a small but friendly audience, in such a beautiful performance space. Thank you to everyone who came to our concert!

Michigan handbell duo Larry and Carla outside Midland First UMC

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling – new handbell music!

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling is a beloved hymn written by Charles Wesley and first published in 1747.

“Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling;
All thy faithful mercies crown!

Jesus, thou art all compassion,
Pure, unbounded love thou art.
Visit us with thy salvation;
Enter every trembling heart.”

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling is sung to several different hymn tunes, including BEECHER and HYFRYDOL. In the UK, the tunes LOVE DIVINE and BLAENWERN are used most often, and BLAENWERN is the one we use for our arrangement. This tune was written by William Penfro Rowlands in 1905.

More information about Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Our arrangement is for 3 or 5 octaves of handbells, with an optional 2 octaves of chimes (G4 – F5). It’s a Level 2+ arrangement, and the score is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. You can either purchase an individual copy (useful for massed ringing events, or for preview), or purchase the full choir license. Please note that Choraegus handbell music is designed to come to you as a downloadable PDF file. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. If you haven’t purchased music online from Choraegus before, we recommend our step-by-step guide. We designed this guide to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.

Purchase of the full choir license gives you our no-fuss permission to print up to 15 copies for your group.

Performance license is included!

Your purchase of the full-choir license allows you to perform, broadcast and live-stream this piece as part of a concert or worship service. There’s no need for any additional license or fee. We ask that you credit the composer (Larry Sue) and publisher (Choraegus) in any printed media such as concert programs, and online (in video descriptions). Please see our licensing agreement for full details. 

We appreciate your help in spreading the word about Choraegus handbell music. If you record a video of your group playing any of our pieces, we’d love to see it. You’re welcome to share it with us by email or on our Facebook page!

See this arrangement on the Choraegus website

Any questions?

If you have any questions about our music, please start by reading our Frequently-Asked Questions. If someone has asked us a question even once, it will be there, along with the answer. Please contact us if you don’t find the information you need, and we’ll be happy to help!

Jesus Loves the Little Children – our new 8-bell arrangement

Jesus Loves the Little Children is a popular children’s song that many people remember from their Sunday school days!

“Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world,
Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in His sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world.“

Some people have observed that the lyrics, from the late 19th century, are a little old-fashioned for current times. Other alternatives have been suggested, such as:

“Every color, every race, all are covered by His grace.“, and
“Stranger, friend, and neighbour too, He loves them as He loves you.“

The useful thing about playing this song on handbells is that you don’t have to worry about the lyrics; you can just enjoy the music, and let the listener choose the words they like. Here’s our demonstration video:

More information about Jesus Loves the Little Children

Sheet music for Jesus Loves the Little Children is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. This lively arrangement is suitable for 2-4 ringers. If you’d like to take a look at the score before you make a purchase, you can do that by clicking on the “score preview” button on our Choraegus site.

Purchasing an 8-bell arrangement from Choraegus gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group. Please don’t pay for more copies than you need to! Purchase also gives you permission to use this piece in online and live-streamed worship services. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title (Jesus Loves the Little Children) and arranger (Larry Sue) on video-sharing sites and social media.

Please note that Choraegus music is designed to be downloaded as PDFs. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail.

If you haven’t purchased music online from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this with pictures, to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a stress-free way.

Click here to go to the Choraegus website

Any questions?

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

Jesus Loves the Little Children, handbells by Larry and Carla

Land of Rest – for 8 Handbells

LAND OF REST is a hymn tune that’s most often used as the setting for the hymn Jerusalem, My Happy Home. We enjoyed playing this new 8-bell arrangement!

More information about Land of Rest

Sheet music for LAND OF REST is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. It’s suitable for 2-4 ringers. If you’d like to take a look at the score before you make a purchase, you can do that by clicking on the “score preview” button on our Choraegus site.

Purchasing an 8-bell arrangement from Choraegus gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group. Please don’t pay for more copies than you need to! Purchase also gives you permission to use this piece in online and live-streamed worship services. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title (Land of Rest) and arranger (Larry Sue) on video-sharing sites and social media.

Please note that Choraegus music is designed to be downloaded as PDFs. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail.

If you haven’t purchased music online from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this with pictures, to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a stress-free way.

Click here to go to the Choraegus website

Any questions?

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

Land of Rest - handbells, Larry Sue

Our Handbell Duet Concert in Riverside, IL

We were excited to be invited to Riverside, Illinois, to give a handbell duet concert as part of Ascension Lutheran Church’s 2025-26 concert series. We don’t travel out of Michigan for performances often, so it’s always fun when we can do it!

Riverside isn’t far from Chicago; about a 3-hour drive from where we live. We drove there on the Saturday, and our first task was to find the church, tucked away among the houses.

Handbell duo Larry and Carla at Ascension Lutheran Church, Riverside IL
Outside Ascension Lutheran Church, in Riverside IL

A warm welcome at Ascension Lutheran Church

Ascension Lutheran Church turned out to be the perfect concert venue for us. The people are friendly and welcoming, the building is beautiful, inside and out, and it’s just a lovely space for sharing music. It can be daunting to think about presenting an entire concert with just 8-bell music, but we do appreciate the opportunity to share our handbell duets with an audience. We decided to take our handchimes with us for this concert in Riverside, for a change of mood that keeps things interesting. We were happy to be able to collaborate with two talented musicians from Chicago for several accompanied pieces too. The first of those was Shall We Gather at the River. Here’s a video from our rehearsal. This was the first time we’d played the piece through with pianist Paula Gelpi. It was also the first time Paula had heard handbells!

We played a variety of 8-bell duets, including Greensleeves, Calliope House, Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, and Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Attende Domine proved to be a nice addition on handchimes. It seemed particularly appropriate for a concert during Lent, as it’s also known as the Lent Prose. We also included one 6-bell piece – Hyfrydol – which is one of the most challenging of our 6-bell arrangements. This piece is fast, and takes a lot of concentration. It also helps to have a skilled pianist, of course, and Paula Gelpi took it all in her stride. She took off faster than we’d expected during our first run-through before the concert, and we were glad we’d spent a lot of time working on this piece. Through gritted teeth, we kept up, and slowed it down ever-so-slightly for the actual concert.

Blessed Assurance

For the final piece of the concert, the talented Christie Miller joined us on clarinet. Here’s a rehearsal video of Blessed Assurance. It’s always a treat for us to be able to include accompanied pieces in our performances. We rehearse with mp3 practice tracks on a phone, but being able to collaborate with talented musicians is so much better! Larry originally arranged Blessed Assurance for handbells, piano and flute, but when we found out that Christie was available to join us, Larry adapted the score for clarinet too! Both options are now available, for anyone else interested in playing this arrangement:

Thanks to all at Ascension Lutheran Church!

Our thanks go to Dan McDaniel, Director of Music, and to Mary C, for the warm welcome to Ascension Lutheran Church. We’re also grateful to Paula and Christie for sharing their talents so generously with us. Thank you to everyone who came to our concert!

Larry and Carla, handbells, with Paula Gelpi, piano, in Riverside, IL
After the concert, with pianist Paula Gelpi

Handbell Duet Concert at Ascension Lutheran Church, Riverside, IL

March 22 at 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm EDT

Ascension Lutheran Church, Riverside IL is the venue for this concert by Michigan handbell duo Larry and Carla. The event is part of the Ascension Concert Series 2025 – 2026.

Larry and Carla are a married couple, brought together by their passion for handbells. They first met when they were living more than 5,000 miles apart – Larry in California and Carla in England. They’ve been playing handbell duets together since 2012. Larry arranges all of their music, and together they run their handbell publishing company, Choraegus, from their home in Holland, Michigan.

Larry and Carla’s program will include a selection of beloved hymns, classical pieces and traditional melodies. They’ll demonstrate the traditional “four-in-hand” technique, using just eight handbells for all their music! Their program will include Amazing Grace, O, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing and other tunes you’ll recognize. You’ll also find out more about handbells, their history, and how they’re played. Larry and Carla will be joined for part of this concert by Paula Gelpi (piano) and Christie Miller (clarinet).

The handbell concert at Ascension Lutheran Church is free to attend.

Ascension Lutheran Church, Riverside - Handbell Concert poster
Free Admission is free

Ascension Lutheran Church

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Ascension Lutheran Church

400 Nuttall Rd
Riverside, Illinois 60546 United States + Google Map
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Ascension Riverside Concert Series