The First Nowell is our newest recording project. We recently put together a video of our 12-bell arrangement of the Christmas Carol As With Gladness Men of Old. This went well, so we were encouraged to attempt a 16-bell arrangement!

We chose The First Nowell, and this is the finished product:

How we made our “clone” video

We’ve been impressed by the creative video-editing we’ve seen from various handbell musicians in recent months. Our way of making this video was fairly low-tech in comparison! As there are only two of us, we knew we’d have to record the piece in two halves. First, we looked at the music score together and decided which two sets of bells were the most likely to cover most of the notes without breaks. Our aim was to keep the piece at a steady tempo. For this piece, we recorded the middle eight bells first.

The initial recording went very well, and we were able to use our first attempt at recording the middle eight bells. Next, we downloaded the video/music file from the camera card. When it was safely downloaded onto a laptop, we replayed the audio track at a low volume. We played the lowest-four and highest-four bells along with the track. Using this method meant that we didn’t need to use headphones/earbuds. It took us three attempts to play the outside pairs of bells all the way through without any trip-ups, but we got there eventually!

The two videos were then put together “side by side” in iMovie.

This has proved to be a really interesting experience for us! We have a pile of 12- and 16-bell music waiting to be recorded, so we’re planning to make a lot more of these videos. It will be a good use of our time at home, since our Christmas performance calendar is looking rather empty!

Would you like to play The First Nowell?

If you’d like to play The First Nowell, you can download the sheet music from Choraegus. Two versions are available – each for a different range of bells. We played the C5-D7 version, but it’s also available in the range Bb4-C7. The arrangement needs no bell-sharing or picking-up of accidentals during the piece, and no techniques requiring tables. For this reason, it’s particularly suitable for a small group of socially-distanced musicians using music stands.

Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to eight copies for your handbell group – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.

Please note that our music is designed to be downloaded as PDFs, so 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, designed to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.

If you have any questions about our music, please start by reading our Frequently-Asked Questions. Please contact us if you don’t find the answers you need, and we’ll do what we can to help!