Tag Archives: 8 bell music

New 8-Bell Music – O Give the Lord Wholehearted Praise

As Thanksgiving approaches, we’ve been thinking about 8-bell music, and hymns suitable for worship services at this time of year.

Our latest hymn arrangement is an eight-bell arrangement of O Give the Lord Wholehearted Praise – the hymn tune GERMANY. We recorded the video earlier this month, at our summer cottage near Petoskey. This arrangement is straightforward to play, and suitable for a trio or duet. There’s no bell-sharing, no picking-up of accidentals during the piece, and no need for tables, which makes this arrangement particularly suitable for a small group of socially-distanced musicians.

How to get the sheet music

If you’d like to play O Give the Lord Wholehearted Praise, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus. Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four 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 remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials.

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.

Any questions?

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!

O Give the Lord Wholehearted Praise - 8-bell music by Larry and Carla

Handbell Music for Halloween – the 8-Bell Funeral Tango

From time to time, people ask us if we have any handbell music for Halloween. It’s that spooky time of year again, so here’s something new. It’s our 8-bell arrangement of Funeral Tango.

This piece originally began life as one of the Low Ding Zone arrangements for bass handbell ensemble. A short while ago, we decided we wanted to be able to play it as an 8-bell duet. We have absolutely no idea if it will ever be a performance piece – and 2020 is clearly not going to be an appropriate year for that. Still, it’s fun to play, and Halloween is probably the only suitable time for us to introduce this arrangement. Ready? Here it is!

Feeling spooky enough to play this piece?

If you’d like to play Funeral Tango, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus. Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell ensemble – 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 remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.

For more Halloween music, we also have an arrangement of The Spider Song (Incy Wincy Spider or Itsy Bitsy Spider, depending on your preference). Sheet music is available to download free of charge, from Choraegus.

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.

Any questions for us?

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’re looking for, and we’ll do what we can to help!

Handbell music for Halloween - Funeral Tango

New Advent Music for 8 Handbells and Piano – Hills of the North, Rejoice


We’re pleased to introduce some new Advent music for handbells and piano. This Advent hymn from England was written by Charles Edward Oakley. The words are most often set to the tune Little Cornard, written by Martin Shaw. Hills of the North, Rejoice is our latest 8-bell arrangement for handbells with piano accompaniment. We recorded our demonstration video at our Victorian summer cottage in Bay View, Petoskey. If you listen carefully, you might hear the heavy rain falling outside!

“Hills of the North, rejoice,
river and mountain-spring,
hark to the advent voice;
valley and lowland, sing.
Christ comes in righteousness and love,
he brings salvation from above.”

As with all our 8-bell arrangements, there are no bell changes, no picking-up of accidentals, and no shared bells. There are no stopped-sound techniques, and no need for tables or foam pads. This makes it particularly suitable for a socially-distanced handbell duo, trio or quartet, playing from music stands.

If you’d like to play Hills of the North, Rejoice, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus, our music site. An mp3 accompaniment track is also available to purchase separately. This can be useful if you don’t have an available accompanist, or for rehearsal purposes.

Important information about buying Choraegus handbell music

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. Purchasing an 8-bell arrangement allows you to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group (plus the accompaniment score). Purchase also gives permission for recording, broadcasting, live-streaming and sharing on video-sharing sites, church websites and social media. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites and social media, and in any printed materials.

If you haven’t purchased music online from Choraegus before, you might like to look at 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.

Any questions?

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!

Advent music for handbells

New Music for 8 Handbells and Piano – For All the Saints

“For all the saints who from their labors rest,
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest.
Alleluia! Alleluia!”

By special request, here’s an accompanied 8-bell arrangement of For All the Saints. With the much-loved hymn tune Sine Nomine, written by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1906, this is a popular choice for All Saints’ Day on November 1st. Our demonstration video was recorded at our Victorian summer cottage at Bay View, Petoskey, on a chilly October Sunday, with rain pelting down outside.

As with all our 8-bell arrangements, this piece involves no bell changes, no picking-up of accidentals, and no shared bells. There’s no need for tables, making it suitable for a socially-distanced handbell group, playing from music stands.

Information about downloadable music from Choraegus

If you’d like to play For All the Saints, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus, our music site. We also have an mp3 file available to purchase separately; useful if you don’t have an available accompanist, or for rehearsal purposes.

Please note that our 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. Purchasing an 8-bell arrangement allows you to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group (plus the accompaniment score). Purchase also gives permission for recording, broadcasting, live-streaming and sharing on video-sharing sites, church websites and social media. See our licensing agreement for full details, and please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites and social media, and in any printed materials such as church service bulletins.

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.

Any questions?

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 answer you need, and we’ll do what we can to help!

The Bay View Memorial Garden, near Petoskey, Michigan

New 8-Bell Music for Thanksgiving – Now Thank We All Our God

We have to admit it; we’re at the time of year when we’re already starting to think about Christmas music. First, though… we need to stay focused on fall/autumn, and all the lovely hymns for this time of year.

Our latest hymn arrangement is an eight-bell arrangement of Now Thank We All Our God. We’ve had this arrangement since 2014, but, for some unknown reason, we never managed to record a demo video or make the music available on the website. The sheet music came to light just recently, and we thought it would be a good idea to put it onto the website without any further delay! We recorded the video at our summer cottage near Petoskey.

Would you like to play this piece?

If you’d like to play Now Thank We All Our God, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus. Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four 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, and please remember to 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.

Any questions?

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!

New 8-Bell Music – Come, Ye Thankful People, Come – for Handbells and Piano

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come… to Michigan! We love this time of year, when the leaves turn to all shades of red, orange, yellow and brown, and the weather starts to feel colder. Pumpkin spice is in the air (well, all over Facebook, anyway). Our thoughts turn to harvest festivals and Halloween, and Thanksgiving is fast approaching.

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come is our latest arrangement for eight bells and piano. We recorded the video at our Victorian summer cottage at Bay View, Petoskey, where we’ve been spending a lot of time in recent months. If you listen closely, you’ll hear the sound of cars going past on US-31 – and that’s why we don’t usually record our demo videos while we’re there!

As with all our 8-bell arrangements, this piece involves no bell changes, no picking-up of accidentals mid-piece, and no shared bells. It can be played from just music stands, which makes it suitable even for socially-distanced handbell groups.

If you’d like to play Come, Ye Thankful People, Come, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus, our music site. An mp3 accompaniment track is also available to purchase separately. This is useful if you don’t have a willing accompanist, or if you want to rehearse at home.

More information about Choraegus handbell music

Please note that our 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. Purchasing an 8-bell arrangement allows you to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group (plus the accompaniment score). Purchase also gives permission for recording, broadcasting, live-streaming and online video-sharing. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on when sharing online, and in any printed materials.

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

Any questions?

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 be happy to help!

New Handbell Music – 8-Bell Chopsticks!

After a long summer with no scheduled handbell performances, we finally had a long-awaited opportunity to share some handbell duets with an audience! We enjoyed playing some 8-bell duets for the Holland Area branch of the American Guild of Organists. Since we didn’t know when our next performance would be, we’d tried out some new and unpublished arrangements. One of these was an 8-bell arrangement of Chopsticks. We’d only had this piece for a couple of days beforehand, but it turned out to be a lot of fun to play!

Would you like to play Chopsticks?

If you’d like to play Chopsticks, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus. Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four 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 remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.

Useful information about Choraegus handbell scores

Please note that our 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, designed to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.

If you’d like to play Larry’s 3-5 octave arrangement of Chopsticks, it’s available from From the Top Music!

Any questions?

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’re looking for, and we’ll do what we can to help!

8-bell Chor

New 8-Bell Music – Blessed Assurance – for Handbells and Piano

The hymn Blessed Assurance was written in 1873, with lyrics by Fanny Crosby, set to the tune by Phoebe Knapp. We’re pleased to bring you our new arrangement of this hymn, for 8 handbells with piano accompaniment.

“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
O what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchase of God
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood

Perfect submission, all is at rest
I, in my Savior, am happy and blessed
Watching and waiting, looking above
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love“

As with all our 8-bell arrangements, there are no bell changes, no picking-up of accidentals mid-piece, and no shared bells. It can be played from just music stands, so is suitable even for socially-distanced handbell groups.

If you’d like to play Blessed Assurance, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus, our music site. An mp3 accompaniment track is also available to purchase separately. This can be useful if you don’t have a willing accompanist, or if you want to rehearse at home.

Important information about Choraegus handbell music

Please note that our music is designed to be downloaded as PDFs, so you’ll be responsible for printing your own music. You won’t receive anything in the mail. Purchasing an 8-bell arrangement allows you to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group (plus the accompaniment score). Purchase also gives permission for recording, broadcasting, live-streaming and sharing on video-sharing sites, church websites and social media. See our licensing agreement for full details, and please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites and social media, and in any printed materials such as church service bulletins.

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

Any questions?

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

Blessed Assurance - 8 bells and piano

Shall We Gather at the River – a New Arrangement for 8 Handbells and Piano

Following on from our popular arrangement of Be Thou My Vision, here’s our latest 8-bell title, Shall We Gather at the River?, arranged for handbells and piano. This beautiful hymn was written in 1864 by Robert Lowry.

“Shall we gather at the river,
Where bright angel feet have trod;
With its crystal tide forever
Flowing by the throne of God?

Yes, we’ll gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river;
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God.”

This arrangement has no bell changes, and no tables are required. It could work well for playing in a worship service, with ringers playing from music stands, spaced apart to allow for social distancing.

Interested in playing this arrangement?

If you’d like to play Shall We Gather at the River, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus, our music site. An mp3 accompaniment track is also available to purchase separately; perfect if you don’t have a willing accompanist, or want to rehearse at home.

Please read the following information:

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. Purchasing an 8-bell arrangement allows you to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group (plus the accompaniment score. Purchase also gives permission for recording, broadcasting, live-streaming and online video-sharing. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites and social media, and in any printed materials.

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 be happy to help!

Shall We Gather at the River - handbells

A New 8-bell Hymn Arrangement – Jesús es mi Rey Soberano

Jesús es mi Rey Soberano was written in 1920 by Methodist evangelist and hymn-writer Vicente Mendoza. It’s our most recent arrangement for eight bells! We recorded this video in April, before Larry’s shoulder surgery, and we played it once only. As a result, this sight-read is not a polished performance, but you should get the idea.

Looking at the video now, we can sense our tension as we each tried to make sure we didn’t miss any of the ritardando or a tempo markings in the score!

We enjoyed reading through this piece. We’ll definitely be giving it some more attention in the months ahead, aiming for more smoothness. It would be a fun challenge for a quartet, and could be good for social distancing, since there are no bell changes and no techniques that require tables.

Where to get the sheet music

If you’d like to play Jesús es mi Rey Soberano, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus. Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group. Purchase also gives permission for you to use this piece in online and live-streamed worship services and performances. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites and social media, and on any printed materials.

Please note that our 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, designed to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.

Any questions?

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

Jesus es mi Rey Soberano - handbells