Tag Archives: 8 bell

A Handbell Concert with Philadelphia Bronze!

Exciting news!  We’ve been invited to Pennsylvania at the end of this month, to perform in concert with Philadelphia Bronze!

Philadelphia Bronze concert

This will be our first-ever trip to the Philadelphia area, which looks like an interesting place to visit! We’ll only be there for three days, but we’re already busy making plans for the trip. We’ll definitely include a visit to Malmark Bellcraftsmen, the manufacturers of the bells we use for playing our duets.

More information about the concert

The concert with Philadelphia Bronze will take place on Saturday, May 30th, 2015 at 7:00pm. It will be at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 132 E. Valley Forge Road, King of Prussia, PA 19406. We’ll perform some brand-new and unpublished duets in this concert. We’ll also share a new piece written by Larry for eight handbells and flute. We’re looking forward to hearing some exciting music from Philadelphia Bronze too!

On Sunday, May 31st, we’ll play some of our duets during the morning worship service at Newtown United Methodist Church. Then we’ll fly back to California later that day.

We’ll be posting more information about our trip on our Facebook page in the coming week. You can find Philadelphia Bronze on Facebook too!

Did We Manage a Weekend Vacation Without Handbells?

Taking a vacation without handbells is clearly a challenge! We spent a lovely long weekend visiting Yosemite National Park. The plan was to enjoy a few days in beautiful surroundings, without the pressure of rehearsals or concerts. That’s quite unusual for us, because we usually only stay away from home when we’re attending a handbell event.

But did we leave our handbells at home?

Well, no. We still took our handbells with us. After all, there was always the possibility we might decide to rehearse in the hotel! Or we might be driving past a wedding and be called upon to play duets. We might even get a sudden phone call asking us to play at a church service. Oh, who are we kidding? It just didn’t seem right to go away for a long weekend without taking the bells with us. Perhaps it is an addiction after all.

We left the bells in the hotel for three whole days without taking them out of the case. But on Sunday morning, we could ignore them no longer, and we decided to find somewhere to rehearse. Just moments away from our hotel in Oakhurst was the Little Church on the Hill – the perfect location!

Vacation without handbells - Little Church on the Hill

Sadly, it turned out not to be such a perfect location, because we were competing with lots of traffic noise – but still, we spent an hour or so playing through some of the music we haven’t played for a while, and we had a great time. Here are some excerpts of the pieces we played:

The idea of a vacation without handbells was nice while it lasted, but turned out to be an impossible goal for us. We hope to be able to play at the Little Church again someday – maybe on our next trip to Yosemite!

Photos and Videos from the 34th Annual SECC Handbell Festival

The SECC Handbell Festival was a great success. More than a hundred skilled young handbell musicians attended, and worked very hard to prepare for the concert. Larry had the privilege of being their clinician for the event.

We were both so impressed by the skill and dedication of the young musicians at this event. The choirs arrived well-prepared, and stayed focused throughout the rehearsals. Their individual performances were of a very high standard, and they performed the massed ringing pieces very well. If you’d like to see some of the highlights from the SECC Handbell Festival, here’s a video with excerpts from the rehearsals and the evening concert. The concert featured music by Arnold Sherman, Kevin McChesney, William Gross, Jason Krug, Linda McKechnie, Tim Waugh, Michael Glasgow, Catherine McMichael, Matthew Compton and our very own Larry Sue. A snippet from our performance of our eight-bell duet “Great is Thy Faithfulness” appears about 18 minutes into the video.

We also very much enjoyed this performance of Matthew Compton’s arrangement of “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?”, by Bellissimo, a group from Redlands Advent Academy. Here’s a video from the event:

If you’d like to see more photos from this event, you can find them on our Facebook page!

Handbell duo Larry and Carla Sue at the 34th Annual SECC Handbell Festival, Riverside, CA
34th Annual SECC Handbell Festival, Riverside, CA – 2015

New Music for Handbells – Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley – 8 Bells

Here’s our latest eight-bell piece – the folk hymn Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley. This sensitive and easy-to-learn arrangement is particularly suitable for Lent and Holy Week, but could be used throughout the year. Playable as a duet, trio or quartet, we hope you’ll add it to your repertoire!

Where to get the music, and more information about Choraegus

The sheet music for Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley is available for purchase and download 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.

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. 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 be happy to help!

Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley - handbells

New Music for Handbells – The Love of God – for 8 Bells

Here’s our latest eight-bell piece. It’s a hymn called The Love of God, which has become one of our favorites in recent months. We started learning it while we were raising money for the Salvation Army at the Red Kettle in our local supermarket before Christmas. It was fairly easy to hide it among the Christmas and holiday music. There was a back-up plan that if anyone asked us what it was called, we’d tell them it’s also known as On Christmas Morn.

We also played The Love of God during a church service in Redding a couple of weekends ago. We think this piece could work nicely for a trio or quartet as well.

The Love of God is available for purchase and download from our music site.

More information about Choraegus handbell music

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.

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. We designed this 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!

The Love of God

New Handbell Music – Great is Thy Faithfulness – for 8 Bells

Here’s another new piece for eight handbells – the popular hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness. We performed it for the first time at the Alzheimer’s Benefit Concert in Menlo Park in January, and it’s fast becoming one of our favorite pieces to play. It has just the right amount of challenge, without being anywhere close to impossible, and a nice loud ending. This piece would work for four-in-hand duet, or trio or quartet.

If you’d like to play Great Is Thy Faithfulness, it’s available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

Things to know about buying music 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.

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 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!

Other news!

In other news… photos from the Alzheimer’s Benefit Concert are now on our Facebook page. Coming soon are photos from our trip to a local preschool, and pictures from the Redding Bronze event.

New Music for Handbells – Grizzly’s Peak – for 8 Bells

Here’s a new piece for eight handbells, recorded at the Alzheimer’s Benefit Concert on January 23rd. This new piece has been a lot of fun to learn! Its title is Grizzly’s Peak, but there’s a more familiar tune not-so-well hidden in there.

If you’d like to play Grizzly’s Peak, it’s available for purchase from Choraegus. It’s not essential to wear a bear costume when performing the piece, but it helps. Okay, maybe it doesn’t. But you’ll still enjoy playing this piece, which your audience will surely recognize as The Bear Went Over the Mountain.

Information about buying Choraegus music

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.

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 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!

Grizzly's Peak - for 8 handbells

A New Video – Sing We Now of Christmas

Here’s a new recording of Sing We Now of Christmas, previously published as Now the Green Blade Riseth. We’ve been having fun rehearsing and recording some of our Christmas music!

If you’d like to play this piece, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

Information about buying music 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.

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 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!

Sing We Now of Christmas 8-Bell

The Angel Gabriel – a New 8-Bell Carol

The holiday season is upon us, and we know there’s not much time left to learn new handbell music in time for Christmas. But here’s just one more 8-bell arrangement – the pretty Basque carol The Angel Gabriel From Heaven Came, also known as Gabriel’s Message.

If you’d like to play The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came, it’s available for purchase and download from our music site.

Information about Choraegus handbell music

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.

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

The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came - 8-bell

New Handbell Music – Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella – for 8 Bells

Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella is a very pretty French carol, originally written in the 16th century.  Here’s our 8-bell arrangement:

If you’d like to play Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

More information about this music

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.

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. 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!

Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella - handbells