A note of gratitude from Larry Sue, to participants at the 2025 Bay View Week of Handbells
Last night 107 handbell musicians at the 2025 Bay View Week of Handbells performed my arrangement of Seiichi Kyoda’s Winter Dance. Maestro Fred Gramann led us in an amazing program, and it was a tremendous honor that he included this piece in the repertoire.
My gratitude goes to all of you who made this performance more than just a technical reality. There was an inescapable growing intensity throughout the music that you made. During our penultimate rehearsal, I made a video of part of Winter Dance. It was everything I could have imagined. The Thursday night concert performance was even better than that!
I put lots of dots and squiggles on the pages, and I hope they were true to Kyoda-san’s heart. You turned those dots and squiggles into a unified sound that drew our audience into the dance we were trying to imagine. I could envision the people from that small village in far northern Japan, their bonfire, and their celebration in its warmth. Thanks, from the bottom of my heart, to each of you for being part of this musical endeavor. I thank you for granting me the privilege of joining you in it. Thank you for giving our audience an experience that they can remember. Thank you for dancing (in 5/4, no less). Most of all, thank you for having fun! You all created magnificence, and I’m indebted to you all for the gift you’ve given me.
The Oriole Tea Room was one of the tea rooms at Bay View, many years ago. We’ve owned this Victorian cottage since the end of 2019, and it’s no longer a tea room, although we do drink a fair amount of tea there!
Note: not a real representation of how to drink tea
Desperately seeking a photo or postcard of The Oriole Tea Room!
We don’t know when our cottage started being a tea room, but know that it was a tea room in the 1920s. We’ve found references to it in the Petoskey Evening News of the time. Thanks to the Bellaire Record, we also know that it was a tea room in the 1930s. It was still a tea room in the summer of 1941 too! Here’s a photo taken from Charles E. Schloff’s excellent book A Pictorial History of Bay View : Post Cards & Photographs of the Past:
Is that postcard still in existence?
We’d love to own a photo or postcard of our cottage when it was a tea room. We didn’t purchase the cottage until late 2019, so we don’t have the historical records that many of the families at Bay View have. We still hold onto the hope that we’ll find an old photo someday! We’d love to have a photo of the cottage “in the olden days”, so that we can frame it and hang it on the wall, for us and future owners to appreciate.
In the meantime, there are lots of photos of our cottage in more modern times on our Facebook page, as well as pictures of other beautiful cottages, and Bay View in general. If you have a collection of northern Michigan vintage postcards, and you recognize our cottage among your photos, please let us know!
The 2025 Bay View Week of Handbells Concert is fast approaching! We’re looking forward to this year’s concert, where more than a hundred advanced handbell musicians will once again be performing some beautiful, challenging and exciting music under the baton of director Fred Gramann.
We’ve been attending the Week of Handbells together since 2010, and participating in this event is always a highlight of our year. It’s an opportunity to work with a large group of musicians to prepare a concert to share, in a place that means so much to us. The music is always varied, challenging and exciting, and designed to appeal to a variety of musical tastes. Whether you love energetic original compositions, beautiful sacred works, classical pieces or familiar traditional melodies, there will always be something in the Week of Handbells concert that will appeal to you. It’s unlikely that you will ever get to see a concert that features such a huge number of handbells and handchimes!
This year’s concert will be on Thursday, August 14th, 2025, at 7:30pm, at the John M. Hall Auditorium at Bay View. Admission is free, and there will be an offering to benefit the Bay View Association Music Scholarship Fund. There’s no need to book tickets in advance, but we recommend arriving in plenty of time to get good seats, because it’s a popular concert!
Bay View Campus Club will hold its annual Memorial Service on Tuesday, August 5th, 2025. Bay View’s local handbell duo Larry and Carla will again be playing handbells at the event.
Campus Club has been in existence for more than 100 years, and has the motto “Where Strangers Become Friends”. It’s a group for men and women of all ages who play indoor games (such as bridge and mah jongg), outdoor games (including lawn bowling and croquet), enjoy off-season social potlucks, and hold educational programs on Tuesday evenings, featuring speakers with a wide variety of expertise. Campus Club raises money during the season for the Manna Food Project.
The Campus Club Memorial Service is where club members take time to remember and honor the friends and family members who are no longer with us. The names of those who have passed during the last year will be read out, and a bell will ring for each name, as we give thanks for lives well lived, and the lasting friendships made in our beautiful Bay View.
The Bay View Campus Club Memorial Service will take place under the large Event Tent. Larry and Carla will play a handbell duet prelude, so you’re welcome to arrive early, and listen to music as you take your seats. More information about the service, and the pastor(s) and other musicians taking part, will be available closer to the time, here and on our Facebook page. We look forward to welcoming you to this very special service of remembrance.
Free There is no charge to attend this service.
Bay View Association – Campus Club
John M. Hall Auditorium
1725 Encampment Ave Petoskey,
MI
MI 49770United States+ Google Map
The Bay View Week of Handbells Concert 2024 is approaching! We’re looking forward to this year’s concert, where more than a hundred advanced handbell musicians will be performing some beautiful, challenging and exciting music under the baton of director Fred Gramann.
We’ve been attending the Week of Handbells together since 2010, and participating in this event is always a highlight of our year. It’s an opportunity to work with a large group of musicians to prepare a concert to share, in a place we love. The music is always varied, challenging and exciting, and designed to appeal to a variety of musical tastes. Whether you love energetic original compositions, beautiful sacred works, classical pieces or familiar traditional melodies, there will always be something in the Week of Handbells concert that will appeal to you. It’s unlikely that you will ever get to see a concert that features such a huge number of handbells and handchimes!
This year’s concert will be on Thursday, August 15th, 2024, at 7:30pm, at the John M. Hall Auditorium at Bay View. Admission is free, and there will be an offering to benefit the Bay View Association Music Scholarship Fund. There’s no need to book tickets in advance, but you should plan to arrive in plenty of time to get good seats, because it’s a popular concert!
“Good King Wenceslas looked out On the Feast of Stephen When the snow lay round about Deep and crisp and even Brightly shone the moon that night Though the frost was cruel When a poor man came in sight Gathering winter fuel”.
Our new arrangement of the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas uses just 8 handbells, and can be played by 2-4 ringers. We recorded our demonstration video in the beautiful Crouse Memorial Chapel at the Bay View Association in northern Michigan.
More information about this 8-bell arrangement
Sheet music for Good King Wenceslas is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. When you look at the page on the Choraegus website, you’ll see that there are two arrangements of this carol. This one is Version 2. Make sure you add the correct one to your shopping cart! This version is less challenging than our earlier version, and more straightforward for a quartet to play.
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 you permission to use this piece in online and live-streamed worship services. 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.
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 with pictures, to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a 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 be happy to help!
The Bay View Week of Handbells Concert 2023 is coming soon! We’re looking forward to this year’s concert, where more than a hundred advanced handbell musicians will be performing some beautiful, challenging and exciting music under the baton of director Fred Gramann.
We’ve been attending the Week of Handbells together since 2010, and we’re particularly excited about this year’s concert because we’ll be performing two of Larry’s arrangements there! There will be a performance of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Sumo Fairy, an interesting arrangement for bass handbells, and a chance to hear the world’s first-ever performance of Smiles; a version arranged specially for this event.
The The Bay View Week of Handbells Concert 2023 will be on Thursday, August 17th, 2023, at 7:30pm, at the John M. Hall Auditorium, 1715 Encampment Avenue, Petoskey, Michigan. Admission is free, and there will be an offering to benefit the Bay View Association Music Scholarship Fund. There’s no need to book tickets in advance, but you should plan to arrive in plenty of time to get good seats, because it’s a popular concert!
The 2023 Bay View Week of Handbells starts on Monday, August 14th! Larry recently wrote an article about the event, and an abridged version was published in the Bay View Association’s newsletter, the Town Crier.
There was a lot of information in Larry’s article, but not enough space to publish the entire thing in the Town Crier. Click on the photo of the Town Crier below to read the article in full, and enjoy finding out more about the concert on Thursday, August 17th, this year’s music repertoire, and some interesting inside information about the composers and arrangers!
See you at the concert!
Remember to mark your calendar so that you don’t miss this year’s Week of Handbells concert! As mentioned in Larry’s Town Crier article, it will take place in the John M. Hall Auditorium on Thursday, August 17th. The concert starts at 7:30pm. It’s a popular event, so be sure to arrive early to get a seat in your favorite spot!
The two of us have been participating in the Week of Handbells since 2010. As always, we’ll be posting photos from this year’s event on our Facebook page, and you’re welcome to contact us if you have any questions about the concert, or the event in general.
A popular saying here in Michigan (and probably in other places too) is “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes!” It often seems that the weather can go through several seasons in a single day. We wake up to clouds, the sun comes out and we dress for spring… then suddenly the weather turns cold, and rain is pouring down!
Here’s an original handbell composition called Wait Five Minutes. Michigan weather was Larry’s inspiration for this piece. Carla took the photos and video; most of them at Bay View, a summer community in northern Michigan. Highlights include footage of a torrential downpour, a foggy day on a Lake Michigan beach, and an unusual-looking squirrel!
More information about Wait Five Minutes
Wait Five Minutes is for 3 octaves of handbells, Level 2+. Sheet music for this original composition 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. Purchase of the full choir license gives you our no-fuss permission to print up to 15 copies for your group.
Your purchase of the full-choir license also gives permission for you to perform, broadcast and live-stream this piece as part of a concert or worship service without the need for any additional license or fee, although we ask you to credit the composer (Larry Sue) and publisher (Choraegus) in any printed media such as concert programs, and online (in video descriptions). 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 on our Facebook page too!
Choraegus handbell music is designed to come to you as a PDF file, which you’ll need to download. 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.
More Choraegus handbell music about the weather
People often ask us about handbell music on a particular theme. Here are some other pieces on the theme of “weather”:
Winter Dance – a 5-octave, Level 4 arrangement of Seiichi Kyoda’s wonderful, wintry piece
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.
It’s hard to believe that the 2022 Bay View Week of Handbells was the 11th year we’ve attended this evening together! Of course, that would have happened sooner, if the pandemic hadn’t happened. The 2020 and 2021 Week of Handbells events were cancelled because of Covid-19, so it was a particularly good feeling to get back to it this year.
Our history with the Bay View Week of Handbells
We attended this annual event for the first time in August 2010, when we were still in our long-distance relationship. Carla flew to Chicago from England, and Larry flew in from California. We met in person for the very first time at Chicago O’Hare, and took the short flight to Traverse City together. Until then, we’d only ever communicated online, via Facebook messages, so it was exciting for us to be able to see each other in “real life” and spend time together.
After the 2010 Week of Handbells, we flew back to England and California, and spent a very long year apart. Finally, we were able to meet again at the 2011 Week of Handbells, where we celebrated our engagement with cupcakes at the Monday evening reception. Then we were separated again, returned to England and California, and went through all the challenges of the K-1 fiancée visa process. When the U.S. visa was approved, we were able to make plans to close the distance permanently. Planning the trip was complicated, but we made it all coincide with the 2012 Week of Handbells, and after the event was over, we flew to California to make our wedding plans. Apart from the two years when the event was cancelled, we’ve attended together every year since.
The 2022 Bay View Week of Handbells
This year’s Week of Handbells was a bit different for us, for an important reason; we now have our own Bay View cottage! We bought this Victorian cottage in October 2019, when we became members of the Bay View Association. It was built around 1887, and is a quirky little place, with uneven floors and some interesting features!
We appreciated being able to be “at home” between rehearsals, and to relax in our own place at the end of the day. In previous years, we’ve stayed in hotels, and also rented another of the Victorian cottages on campus. Our cottage is at the bottom of the hill, so we got plenty of exercise walking to and from rehearsals in the auditorium! We also had a steady stream of visitors, and enjoyed giving cottage tours to our handbell friends.
The 2022 event
Once again, Larry had the opportunity to play the aluminum bass bells, in the Deep Pit. Carla played AB5, as coordinator of the Position 7 team. Rehearsals went smoothly this year, and everyone was thankful to be back after the long break. We also heard that Bay View Association members were happy to see the return of the bell ringers, and eagerly awaited the Thursday evening concert.
The repertoire for the 2022 Week of Handbells was as follows:
Festive Praises(Fred Gramann) Tales of the Great Water (Sandra Eithun) Finale (Widor, arr. Fred Gramann) The Entertainer (Joplin, transcribed by Paul Kingbury) – available from Choraegus Intrepid (Jason Krug) Change Ring Prelude on ‘Fred Gramann’ (Jantz Black) Aurora (Matthew Compton) Aria (Donald Allured) São Paulo (Elizabeth Peters) The Sound of Silence (Paul Simon, arr. Matthew Compton) Bulwarkana (Alex Guebert) Puttin’ on the Ritz (Berlin, arr. Hart Morris) The Lord Bless You and Keep You (Peter Lutkin)
There were five winners of the Donald E. Allured Composition Award at this year’s concert. Was this a record? Sandra Eithun’s Tales of the Great Water was performed for the first time at the 2022 Week of Handbells, and we were all happy that she came to the concert to hear it!
Catherine McMichael, Sandra Eithun, Larry Sue, Alex Guebert and Matthew Compton
As usual, the week was a very busy one. Rehearsals are long and intense, and there isn’t a lot of spare time, although we always appreciate the Bay View sunsets, the opportunity to gather with friends on the Wednesday “evening off”, and the Bay View Memorial Garden, where the flowers never disappoint.
What’s next?
Now that we’ve put away our 2022 Week of Handbells music, we’re moving on to more duet performances, writing and playing new music, and preparing for the holiday season. We’ll still be spending as much time as we can at Bay View – driving back and forth between Holland and Petoskey – until the time comes to close up the cottage for the winter months. Before too long, it will be time to sign up for the 2023 event – and we’re already looking forward to it!
