Handbells have been a traditional sight and sound at Bay View for many years. The annual Week of Handbells has been part of our lives since 2010. It’s the event where we first spent time together in person, during our long-distance relationship. It’s also where we celebrated our engagement in 2011 (with a cupcake reception). It was our first destination when we closed the distance and started our life together in 2012.
We were disappointed that the Week of Handbells was postponed in 2020, and canceled again in 2021. However, we understood the reasons; a global pandemic isn’t a trivial thing! The Week of Handbells needs a lot of advance preparation. The musicians spend months before the event learning their music, and the bells and equipment must be borrowed from various people and organizations. Participants have to arrange their travel and accommodation well in advance. The director, Fred Gramann, flies to Michigan from his home in France. The decision not to hold the last two handbell concerts at Bay View was a wise and necessary one.
“Definitely not a concert!”
This year, we decided to invite residents and guests of Bay View to attend a “not-concert” in the Bay View Association grounds. We started by playing some of our 8-bell duets, and we answered questions from audience members, about the techniques involved in playing our instruments, and how our shared love of handbells brought us together when we were living 5,347 miles apart. We played a selection of popular hymns, including Amazing Grace, Great is Thy Faithfulness, and I Stand Amazed. There were also some lively secular pieces – our 8-bell arrangement of Chopsticks, and the popular Irish jig Calliope House.
After our duet presentation, some of our friends from the Bay View Week of Handbells joined us for a sight-read of some of our 12-bell music. We were impressed and thankful that so many of the usual Week of Handbells participants were willing and able to join us. Some are based in northern Michigan, but others had traveled from as far as Illinois, South Dakota and Nebraska! Together we read through some music that most of the ringers hadn’t seen or played before. It was a fun challenge, and everyone did well. Several people commented that they hadn’t played handbells in over a year, so it was great to get back to it! We played Annie Laurie and Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, among others, and ended with a 16-bell arrangement of God Be With You Till We Meet Again.
Thank you to everyone who helped to make this event possible!
We’re thankful to the Bay View Association for allowing us to use the big events tent for this event. It was reassuring to be able to gather in an outdoor (but sheltered) setting. We provided masks, hand sanitiser and disinfectant wipes to try to make the event as COVID-proof as possible!
We’re also thankful to the musicians who came along to share their musical skills with each other and our audience. Special thanks go to everyone who helped by bringing bells and music stands.
Thanks also to everyone who dropped by to listen, and to everyone who asked questions, applauded, and encouraged us as we played!
Would you like handbell music at your own event?
As a professional handbell duo, we are available for worship services, weddings, memorial services and Christmas events. We’re members of the Bay View Association, and during the summer months you can often find us on our porch at the corner of Woodland and Pine. If you’d like to book us to play handbell duets at your event (and yes, we’re willing to travel outside of Michigan), please get in touch with us!
Handbell Happenings – at the Bay View Association!
As you’ll probably be aware, the 2021 Bay View Week of Handbells concert had to be canceled/postponed because of COVID-19 concerns. An event of this type and size has to be planned months in advance. With the uncertain nature of the virus, travel restrictions, and the need to keep the musicians and audience safe, the wisest decision was to postpone the event for another year. However, some of the usual participants are making plans for a small gathering in the big events tent at Bay View instead.
Handbell duo (and Bay View Association members) Larry and Carla will play handbell duets, from around 3:30pm in the big tent near the John M. Hall Auditorium on Thursday, August 19th. You’re welcome to come and listen, see the bells at close range, and ask us any burning questions about handbells.
A little later, some of the ringers who usually participate in the annual Week of Handbells will be joining us. From around 5:00pm, we’ll all play some handbell music together. This part of the event is designed primarily as a gathering for the handbell people, but anyone is welcome to drop by at any point to meet the ringers and listen to the music. It won’t be the same as the usual annual handbell concert, because the music will be completely unrehearsed, but it’s a chance to see and hear handbell ringing in an informal setting at Bay View this summer. We all hope to be able to participate in the usual handbell concert in August 2022!
We’ll be observing COVID-19 safety measures for this event. Please bring a mask with you, and be aware of the need for social distancing where possible.
Any questions?
Please contact us if you need more information, or have any questions about this event. You’re welcome to come and chat with us, if you see us on the porch at the corner of Woodland and Pine!
Free
The Events Tent, 1715 Encampment Ave, Petoskey, MI 49770
The Events Tent, 1715 Encampment Ave Petoskey,
Michigan
49770United States+ Google Map
“God be with you till we meet again, By His counsels guide, uphold you, With His sheep securely fold you, God be with you till we meet again.”
God Be With You Till We Meet Again is our latest arrangement for 16 handbells. We were reminded of this hymn recently, when we drove up north to Bay View and walked in the Memorial Gardens there. Bay View (near Petoskey) is where the annual Week of Handbells takes place, and where we spend a week each year gathering with friends old and new, to rehearse and perform handbell music in a beautiful lakeside setting. Our recent visit was a particularly poignant one, as we’d just heard about the passing of Maestro Carl Wiltse, who directed the Bay View Week of Handbells for many years.
Last year’s Week of Handbells was cancelled because of the pandemic — and, sadly, the 2021 event has been cancelled too. We now have to wait until 2022 to see many of our Bay View friends again. Given the amount of preparation time that goes into this annual event, it was the wisest decision, but we’re looking forward to a joyful reunion next year.
God Be With You Till We Meet Again was written by Jeremiah Rankin in 1882. He composed it so his church choir could have something to sing as they said their goodbyes each week. It has become a popular hymn to sing at gatherings, and it’s traditionally sung at the final Sunday Vespers at Bay View every August, as the music season draws to a close and visitors bid their farewells until the next year.
Suitable for socially-distant handbell ensembles
If your handbell ensemble is observing social distancing, our 16-bell arrangements could be useful. God Be With You Till We Meet Again has no bell changes, and needs no bell-sharing. It’s suitable for up to 8 ringers to play, and doesn’t require any techniques that need tables or foam.
If you’d like to play this arrangement, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus.
More information about Choraegus handbell music
Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to eight copies for your handbell group. Don’t pay for more copies than you need! Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details. In addition, 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 sheet 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. Please contact us if you don’t find the information you need, and we’ll be happy to help!
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!
We had a great time taking part in our first Play Music on the Porch Day! This is a worldwide annual event that takes place on the last Saturday in August – but we’d never heard about it until very recently.
It so happened that we were at our summer cottage in Bay View, Michigan on the day of this year’s event… and our cottage has a porch! However, our cottage is next to a busy street, so it’s quite noisy. We decided it would make more sense to borrow a quieter porch, so we headed over to Evelyn Hall, and played handbell duets there for a couple of hours.
As this “performance” was very much a spur-of-the-moment event, we ended up with an audience of just one person, plus some passers-by. It was a good opportunity for us to bring out some of the pieces we hadn’t played since our street-performing sessions in Downtown Holland last summer! We propped a phone up on a table, and managed to get a few videos, admittedly with a terrible camera angle, but you’ll get the idea. The weather started off rainy with a strong breeze, but later the sun came out, and more people started to appear.
You can find more videos from Play Music on the Porch Day on our YouTube Channel!
We enjoyed doing this so much that we’re already planning more random porch music sessions at Bay View. If you missed the opportunity to take part in Play Music on the Porch Day this year, mark your calendars for the end of August 2021!
It’s been over a week since we came back from our trip to the Petoskey area for our 10th year at the Bay View Week of Handbells. Life is getting back to normal, and we have lots of great memories from our tenth year at the event!
Bay View Week of Handbells is part of our history!
Taking part in the Bay View Week of Handbells has become a highlight of our year. We attended the event for the first time in August 2010, when we were still in our long-distance relationship. Carla flew to Chicago from England, Larry flew in from California. We met in person for the very first time, before taking the short flight to Traverse City together. Having only previously communicated in Facebook messages, it was exciting for us to spend time together in person, and to discover that we actually did like each other in “real life”, as well as online!
After another year apart, we met again at the 2011 Week of Handbells. We celebrated our engagement in Evelyn Hall at the Monday evening reception. The following year was a busy one for us as we dealt with the challenges of the U.S. fiancée visa process. Finally, we were able to close the distance in August 2012. We timed everything carefully, to coincide with that year’s Week of Handbells! Larry flew to England, then we flew back together from London to Chicago. Next, we flew to Traverse City, then drove to Bay View for the week of rehearsals and concert. After the event was over, we were able to take a flight to California and begin our life together.
With Maestro Carl Wiltse at Bay View Week of Handbells 2014
Since then, we’ve participated in the Week of Handbells every August. The event is very special to us for many reasons. For a start, the standard of musicianship is very high. Participants are required to arrive at the event fully prepared. That means we can use the rehearsal time not to learn notes, but to work on expression, playing as a single ensemble, and the finer points of preparing for a concert to a high professional standard. It’s a lot of fun to work on challenging music under the baton of an experienced and highly-skilled director. It’s also good to know that the Thursday evening’s public concert will be enjoyed by so many people! Bay View has also given us the opportunity to meet with friends, and to make new ones, as handbell musicians arrive from many different cities to take part each year.
With Bay View Director Fred Gramann at the 2019 Week of Handbells
The years have gone quickly since our first experience of the Bay View Week of Handbells! We’ve been able to learn so much from participating in the event. Larry has played the aluminum bass handbells every year since 2010. He’s appreciated being part of the “Deep Pit” team; a group of five musicians who are highly skilled at playing these bells. Carla had another opportunity to be a Position Captain this year. She was responsible for supporting a team of ringers and starting early with preparing for the event. Together they worked out solutions and strategies for tricky passages in the music.
Larry in the “Deep Pit” at Bay View
It’s been several years since we made our Big Move from California to Michigan. Now that we live in Holland, it takes us less than five hours to drive to Bay View. That’s been an advantage to us, because we’ve been able to make a few day-trips to Bay View outside of the Week of Handbells, just for the sheer joy of being there! We love being by the lake, and even going in the lake, as we hunt for Petoskey stones to bring home and polish. The Petoskey stone is the official Michigan State Stone. It’s a fossilised coral – Hexagonaria percarinata – that lived in the warm Michigan waters around 350 million years ago. Polishing Petoskey stones (using wet sandpaper) is the perfect activity for cold winter evenings at home in Holland!
Hunting for Petoskey stones!
We stayed in one of the pretty cottages on the Bay View campus again this year, and it’s wonderful to be close to the rehearsal venue. It’s fun to feel part of the Bay View community, even if it’s just for a short while. Bay View has some of the best sunsets we’ve ever seen. Besides, what other handbell event gives you the opportunity to finish a tiring day of rehearsals, and see scenes like these?
Historic Bay View cottagesThe Bay View Inn, seen from the Memorial GardenAnother beautiful Bay View sunset
The concert on Thursday evening was exciting for us this year, particularly as we were performing one of Larry’s original compositions – A Minor Crash. Pierpont Video Productions made a professional recording of the concert, so we hope to have a video to share at some point in the near future! We chatted with one of the Bay View Association members on the day after the concert. He referred to Larry as “the Crash Guy”, which made us laugh! Other highlights of the concert repertoire were: Drive, an original composition by Alex Guebert, Beach Boys Medley, arranged by Linda Boatright, and Hart Morris’s challenging arrangement of I Got Rhythm.
Saying goodbye is easier these days
We’re always sorry to have to leave Bay View when the Week of Handbells is over. However, now that we live in Michigan, the goodbyes are slightly easier. We know that we’re only a few hours away, so there’s no longer any reason for us to wait a whole year to return!
As we put away this year’s Bay View music and start focusing on our duet performances for the upcoming season, we’ll be setting our hopes on being able to return to the Week of Handbells in August 2020!
We’re looking forward to the 42nd Bay View Week of Handbells, where more than a hundred advanced handbell musicians will be rehearsing and performing some beautiful, challenging and exciting music under the baton of director Fred Gramann.
This year’s event will be the tenth Week of Handbells we’ve attended together, and it’s particularly exciting for us because one of Larry’s original compositions – A Minor Crash – will be performed there!
The concert will be held on Thursday, August 15th, 2019, at 7:30pm at the John M. Hall Auditorium, 1715 Encampment Avenue, Petoskey, Michigan. An offering will be taken 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!
We’re settling back into normal life after our trip to Petoskey for the 2018 Bay View Week of Handbells. We’ve unpacked our cases, and done the laundry. The only task that remains is to file away the music.
Our history with the Week of Handbells
The Bay View Week of Handbells has become an annual tradition for us. We attended for the first time in August 2010, when we were still in our long-distance relationship. Carla flew to Chicago from England, Larry flew in from California, and we met in person for the very first time before taking the short flight to Traverse City together. Our first Week of Handbells was an emotional and fun event. We met so many new friends there! Most importantly, we had the opportunity to find out how it felt to spend time together in the same place. It was a luxury we’d never had until then, having only previously communicated in an endless string of Facebook messages!
One of the first photos taken of us together! On our way to Mackinac Island, August 2010
When our first trip to Bay View was over, we were apart again for a whole year. We met again at the 2011 Week of Handbells, and celebrated our engagement at the Monday evening reception.
The following year was a busy one for us, as we dealt with the challenges of the U.S. fiancée visa process. Finally, we were able to close the distance in August 2012. We timed everything to coincide with that year’s Week of Handbells. Larry flew to England, then we flew back together from London to Chicago. Next, we traveled to Traverse City for the week of rehearsals and the Thursday evening concert. After the event was over, we were able to take a flight to California and begin our life together.
Since then, we’ve been fortunate to be able to continue to attend the Week of Handbells every year. Our journey there became even easier after we moved from California to Holland, Michigan in the summer of 2016. These days, instead of having to book flights, we can simply get in the car and drive for a few hours, and we’re there!
What’s special about the Bay View Week of Handbells?
Firstly (and because this ties in with the mission statement of the event – see footnote), the standard of ringing is very high. The whole idea is that musicians will prepare the music thoroughly in the months before the event. It means taking time to learn the notes, work out strategies and solutions for tricky passages, and practise dynamics. When the event arrives, we can use the time to work on expression and the finer points of performing to a high professional standard. That relies on every ringer taking personal responsibility before the event. It’s such a wonderful feeling to attend an event knowing that you can rely on your neighbors to know the music thoroughly before the first rehearsal even begins.
Treble sectional rehearsal at this year’s Bay View Week of Handbells
The Bay View family
For us, one of the real highlights of the Week of Handbells is that it’s about so much more than just the music. The music is hugely important, of course, but so is the incredible feeling of friendship and fellowship that comes from returning to a place you love, and sharing that space with so many familiar people who have started to feel like family to us. The changes to the sign-up process for this year’s event meant that there were more first-time participants than usual. We admit to feeling heavy-hearted that some of our friends weren’t able to attend this year. There are some people who, for us, seem to belong at Bay View, and we felt their absence during the week. Having said that, we were also new to the event not so many years ago, and it’s important to welcome new participants and to hope that they, too, will soon feel part of the Bay View family. One of the great new developments this year was the introduction of a tuition scholarship for a young adult ringer.
New at Bay View – position captains
Another change this year was the introduction of “Position Captains” – a group of Bay View alumni responsible for going through the music and suggesting solutions and strategies for difficult passages, communicating with ringers, and responding to questions, in an effort to make this year’s practice go more smoothly for everyone. Carla had the opportunity to coordinate the Position 7 team this year. Despite the initial stress of having to start working on the music eight months before the event, it seemed to be a real advantage to correspond with a team of ringers and coordinate bell-sharing and ideas for those “possibly-impossible” measures in the weeks and months before we all arrived in Petoskey. The responsibility for practice still lies with each ringer as an individual, of course. However, this year it felt good to be part of a supportive team, working together to reach a shared goal.
Position 7! Plus a few extras, because Carla is a bell-hog, of course.
Skilled conducting makes a difference
Another thing that makes the Week of Handbells so special is the opportunity to perform under the baton of a really inspiring director. The event was established in 1978 by Don Allured, who passed the baton to Carl Wiltse in 2002. Fred Gramann took over as director in 2018, and did not disappoint. With his attention to detail and skilled conducting, it’s not surprising that he is in demand as a handbell director for events all over the world.
With Fred Gramann at the 2016 Week of Handbells
Exciting and challenging repertoire
The repertoire for the Bay View Week of Handbells is always challenging and rewarding. Favorites from this year’s concert program included Catherine McMichael’s Celtic Queen, Fred Gramann’s Prelude on Herzliebster Jesu and Michael Joy’s Proclamation (so much fun for the AB5 ringers!) Larry once again had the honor of being part of the Deep Pit team for this year’s event. He played the aluminum bells that are so exciting to watch during the Thursday evening concert.
The Deep Pit – bass bells at Bay View!
The concert on Thursday evening was an exciting event, where we all reaped the rewards of all the hard work we’d put in during the rehearsals, and in the weeks and months leading up to the event. With just the right mixture of “celebration” (including Doug Benton’s composition Alluredia, the Donald E. Allured Composition Award piece) and “dance” (including Charles Peery’s audience-pleasing arrangement of Love Will Keep Us Together) the audience and musicians really enjoyed the evening.
Together outside the John M Hall Auditorium – before the concert
Bay View is such a beautiful location
The Week of Handbells takes place in a beautiful part of Michigan. Bay View is a National Historic Landmark community, founded in 1875 and owned by the United Methodist Church. There are more than thirty public buildings on the campus, two inns and more than 400 cottages. This year, for the first time, we stayed in one of the cottages, and it was so convenient to be able to walk to and from rehearsals each day. Our cottage was just a short walk from the lake. On our first evening there, we went to the beach to watch the sunset together. What could be more beautiful than this?
Of course, anyone who knows us well… will also know that we take every possible opportunity to look for Petoskey stones while we’re at Bay View. The Petoskey stone is the official Michigan State Stone. It’s a fossilised coral – Hexagonaria percarinata – that lived in the warm Michigan waters around 350 million years ago. We found some on the beach while we were watching the sunset, and a few more after the Farewell Breakfast on Friday morning.
Cladopora (left) and Petoskey stones. Carla waded into the lake to get these!
We hope to be back next year!
We’re always sorry to have to leave Bay View when the Week of Handbells is over. Now that we live in Michigan, though, the goodbyes are less painful. When home is just a few hours’ drive away, a temporary farewell is much less traumatic. We hope to be back at next year’s event!
Note: The Bay View Week of Handbells Mission Statement (as stated on the Week of Handbells website) is: “The Bay View Week of Handbells exists to give advanced ringers an opportunity to prepare a concert to be performed at a high professional level.”
We’re looking forward to the 41st Bay View Week of Handbells, where 104 advanced handbell musicians will be playing some beautiful, challenging and exciting music under the baton of newly-appointed director Fred Gramann, and preparing for a public concert on Thursday August 16th.
If you’re in the area, and you’d like to attend the free concert, there’s no need to book tickets in advance. The concert will be held on Thursday, August 16th, 2018 at 8:00pm in the John M. Hall Auditorium, 1715 Encampment Ave., Petoskey, Michigan. An offering will be taken to benefit the Bay View Association Music Scholarship Fund. You should plan to arrive in plenty of time to get good seats, because it’s a popular concert!
At long last, we can tell our secret, and share some exciting news. Larry’s new original composition for handbells is Coronation and Triumphant Exultation!
Larry received some wonderful news at last year’s Bay View Week of Handbells. He’s the recipient of the Donald E. Allured Original Composition Award! His mission was to write an original piece for the Bay View Week of Handbells in 2017.
What is the Donald E. Allured Award?
The Donald E. Allured Fund was created in 1993. Donald Allured was a composer and director that handbell musicians will always remember for his outstanding contribution to the art. The fund is used to commission original handbell music. Most importantly, each composition must exemplify the standards and quality that Dr. Don Allured would have expected. For that reason, it’s a great honor to receive this award.
Larry dedicated Coronation and Triumphant Exultation (Crùnadh agus Iolach)to Maestro Carl Wiltse, our leader, mentor and friend. This year will be Carl’s 15th and final year as director of the Bay View Week of Handbells. The piece is a musical story about the accession of a Scottish king to his throne. It opens with a bagpipe-like section played on bells. Next comes a reflective middle section. Finally, a majestic closing section as the king takes his throne, and the people rejoice.
Where to hear this new piece!
2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the Bay View Week of Handbells. The Thursday night concert will feature the very first performance of Larry’s original composition. The concert will take place Thursday, August 17, at 8:00pm. As usual, it will be held at the John M. Hall Auditorium, in Petoskey, Michigan. We’ll post more information as the event approaches!
Would you like to play this original composition?
Coronation and Triumphant Exultation is for 5-8 octaves of handbells, with optional 5 octaves of handchimes. It’s published by AGEHR Publishing (AG58002). Best of all, it’s Level 4, so not as challenging as some of Larry’s other compositions have been!
Larry with the Allured Composition Award piece: Coronation and Triumphant Exultation.
Any questions?
Finally, if you have any questions you’d like to ask Larry about Coronation and Triumphant Exultation, please contact us. Larry is always happy to talk about his music. Alternatively, if you’d like to commission an original composition for your handbell choir, please ask!
