April 17, 2015

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!

March 22, 2015

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

March 12, 2015

Southeastern Conference Advanced Handbell Festival

We’re excited that Larry has been invited to be the clinician at the SECC Advanced Handbell Festival this year!

We’re looking forward to making a trip to Riverside for this one-day event. Larry will be leading rehearsals with advanced young handbell musicians, and preparing for an evening concert. The handbell choirs will work on massed-ringing pieces to perform as a group, and will also prepare individual performance pieces. We’ll be playing an 8-bell duet or two during the concert too!

We’re looking forward to our visit to Riverside, and hope to do some sightseeing after the Advanced Handbell Festival. We’re also making tentative plans to play handbell duets in a church service on the Sunday morning. We’ll give you more details about this as they become available. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for updates!

If you’re in the area, you might like to join us on Friday, March 13, for the evening concert at La Sierra University’s Alumni Pavilion. There should be some exciting music to listen to, performed by some of the area’s finest young handbell musicians. Find out more information from the SECC Office of information, or contact us if you have any questions we might be able to help with.

February 3, 2015

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.

January 31, 2015

The Redding Bronze Concert is Today!

The Redding Bronze concert is today! Northern California’s premier handbell ensemble has been working hard to bring you an exciting one-hour concert of music you’ll enjoy. Larry is the guest director for this event, and the ringers have come from northern California, Oregon and Nevada to take part.

The Redding Bronze concert today will include a varied selection of handbell arrangements and original compositions. We hope you’ll enjoy Michael Joy’s Dorian Dance, Lee Afdahl’s beautiful arrangement of Beach Spring, and Paul McKlveen’s lively Guantanamera. The performance will take place at 4:00pm at First Presbyterian Church in Redding. There’s no charge for admission, but we’ll be taking a freewill offering to help with costs.

Any questions?

Redding Bronze is an annual event, hosted by the Carillons Handbell Choir, a Redding-based ensemble. Please contact us if you have any questions, or if you need more information about this event or future Redding Bronze events. You can also get in touch with us on our Facebook page, where will be posting photos from this year’s event. If we don’t have the answers, we can put you in touch with someone who can help. We hope to see you at the concert later today!

January 30, 2015

On our Way to Redding Bronze!

Today we’ll be taking a long road trip – from Mountain View to Redding – to take part in Redding Bronze. After spending nearly three years in a long-distance relationship, we think road trips together are fun – and we always look forward to this one. We’ll be driving for several hours, and will be stopping en route to search for Cherry Sours, our traditional road-trip snack. You’ll notice that they have no fat and no cholesterol – so they’re practically “health food”! Yeah, right. But we’re going to eat them anyway.

Redding Bronze is a fun and challenging handbell event! It takes place from Friday evening until Saturday evening, at First Presbyterian Church, 2315 Placer Street, Redding, CA 96001. Larry will be directing, and this year’s repertoire is as follows:

Moon Over the Ruined Castle – arr. Kazuko Okamoto
Beach Spring – arr. Lee Afdahl
Guantanamera – arr. Paul McKlveen and Ann Legarde
Knowing You – arr. Patricia Cota
Dorian Dance – Michael Joy
Festive Peal -Karen Thompson
I Will Arise and Go to Jesus – arr. Larry Sue
Diademata Festal – arr. Bill Ingram

There’s a public concert on Saturday at 4:00pm, and admission is free. If you’re anywhere near the Redding area, we’d love to see you there!

December 19, 2014

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display in El Cerrito

We were excited to be performing for the second time at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display in El Cerrito! This display has been a tradition since 1950, when El Cerrito resident Mr Sundar Shadi began by placing a single star in his hillside yard. Every year, the display grew as Mr Shadi made more handmade figures from papier-mâché and recycled materials. Soon it became a much-loved place to visit. Mr Shadi considered it his gift to the people in the community. He continued to put up the display annually until 1996, when age and failing eyesight forced him to stop.

After Mr Shadi’s death in 2002, thanks to the efforts of the Soroptomists of El Cerrito, the Professional Firefighters Contra Costa County Local 1230, local businesses and volunteers, the Shadi sculptures made a triumphant return. They are now in a new location, on Moeser Lane. This year, you’ll be able to see them until December 26, lit up between 5:00pm and 10:00pm every evening.

We played handbell duets on the opening night of the display this year, and were pleased that it wasn’t as cold or windy as last year! Playing handbells on such a steep slope is a bit of a challenge, but we’re fortunate to need only our small percussion table and music stand, so there’s not too much likelihood of anything falling over.

You can find more of our photos of this year’s Holiday Display on our Facebook page.

If you have the opportunity to go to El Cerrito and see the display, we thoroughly recommend it! It’s a wonderful tradition; a reminder of times past, and a lovely way to start the holiday season.

December 17, 2014

The GISSV German Holiday Market in Mountain View

When Carla lived in England, visiting a German Holiday Market was an important part of the run-up to Christmas. With spiced apple cider, Lebkuchen, live music, twinkling lights and a festive atmosphere, a German market is always a great place to buy gifts, and get into the holiday spirit. Carla missed the sights and sounds of the traditional Christmas Markets during our first Christmas together here in California.

So we were very happy to discover, in 2013, that the German International School of Silicon Valley was planning a German Holiday Market here in Mountain View! We played handbell duets there, and had a great time. This year, we were pleased to return for the 2014 Holiday Market.

After several days of heavy rain, the sun shone over Mountain View on the morning of Saturday, December 13th. We played Christmas and holiday duets to open the market, and then came back for another session in the early afternoon. When we weren’t playing handbells, we enjoyed looking at the crafts and gifts. Yes, we bought some European chocolate and gingerbread for Christmas!

We had a lovely time at the market, and were sorry not to be able to stay longer. Holiday markets always seem even more special in the evening, when the Christmas lights are twinkling! You can find our photos from the event on our Facebook page.

December 14, 2014

The Festival of Carols in San Jose

The 14th Festival of Carols at Foothill Presbyterian Church, San Jose was a very enjoyable evening. A variety of musical ensembles from around the Bay Area took part, and performed for a large audience. We played two of our 8-bell duets there: the Ukrainian Bell Carol and a brand-new, unpublished version of It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. It’s always slightly daunting to perform an unpublished piece for the first time, but this one went well.

The following musicians provided the entertainment for the evening:

Larry and Carla
Brass Bells
Santa Teresa High School Guitar Ensemble
Peralta Consort
The Chancel Choir of Foothill Presbyterian Church
Glory Ringers of Foothill Presbyterian Church,
Ukelele Scramble
Voices of the Valley

We enjoyed all of these performances, and so did the audience. A Festival of Carols event is always such a good way to welcome Christmas and enjoy the music of the holiday season.

Thank you to everyone involved!

Our thanks go to Jay Jordana for inviting us to take part in the Festival of Carols, and to everyone who worked so hard to make the evening such a success. If you’d like to see more of our photos from the event, we’ve posted them on our Facebook page.

December 9, 2014

Upcoming Performances in the San Francisco Bay Area

We have a busy few days ahead of us with upcoming performances across the Bay Area. If you haven’t yet managed to hear our Christmas handbell duets, you have four chances to see us this week!

Fundraising for the Salvation Army

This coming Thursday, December 11th, we’ll be fundraising at the Salvation Army Red Kettle. We’ll be playing Christmas carols and holiday music at Nob Hill Foods in Mountain View. Drop by and help the Salvation Army provide food, shelter and social services to those in need throughout the year.

San Jose Festival of Carols

On Friday evening, December 12th, we’ll be in San Jose, at the Festival of Carols. The Festival of Carols is at Foothill Presbyterian Church, 5301 McKee Road, San Jose, CA 95127, and starts at 7:00pm. This is an annual musical celebration that features performances by the Foothill musical ensembles. Other professional, semi-professional and amateur artists from the community will also perform at the event. The evening ends with a post-concert reception in the Fellowship Hall. There’s no admission charge. However, donations such as non-perishable food items, coats, jackets, and toys are appreciated, and benefit many local organisations.

Upcoming performances at the weekend

Saturday, December 13th, is a busy day for us. We’ll be at the annual German Holiday Market (Weinachtsmarkt) in Mountain View. The event takes place between 11:00am and 9:00pm at the plaza of the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. There will be German food and drinks, and handcrafted gifts from Germany and crafts by local artists. Students of the German International School of Silicon Valley will perform, and there will be an ice rink! The event offers an opportunity to explore the famous tradition of German Holiday Markets right here in Silicon Valley. All proceeds will benefit GISSV’s high-quality bilingual programs.

We’ll be performing between 11:00am and 11:30am, and again between 12:45pm and 1:00pm.

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display

After the German Holiday Market, we’ll drive to El Cerrito for the opening night of the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display. This display is an unmissable holiday tradition. It’s on Moeser Lane, east of San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito. The display was first created in 1949, as a gift to the community from an El Cerrito resident, Sundar Shadi. Shadi passed away in 2002 at the age of 101. However, the display he constructed on the hillside next to his El Cerrito home each year continues today. There’s a team of devoted volunteers who care for his creations and ensure they’re on display for the holidays.

The display in the hills of El Cerrito will be lit nightly from December 13th to 26th. The display features shepherds, camels, donkeys and sheep, villagers and the town of Bethlehem. It’s just as Shadi envisioned it would have appeared on the eve of Christ’s birth. We’re making it part of our holiday tradition. Why not make it part of yours? We’ll be playing Christmas carols from 6:00pm (weather permitting!) on the opening night.