Tag Archives: Choraegus

Angels from the Realms of Glory – for 3 Octaves of Handbells

Angels from the Realms of Glory is a popular 19th-century Christmas carol. Our arrangement of the REGENT SQUARE tune for 3 octaves of handbells is a straightforward Level 2, and it’s available to purchase and download from Choraegus. It’s one of those pieces where you can just repeat the verse as many times as you need to, giving you lots of flexibility for your worship service or holiday performance.

How to purchase Angels from the Realms of Glory

The full choir license for this carol is currently available for the bargain price of just $10! Purchase gives you our no-fuss permission to print up to 15 copies for your group.

Your purchase of the full-choir license also includes 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 arranger (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. 

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.

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!

In need of more 3-octave Christmas music?

Your 3-octave handbell choir might also enjoy our recent arrangements of Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming and Jingle Bells! There’s lots more 3-octave music available from Choraegus, so please feel free to look around the website. There will also be more easy 3-octave Christmas music coming soon!

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.

Angels from the Realms of Glory handbells

Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow – new 12-bell music

Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow is the latest handbell arrangement from Choraegus. This African-American spiritual is perfect for a Christmas concert or worship service, and is arranged for 12 handbells.

“There’s a star in the East on Christmas morn;
Rise up, shepherd, and follow;
It will lead to the place where the Christ was born;
Rise up, shepherd, and follow.“

More information about Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow

As with all Choraegus 12-bell pieces, Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow is suitable for 3-6 ringers. Sheet music is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. Each arrangement is available for three different ranges of handbells, so you can choose which you prefer. Refer the bells-used charts on the Choraegus webpage to make sure you have all the bells you need, and make sure you purchase the right version!

Things to know about Choraegus handbell music

Choraegus handbell music scores are designed to be downloaded as PDF files. That means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Purchasing a 12-bell arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to six copies for your handbell group – so please don’t pay for more copies than you need! A practice track is also available separately – useful if your ringers need to practise their parts without the full group being available.

Your 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 arranger (Larry Sue) and the publisher of the piece (Choraegus) on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs. We appreciate your help in getting the word out about Choraegus handbell music – and if you make a video of your handbell choir playing any of our pieces, we’d love to see it!

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!

Rise Up Shepherd and Follow - handbells

Easy 3-octave Christmas Music – New from Choraegus

Easy 3-octave Christmas music is always useful, whether it’s for a beginning handbell choir, or for a more experienced group looking for music they can put together quickly without needing a lot of rehearsal time. Our new arrangement of the 16th-century carol Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming is simple enough for a less-experienced choir to play, but still sounds effective.

Bonus: you can repeat the verses as many times as you need to! We recorded our demonstration video on handchimes, because we really like the way they sound, but bells will obviously work too.

More information about Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming

Lo, How a Rose is for 3 octaves of handbells, Level 1. Sheet music for this arrangement is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. The full choir license is currently available for the bargain price of just $10! 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 arranger (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. 

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.

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!

Up for a little more of a challenge?

Your 3-octave handbell choir might also enjoy our recent arrangement of Jingle Bells! There’s lots more 3-octave music available from Choraegus, so please feel free to look around the website. There will also be more easy 3-octave Christmas music coming soon!

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.

Easy 3-octave Christmas music for handbells

Handbell Music for Hanukkah

Hanukkah (also Chanukah) is the Jewish festival of lights; an 8-day celebration that’s widely observed throughout the world. We’ve had several requests for handbell music for Hanukkah, and we’re pleased to be able to offer four new 12-bell pieces, available from Choraegus.

The Dreidel Song

Also known as I Have a Little Dreidel, this traditional song describes the creation of the four-sided spinning top that is used to play the game of dreidel during Hanukkah.

“I have a little dreidel, I made it out of clay.
And when it’s dry and ready, oh dreidel I shall play.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, oh dreidel I shall play.“

Sevivon Sov Sov Sov

Sevivon Sov Sov Sov is also known as “The Other Dreidel Song”. Dreidel, spin, spin, spin!

Ma’oz Tzur

Ma’oz Tzur is a Jewish liturgical poem, written in the 12th or 13th century and sung during Hanukkah.

“My Refuge, my Rock of Salvation! ‘Tis pleasant to sing Your praises.
Let our house of prayer be restored. And there we will offer You our thanks.
When You will have slaughtered the barking foe.
Then we will celebrate with song and psalm the altar’s dedication.“

Hanukkah, O Hanukkah

Written by Mordkhe Rivesman and first published in 1912, Hanukkah, O Hanukkah is a popular song of celebration.

“Hanukkah, O Hanukkah,
Come light the menorah,
Come to our party,
We’ll all dance the hora.
Gather ’round the table,
We’ll give you a great,
Dreidels to play with
and latkes to eat.”

More information about this handbell music for Hanukkah

As with all Choraegus 12-bell pieces, these Hanukkah arrangements are suitable for 3-6 ringers. Sheet music is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. Click on the titles above to be taken to the Choraegus site to make your purchase, or find them all listed together with other 12-bell traditional songs. Each arrangement is available for three different ranges of handbells, so you can choose which you prefer. Be sure to refer the bells-used charts on the Choraegus webpage to make sure you have all the bells you need, and be certain to purchase the right version.

Things to know about Choraegus handbell music

Choraegus handbell music scores are designed to be downloaded as a PDF files. That means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Purchasing a 12-bell arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to six copies for your handbell group – so please don’t pay for more copies than you need! A practice track is also available separately – useful if your ringers need to practise their parts without the full group being available.

Your 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 arranger (Larry Sue) and the publisher of the piece (Choraegus) on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs. We appreciate your help in getting the word out about Choraegus handbell music – and if you make a video of your handbell choir playing any of our pieces, we’d love to see it!

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!

handbell music hanukkah

Escape from No-Note Island – for Handbells

Escape from No-Note Island is a Level 5 original composition for 5-7 octaves of handbells. Larry actually wrote the piece in 2018, but we’ve only just recently managed to record a demo video for it. It’s the perfect piece for the Position 11 diva in your handbell choir!

The story behind Escape from No-Note Island

Here’s Larry’s account of the story behind the piece, from Choraegus:

“Handbell compositions are usually written for note ranges that constitute complete octaves of bells. Having this agreed-on convention between manufacturers, composers, publishers, and performers makes it easier to maintain consistency within the ringing art. For instance, “five octaves” refers to the range C3-C8. Because of this, we start with a common knowledge about the music to be written and the bells needed to play it.

Although this is an excellent way of doing things, the resulting music tends to prefer the middle of its designated note range. This often results in the lowest and largest bells seeing less action. Bass ringers can often accept this situation because it means they can get a short break between spates of heavy lifting.

It’s a different matter for the upper treble ringers. Treble ringers generally prefer being active and occupied, and so there are some who have an aversion to being sent to the far right end of the table, which to them is a desolate place known as “Position 11”. This aversion has led some to label Position 11 with epithets such as “no-note island”.

This piece is dedicated to those of you who feel marooned and forsaken when you’re sent to the topmost position. I hope you’ll feel better about being there when you play this work.

Escape from No-Note Island is dedicated to our friend Caleb Onstead, who is also a published handbell composer. Caleb’s use of the phrase “no-note island” to describe the Position 11 assignment was the inspiration behind this piece. During the recent Bay View Week of Handbells event, Larry had the opportunity to present Caleb with a copy of the score.

Escape from No-Note Island, Larry Sue

More information about Escape from No-Note Island

Escape from No-Note Island 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 allows you to perform, broadcast and live-stream this piece as part of a concert or worship service. There’s no need for any additional license or fee. We ask that you credit the composer (Larry Sue) and publisher (Choraegus) in any printed media such as concert programs, and online (in video descriptions). Please 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 by email or on our Facebook page!

Please note that Choraegus handbell music is designed to come to you as a downloadable PDF file. 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.

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.

The Twelve Days of Christmas – Handbell Trio

The Twelve Days of Christmas is a holiday favorite, and now it’s available for handbell trio!

The twelve days are there in full, and we’ve included some musical surprises in the score. You should be able to hear the swans-a-swimming, some hints of farm animals, some dancing, and some drumming! We put together an audio file in a short time last year, and it’s not rehearsed or polished, but you should get the idea. We had plans to record a video, and we still have those plans, so we’ll see how the next few months go!

This arrangement was commissioned by St. Andrew United Methodist Church of Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Their intrepid trio performed it last year for the church’s Christmas concert, again without a lot of time to prepare. They did a great job, and the piece was a definite audience-pleaser!

More information about the sheet music

Sheet music for The Twelve Days of Christmas – Handbell Trio is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. The music score will come to you as a PDF file. That means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. When you’ve downloaded your music, your one-time payment entitles you to print sufficient copies for your group. For your convenience, the score package for this arrangement comes with a complete three-staff score, plus separate parts for each ringer. If you need more than three people to play it, that’s okay; you don’t need to pay for extra copies.

Please read our licensing agreement for full information about this. If you’re new to buying music from Choraegus, we recommend our step-by-step guide. We designed this to take you through the process in a (we hope) stress-free way!

Purchasing this arrangement gives you no-fuss permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and online video-sharing. Please take some time to read about what you’re allowed to do with Choraegus handbell music. In these times of live-streaming and online concerts, it’s particularly important that we all understand and follow the laws concerning performance licensing and copyright.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about buying or playing Choraegus handbell music, please look at our Frequently-Asked Questions. If you don’t find the information you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

Our Handbell Concert in Madison, WI

After a busy Saturday morning of handbell workshops, we presented a handbell duet concert in Madison, WI. The sanctuary at Westminster Presbyterian Church is a beautiful performance space!

Handbell Duet Concert, Madison, WI

We played a whole concert with music using just eight bells at a time, although not the same bells for every piece. You’ll notice in the photo that we used three tables for the concert, even though we were only playing 8-bell music. We decided to do that because then we’d have a place to put our sheet music after we’d played it, and also because we used handchimes for one of the pieces. We don’t actually need a lot of space generally, but when we do have room to spread out, we do appreciate it!

Our concert program

Our concert was designed as a sacred concert. We added a couple of not-quite-sacred arrangements, but most of our repertoire consisted of hymns. Chopsticks was a fun addition; added fairly last-minute because we remembered how the audience had enjoyed it at our recent duet performance in Decatur, MI.

Here’s the program for the concert, listing the pieces we played:

Handbell Duet Concert Program

It looks like a lot of pieces for one concert, but we don’t take as much time to reset our bells between pieces as a “standard size” handbell choir usually would, so we can fit more music into the program. We were grateful to Joe Chrisman from Westminster Presbyterian, who played piano for two of our pieces. We’d been rehearsing with an mp3 backing track played on a phone, so it was a real treat to have an actual pianist with us!

Here’s a video of Amazing Grace, with thanks to Larry’s brother Aj, who was at the concert:

Our 8-bell music

All of our 8-bell music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus. The helpful thing about Choraegus handbell music is that (with very few exceptions) it comes with fuss-free permission for performance, broadcasting and live-streaming. No one need worry about applying for separate licenses to perform or broadcast the pieces. We want to make it easy for other handbell ensembles to be able to perform our music too!

We’re thankful to everyone who came to our handbell concert in Madison. It was our first time performing there, and we appreciated the warm welcome we received. After the concert, on the Sunday morning, we played in two church services in Madison. We played prelude and offertory music at Covenant Presbyterian Church, then drove back to Westminster Presbyterian in time for offertory and postlude there. We’d had some doubts about being able to play in both services, but it turned out to be no problem at all, since the organizers Joe and Melissa had worked out the timing of everything so perfectly. The two churches were only a 6-minute drive apart, and we weren’t even out of breath when we arrived at Westminster. Playing in worship on the Sunday morning was a nice way to end our visit to Madison, before starting our long drive back to Michigan.

Handbell duet concert, Madison, WI



During our stay in Madison, we were able to visit the Wisconsin State Capitol building, which was opened in 1917. It’s a fascinating place to visit. When the trip was over, we drove back to Petoskey through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, stopping at various places along the way. If you’d like to see more photos from our trip, take a look at our Facebook page!

Thanks again to everyone who made this Handbell Weekend possible. We hope to visit Madison again someday!

Boat on Lake Tai – Handbells

Boat on Lake Tai (Tàihú Chuán 太湖船) is a traditional Chinese pentatonic song, about Lake Taihu; the third-largest freshwater lake in China. It’s a beautiful, peaceful melody, arranged her for 3-5 octaves of handbells:

More information about Boat on Lake Tai

Boat on Lake Tai is a Level 4- arrangement for 3-5 octaves of handbells, with 2 octaves of handchimes. It’s a peaceful melody, with legato running lines to create a tranquil mood, and it ends with a chord on suspended mallets.

If you’re planning a performance for Lunar New Year, or a concert of handbell music from around the world, you might also like to consider other recent arrangements of Chinese melodies:

Jasmine Flower (Mo Li Hua)

Flower Drum Song (Fengyang Flower Drum)

Sheet music for Boat on Lake Tai 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 allows you to perform, broadcast and live-stream this piece as part of a concert or worship service. There’s no need for any additional license or fee. We ask that you credit the arranger (Larry Sue) and publisher (Choraegus) in any printed media such as concert programs, and online (in video descriptions). Please 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 by email or on our Facebook page!

Please note that Choraegus handbell music is designed to come to you as a downloadable PDF file. 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.

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.

Boat on Lake Tai handbells
There are days when it takes two hands to pick up those bass bells!

2-Octave Handbell Music – Lift High the Cross

In recent weeks, Larry’s been working on some new 2-octave handbell music. These hymn arrangements were written with the handbell choir at Third Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan in mind; a choir that’s small in number, but high in enthusiasm! The hymn arrangements are designed to be fairly straightforward to play, but still interesting enough for ringers and congregations to enjoy.

Lift High the Cross (CRUCIFER) is a popular Easter hymn:

Be Thou My Vision a beautiful hymn based on an Irish folk tune – SLANE – first published in 1909. It’s also used as the setting for Lord of All Hopefulness. Here’s our 2-octave arrangement:

More information about this 2-octave handbell music

Sheet music for these arrangements is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. Click on the links below!

Lift High the Cross

Be Thou My Vision

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 allows you to perform, broadcast and live-stream this piece as part of a concert or worship service. There’s no need for any additional license or fee. We ask that you credit the arranger (Larry Sue) and publisher (Choraegus) in any printed media such as concert programs, and online (in video descriptions). Please 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 by email or on our Facebook page!

Please note that Choraegus handbell music is designed to come to you as a downloadable PDF file. 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.

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.

2-octave handbell music - Larry and Carla

Flower Drum Song (Feng Yang Flower Drum) for Handbells

The Flower Drum Song (also known as Feng Yang Flower Drum) is our newest handbell arrangement, following on from Larry’s recent arrangement of Jasmine Flower (Mo Li Hua). Feng Yang Flower Drum (鳳陽花鼓) is a traditional Chinese folk song, dating from the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644AD).

Here’s our demonstration video!

More information about Flower Drum Song (Feng Yang Flower Drum)

Feng Yang Flower Drum is a Level 4 arrangement for 3 or 5 octaves of handbells. It uses mallets and thumb-damping for to achieve some percussive effects, and is fun to play. This would be a great arrangement for a Chinese New Year celebration!

Sheet music for this arrangement 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 allows you to perform, broadcast and live-stream this piece as part of a concert or worship service. There’s no need for any additional license or fee. We ask that you credit the arranger (Larry Sue) and publisher (Choraegus) in any printed media such as concert programs, and online (in video descriptions). Please 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 by email or on our Facebook page!

Please note that Choraegus handbell music is designed to come to you as a downloadable PDF file. 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.

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.

Feng Yang Flower Drum Song handbells