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!
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.
The Kerstmarkt-Holland 2023 will see the return of local handbell duo Larry and Carla, who will be playing traditional Christmas handbell music on three Friday evenings during November and December.
The Kerstmarkt is an annual open-air European-style Christmas market located at the 8th Street Marketplace in Downtown Holland. Come and listen to beautiful festive music as you shop for unique handcrafted gifts and locally-made holiday treats. Coffee and hot cider will be available to help you stay warm!
Most of the Kerstmarkt is under cover, so you can shop for gifts comfortably there. The market is located in downtown Holland, so there are plenty of shops and restaurants close by. There’s enough to do that you could easily turn a visit to the Kerstmarkt into a day trip. The city’s famous “snowmelt” system makes it safe to walk on the heated sidewalks, even if the weather is wintry. The Kerstmarkt will give you a taste of a traditional European Christmas market, without having to fly to Europe!
Here’s hoping for a bit less snow at the Kersmarkt-Holland 2023! This photo was taken on Kerstmarkt opening day, on a chilly Saturday in 2022. We still had fun, but wow, it was cold!
Handbells in the snow!
Admission is free, but tips for the musicians are appreciated!
Christmas Day has been and gone, but we’re determined to celebrate the full twelve days of Christmas. We’re at the blissful stage of the year when we can finally take a break, catch our breath, and relax after a busy month of holiday handbell performances!
The holiday season is always our favorite time of year. We get the chance to go out and share our Christmas handbell music, meet new people, and visit new places. We were fortunate that the recent snowy-blizzard weather waited until the second half of December to hit West Michigan, so we didn’t have to make any long drives in bad conditions. It’s always a risk when we arrange our holiday performance schedule, because we all know how unpredictable Michigan winter weather can be! Having said that, we’ve lived in Michigan since 2016, so we’re more used to driving through the snow now. Remember when we drove six hours a day for Larry’s radiation treatment in the winter of 2021? If we can survive that, we can survive anything!
Our 2022 holiday performances
Our 2022 holiday performance season began early this year, on November 19th, with our first of three performances at the Kerstmarkt. This Christmas market in Downtown Holland is always a highlight of our holiday season, but this year was a bit different! The opening day of the Kerstmarkt arrived on a day when snow was falling, and the temperature was… well, chilly, to say the least. Still, we’ve never cancelled a performance yet, so we were determined that this one would go ahead. We still managed to have fun, and we admired the courage of anyone who came out to shop in such terrible weather!
Handbells in the snow
For anyone worrying about our handbells and how they cope with extreme cold, we did take some precautions. We took the bells out into the garage a couple of hours before the performance, so that they’d get used to the drop in temperature gradually. We also didn’t play them too loudly when we got to the event. When we play in the cold, we always notice the change in the way the bells sound, so we don’t put any undue strain on them. There are some bells that really, really don’t like the cold, and they simply refuse to play, so we generally leave everything higher than G6 in the case, and don’t play any pieces that involve any “unhappy” bells.
Fortunately, we had two more opportunities to play at the Kerstmarkt. The weather was never as fierce as that first session, and we even had a bit of sunshine and blue sky!
We were privileged to be invited to perform two duet concerts during Advent. The first was at First United Methodist Church in Kalamazoo, as part of their lunchtime Advent Concert Series. It was wonderful to be able to share our music in such a beautiful space.
Our second concert was at Second Reformed Church in Zeeland. We performed as part of their Second Series: Sublime Art in a Sacred Space concert series. We didn’t have piano accompaniment this time; just an hour of seasonal handbell duets. It was fun to meet and chat with audience members at the post-concert reception.
“Return visit” handbell performances
We’re always pleased to be invited back to give handbell duet performances for groups we’ve played for in past years. This year was our fourth Christmas performance at the Gary Byker Memorial Library in Hudsonville. It’s always a popular event, run by the Friends of the Library. We also spent another evening in concert with the Zeeland Community Band. We’ve been at the ZCB Christmas concert since 2016, and it’s become an annual tradition for us. The band has been growing in number over the last few years, and they sound better than ever! We made return visits to several senior communities and local organizations this year too.
Corporate parties are some of our favorite holiday events, and we had fun playing at DeVos Place in Grand Rapids. We played Christmas music to welcome guests as they arrived at the party.
Concerts with the Kalamazoo Ringers
This December, we also enjoyed playing in a couple of concerts as part of the Kalamazoo Ringers. We took part in the annual Christmas in Kalamazoo event and the group’s Christmas concert at Grace Harbor Church. We even played one of Larry’s arrangements – Gaudete– and the full concert is now available to watch on YouTube.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this holiday season fun!
If you booked us for a performance or Christmas program or wrote a review of our performance – thank you. If you came to one of our concerts, we appreciate you too! To all those who offered us coffee or a meal, chatted with us, or prayed for us – thank you. We enjoyed sharing our handbell music with you, and we hope 2023 will be a happy and healthy year for you all!
Enjoy the traditional sounds of Christmas handbells at Hudsonville Library! Michigan handbell duo Larry and Carla will be back for the fourth time with a program of handbell duets!
Larry and Carla are West Michigan’s smallest handbell choir. They met on a website for handbell musicians when Larry lived in California and Carla lived in England. Their shared love of handbells led to a 3-year long-distance relationship, and eventually to a visa process and marriage. They moved from California to Holland in the summer of 2016.
Larry and Carla will again be demonstrating the art of playing handbells using the traditional “four in hand” technique. Their program will include some well-known carols, as well as some less-familiar holiday tunes from around the world. You’ll also hear music played on a set of of handchimes, an instrument that gives a very pure tone to traditional Christmas music. Larry and Carla will talk about the history of their bells and the music they play, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions.
Please join us as we celebrate Christmas at Hudsonville Library. We look forward to welcoming you to this popular annual event, presented by the Friends of the Gary Byker Memorial Library.
Free Free to attend; a donation to the Friends of the Library is appreciated
Larry and Carla will be presenting a program of Christmas Handbells in Grand Rapids, at a lunchtime event for a local group.
We’ll share some traditional Advent and Christmas music from around the world, and demonstrate how we play our handbell duets in the 4-in-hand style. We’ll be using Malmark handbells and handchimes for this performance. What better way to ring in the Christmas season than by listening to carols played with bells?
This is a private event.
If you’d like to book Larry and Carla to play Christmas handbells in Grand Rapids or anywhere else, you can find lots more information on our website. The traditional sound of handbell music is perfect for creating a festive atmosphere at a Christmas or holiday event. We can also play beautiful music for worship services during Advent and Christmas, and for winter wedding ceremonies. As a handbell duo, we take up less room than a traditional handbell choir, which makes our performances ideal for venues where space is limited. We always recommend early booking for the Christmas and holiday season, but can sometimes accommodate last-minute requests too. If you need more information, or have any questions about our availability, please get in touch!
Free Private event
Gary Byker Memorial Library of Hudsonville
3338 Van Buren St Hudsonville,
MI
49426United States+ Google Map
O Holy Night is one of the most beautiful and popular carols for Christmas. Also known as Cantique de Noël, it was written as a poem by Placide Cappeau, and set to music by Aldolphe Adam in 1847.
“O holy night! the stars are brightly shining; It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope–the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn! Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born! O night, O holy night, O night divine!“
We’re in the middle of a snowstorm here in West Michigan. It’s unusual for us to have so much snowfall on the ground this side of Christmas. But one thing’s for certain; it makes a beautiful backdrop for a Christmas handbell video. Here’s our new 12-bell arrangement of O Holy Night:
More about O Holy Night, 12-bell version
As with all Choraegus 12-bell pieces, O Holy Night is suitable for 3-6 ringers. We’ve deliberately kept it free from techniques that need tables or foam pads, so that handbell musicians can play from music stands easily. Sheet music is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. This arrangement is available for three different ranges of handbells – one version using C5-G6, another for F5-C7, and another for Bb4-F6. 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.
Other arrangements of O Holy Night from Choraegus
O Holy Night is also available as an arrangement for 8 handbells.
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!
The Music Ministry of Second Reformed Church in Zeeland welcomes guests to attend a celebration of the Sounds of the Christmas Season, featuring Larry and Carla, handbell musicians from Holland. We are pleased to welcome this husband and wife duo whose repertoire extends across the entire spectrum of hymns, classical music, Christmas carols and folk music. They aim to demonstrate that handbell performances are not only beautiful to listen to, but also create graceful and interesting visual art. Larry and Carla Sue will share their talent in a free concert at 5:00 pm on Sunday, December 4. Second Reformed Church is located at 225 E. Central Avenue. No tickets required. Guests are cordially invited to remain for refreshments and for an opportunity to meet the musicians following the recital.
Join Larry and Carla to celebrate the season with beautiful music written for handbells.
About Larry and Carla
Larry and Carla started playing handbells in 1987; Larry in California, and Carla in England. Carla has performed and taught extensively throughout England, and also in Estonia, France and the USA. Larry was a member and director of several handbell choirs in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. He is a published handbell composer, bass handbell specialist, and the author of The Bass Ringer’s Notebook. Larry is also a recipient of the Donald E. Allured Award for Handbell Composition.
Larry and Carla first met online on a website for handbell musicians. After a couple of years in a long-distance relationship, they were married in California in 2012 and started performing handbell duets together. In 2016, they moved to Holland, Michigan. They arrange all their own music, both secular and sacred, and run their own publishing company, Choraegus. Larry and Carla aim to demonstrate that handbell performances are not only beautiful to listen to, but can also be graceful and interesting to watch.
For this Holiday Handbell Duets concert, Larry and Carla will be performing with Malmark handbells and handchimes. Their repertoire will include a selection of traditional Advent and Christmas carols from around the world.
Free Admission is free, but donations to support the recital series are appreciated.
Second Reformed Church of Zeeland
Gary Byker Memorial Library of Hudsonville
3338 Van Buren St Hudsonville,
MI
49426United States+ Google Map
“God rest ye merry, gentlemen Let nothing you dismay, Remember, Christ, our Savior Was born on Christmas Day, To save us all from Satan’s power When we were gone astray O tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy!“
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen is our latest addition to the Choraegus handbell music catalog. This traditional English Christmas carol has the alternative title Tidings of Comfort and Joy. This lively arrangement will be fun for anyone who enjoys mixed meter! We recorded our demonstration video in our Victorian summer cottage at Bay View in northern Michigan.
More information about this arrangement
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemenis an accompanied 8-bell arrangement. The meter switches between 12/8 and 5/4 to create a lively feel and provide some extra challenge! We demonstrate it as a 4-in-hand duet, but you don’t need any special techniques to play it. This piece is suitable for 2-4 ringers, and sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus. The piano score is included with the piece, and there is an mp3 backing track available to purchase separately. This can be useful if you don’t have a pianist available, or for rehearsing.
Buying handbell music from Choraegus
Your Choraegus music score will come to you in a download link, as a PDF file. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. You can order the music, download and print it on the same day, and be ready to rehearse!
Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group – so you only need to pay once. Purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. You can find full details in our licensing agreement, and in our instructions about what you’re allowed to do with Choraegus music. 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. If you enjoy playing our music, please share our website link with other handbell musicians, and help us to get the word out!
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. Just about every question anyone’s ever asked us is there, along with answers. Please contact us if you don’t find the information you need, and we’ll be happy to help.
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus is an Advent hymn written by Charles Wesley. The tune, JEFFERSON, is also used for the Pentecost hymn Wake, the Dawn is Now Full Rising, and the hymns Tears of Suffering and God, Our Author and Creator. Our 12-bell arrangement has piano accompaniment.
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus is suitable for 3-6 ringers, with no special techniques required. This means you can play the piece without the need for tables or foam. The piano accompaniment score is included with this arrangement and there is an mp3 available to purchase separately; useful if you don’t have a pianist available, or need to practise without an accompanist.
Where to find the music
If you’d like to play Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus the sheet music is available to purchase and download from Choraegus.
When you buy Choraegus handbell music, please note that the 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. Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to six copies for your handbell group – so don’t pay for more copies than you need!
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 title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs.
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.
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!
