May 3, 2021

Rock of Ages – for Handbells, 3 Octaves

“Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood, from Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure; save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labors of my hands can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress; helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath, when mine eyes shall close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown, see Thee on thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.“

Rock of Ages is a popular hymn, written by the Reverend August Toplady and first published in 1775. This is our arrangement for 3 octaves of handbells.

More information about Rock of Ages

If you’d like to play this arrangement, the sheet music is available to download from Choraegus.

When you buy handbell music 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 (for the full-choir copy) entitles you to print up to 15 copies for your group. 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, which we designed to take you through the process in a stress-free way!

Purchasing this 3-5 octave arrangement gives you no-fuss permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and online video-sharing, as part of a performance or worship service. 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 worship services, 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 the Frequently-Asked Questions first, in case the answer is there. If you don’t find the information you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

April 21, 2021

Winter Dance – for Handbells, 5 Octaves

Our most ambitious recording project in recent months has been this 5-octave arrangement of Winter Dance. Written by Seiichi Kyoda for Uttara-Kuru, this piece was originally performed with traditional and modern Japanese instruments. Here, we demonstrate Larry’s 5-octave arrangement on handbells and handchimes. And look! Carla is actually playing bass bells!

More information about the music

Winter Dance is arranged for 5 octaves of handbells, with optional handchimes. If you don’t have the chimes, it works without – but they do add an interesting texture to the piece! It’s a Level 4 arrangement; interesting enough to challenge any handbell choir, but still very playable. If you’d like to play this arrangement, the sheet music is available to download from Choraegus.

When you buy Choraegus handbell music, please note that it 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 (for the choir version of the score) entitles you to print out up to 15 copies for your group. Individual copy licences are also available, but if you buy one copy as a preview, you’ll need to come back for the choir version for your ensemble to play it. Please read our licensing agreement for full information. If you’re new to buying music from Choraegus, we recommend our step-by-step guide!

Any questions?

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

April 15, 2021

Peace – for Handbells, 3-5 Octaves

It often seems as if the world is full of so much violence, and our own lives are more stress-filled than we’d like them to be. Sometimes we just long for a bit of peace! In our house, that can mean sitting down with a cup of tea in front of the TV, but sometimes playing music is exactly what’s needed.

Peace is an original composition for 3-5 octaves of handbells, with optional handchimes. It’s a Level 2+ arrangement, and fairly straightforward to play. This video was one of the first 3-octave pieces we put together. It was a sight-read, with no rehearsing beforehand, but the notes all seem to be there, so you’ll get the idea.

Where to get the sheet music

Peace is suitable for secular performances, as well as for worship services. If you’d like to this original composition, the sheet music is available to download from Choraegus.

Choraegus handbell music is designed to be downloaded 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 (provided you bought the choir version) entitles you to print out up to 15 copies for your group. Please read our licensing agreement for full information. If you’re new to buying music from Choraegus, we recommend our step-by-step guide!

If you enjoyed Peace, you might also enjoy another of Larry’s original compositions, Newness! Purchase of either of these pieces gives you the benefit of our no-fuss permissions for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and online video-sharing – so you won’t need to apply for a separate licence for any of these.

Any questions?

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

April 5, 2021

The Heavens Declare Your Glory – for Handbells

“The heavens declare your glory, the firmament your power;
day unto day the story repeats from hour to hour.
Night unto night replying, proclaims in every land,
O LORD, with voice undying, the wonders of your hand.“

The Heavens Declare Your Glory is the hymn tune FAITHFUL, written by J.S. Bach. We enjoyed putting together this arrangement for 3-5 octaves of handbells! With lots of opportunity for mallets in the bass, a lively beginning and ending, and a thoughtful and contemplative middle section, there’s plenty in this piece to keep your ringers and audience entertained!

How to get the music, and more information about Choraegus

The Heavens Declare Your Glory is a Level 3 arrangement, for 3-5 octaves of handbells. If you’d like to play it, the sheet music is available to download from Choraegus.

Purchasing this 3-5 octave arrangement gives you no-fuss permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and online video-sharing, as part of a performance or worship service.

Any questions about buying or playing our music?

If you have any questions for us, please look at the Frequently-Asked Questions first, in case the answer is there. If you don’t find the information you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

The Heavens Declare Your Glory handbells

March 31, 2021

Kingsfold – for Handbells, 3-5 Octaves

Kingsfold is a folk tune that’s thought to date back to the Middle Ages. It’s a tune used for a variety of texts, both sacred and secular. As a folk song, you might know it as Dives and Lazarus or The Star of the County Down. In worship, it’s sung as the popular hymn I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, and also as When Jesus Walked Upon This Earth. For Christmas, it’s the setting for O Sing a Song of Bethlehem. Our arrangement of Kingsfold for handbells and optional handchimes is a very versatile piece!

We enjoyed putting this video together. Playing 3-5 octave music has been a good way to keep up our ringing skills during a time when duet performances haven’t really been happening. The urge to rehearse for events that aren’t taking place… well, it just isn’t there. So these “full choir” videos have been a fun alternative for us!

More information about Kingsfold

Kingsfold is for 3-5 octaves of handbells, with optional 2-octave handchimes. If you’d like to play it, the sheet music is available to download from Choraegus.

When you buy Choraegus handbell music, 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 up to 15 copies for your group. Please read our licensing agreement for full information. If you’re new to buying music from Choraegus, we recommend our step-by-step guide, which we designed to take you through the process in a stress-free way!

Other versions of this piece

An unaccompanied arrangement for 8 handbells

An arrangement for 6 handbells and piano

Any questions?

If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, please look at the Frequently-Asked Questions first. If you don’t find the answers you need, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

March 25, 2021

Fairest Lord Jesus / Beautiful Savior – for Handbells (3-5 Octaves)

“Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown

Fairest Lord Jesus is a popular Christian hymn, also sung as Beautiful Savior. We enjoyed putting this video together with just the two of us. Again, it was an opportunity to test our sight-reading skills. The last year has been a quiet one for us, performance-wise, and this video-recording project has certainly kept us busy!

More information about the music

Fairest Lord Jesus is for 3-5 octaves of handbells, with optional 2-octave handchimes. If you’d like to play it, the sheet music is available to download from Choraegus.

Any questions?

Fairest Lord Jesus Beautiful Savior handbells

March 15, 2021

Celebration – Easy Handbell Music!

Looking for easy handbell music? Admittedly, Larry does have a bit of a reputation for writing challenging music. However, just occasionally, he likes to write something suitable for a beginning handbell choir, or a group in need of something to play that’s not going to take too much time to learn. Celebration is one of those pieces.

Larry wrote this piece some years ago for the handbell choir at Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California. It has straightforward rhythm and lots of chords – ideal for building confidence in newer ringers, or for groups getting back together after a period of absence. Here’s our new demonstration video, recorded with just the two of us:

This is another arrangement that needs no bell-sharing between ringers. If your handbell choir is observing social distancing, and playing from spaced-apart tables, this piece could work well!

More information about Choraegus handbell music

Celebration is an original composition written for 3-5 octaves of handbells. The sheet music is available to download from Choraegus.

Choraegus handbell music is designed to be downloaded 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 out up to 15 copies for your group. Please read our licensing agreement for full information. If you’re new to buying music from Choraegus, we recommend our step-by-step guide. We designed this guide to take you through the process in a stress-free way.

Any questions?

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

February 24, 2021

All Things Bright and Beautiful – for Handbells

In these Covid times, when we can’t get together with others to play full-choir handbell music, we’re having to improvise a bit. We decided to put together another 3-octave demonstration video – so here’s All Things Bright and Beautiful!

As with our other “fake-full-choir” recordings (All Praise to Thee, for Thou, O King Divine and Newness), this was more of a read-through than a pre-rehearsed performance. It felt like a bit of a crazy sight-read, because some of those notes go past very quickly, and there are some sneaky thumb-damps in there, as well as a fair amount of syncopation. It certainly kept us on our toes! We apologise for the minor inaccuracies, but it’s mostly there.

The video includes some images from the Tulip Time Festival here in Holland – an event that takes place annually at the start of May.

More about this arrangement

This is another arrangement that needs no bell-sharing between ringers. If your handbell choir is observing social distancing, and playing from spaced-apart tables, this piece could work well!

All Things Bright and Beautiful is arranged for 3 or 5 octaves of handbells, and it’s Level 3+. The sheet music is available to download from Choraegus.

More information about buying Choraegus handbell music

Choraegus handbell music is designed to be downloaded 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 out up to 15 copies for your group. Please read our licensing agreement for full information. If you’re new to buying music from Choraegus, we recommend our step-by-step guide!

Any questions?

All Things Bright and Beautiful - tulips

February 22, 2021

Newness – for Handbells, 3 or 5 Octaves

Now that we have more time together at home, we decided to try recording another full-choir piece with just the two of us. We decided on Newness – one of Larry’s original compositions – as our second recording project. We didn’t have 5 octaves of handbells at home, so we played the 3-octave version.

As with All Praise to Thee, for Thou, O King Divine, this was a read-through, rather than a practised performance. It’s pretty much all there, but we didn’t practise beforehand, and didn’t work on expression or dynamics. Still, you should get a reasonable idea of how the piece is meant to sound.

This is another arrangement that needs no bell-sharing between ringers. If your handbell choir is observing social distancing, and playing from spaced-apart tables, this piece could work well!

More information about the music

Newness is an original composition written for 3 or 5 octaves of handbells, with 2 octaves of (optional) chimes. The sheet music is available to download from Choraegus.

Choraegus handbell music is designed to be downloaded 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 out up to 15 copies for your group. Please read our licensing agreement for full information. If you’re new to buying music from Choraegus, we recommend our step-by-step guide!

Any questions?

Original composition for handbells - Newness

February 4, 2021

All Praise to Thee, For Thou, O King Divine

All Praise to Thee, For Thou, O King Divine was a new recording adventure for us! In the last couple of weeks, we’ve been making daily road-trips (Monday-Friday) between Holland and Ann Arbor for Larry’s radiation treatment. Spending more than 6 hours a day in the car definitely makes us appreciate our weekends!

What better way to spend a weekend than making a recording of one of Larry’s full choir arrangements? We decided on All Praise to Thee, because it’s such a versatile hymn. We’ve sung it as When in Our Music God is Glorified (with words by Fred Pratt Green, © 1972 Hope Publishing), and it’s also the setting for We Know that Christ is Raised and Dies No More. If your church holds Music Appreciation Sunday, this piece would be ideal. It would also be suitable for Easter services, as well as year-round.

Here’s our video. Please be warned; this was very much a read-through. If we’d taken time to rehearse, it would have looked and sounded smoother, but… well, the weekend was too short!

As you can see from the video, this arrangement has no bell-sharing between ringers. If your handbell choir is observing social distancing, and playing from spaced-apart tables, this piece could work well!

Where to find the sheet music

All Praise to Thee, for Thou, O King Divine is written for 3-5 octaves of handbells, with an octave of (optional) chimes. The sheet music is available to download from Choraegus.

Choraegus handbell music is designed to be downloaded 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 out up to 15 copies for your group. Please read our licensing agreement for full information. If you’re new to buying music from Choraegus, we recommend our step-by-step guide!