Tag Archives: handbell duet

New 6-Bell Music for Christmas – Good Christian Men, Rejoice

Are you looking for Christmas music that only needs six bells and a piano? If so, here’s a lively arrangement of Good Christian Men, Rejoice. Larry had shoulder surgery in May and doesn’t need to wear his sling any more… but he put it back on for our demonstration video. He did it for the sake of tradition, and also because Carla doesn’t want to give up any of the four bells she’s playing.

As with all our 6- and 8-bell arrangements, there are no bell changes and no shared bells. No tables are required, so this music could work well for socially-distant duo or trio.

Would you like to play this piece?

If you’d like to play Good Christian Men, Rejoice, 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 can be helpful for anyone who doesn’t have a pianist available, or wants to practise at home.

If you’d looking for an arrangement of this carol that doesn’t need piano accompaniment, we also have standard and “surprisingly easy” 8-bell arrangements available from Choraegus.

Please note that sheet music from Choraegus 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. Purchase of a 6-bell arrangement allows you to print and maintain up to three copies for your handbell group (plus the accompaniment score). Purchase also gives permission for recording, broadcasting, live-streaming and sharing on video-sharing sites, church websites and social media. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites and social media, 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 information you need, and we’ll be happy to help!

Good Christian Men Rejoice - handbells and piano

New 8-Bell Music – Come, Ye Thankful People, Come – for Handbells and Piano

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!

New Handbell Music – 8-Bell Chopsticks!

After a long summer with no scheduled handbell performances, we finally had a long-awaited opportunity to share some handbell duets with an audience! We enjoyed playing some 8-bell duets for the Holland Area branch of the American Guild of Organists. Since we didn’t know when our next performance would be, we’d tried out some new and unpublished arrangements. One of these was an 8-bell arrangement of Chopsticks. We’d only had this piece for a couple of days beforehand, but it turned out to be a lot of fun to play!

Would you like to play Chopsticks?

If you’d like to play Chopsticks, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus. 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. 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.

Useful information about Choraegus handbell scores

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.

If you’d like to play Larry’s 3-5 octave arrangement of Chopsticks, it’s available from From the Top Music!

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’re looking for, and we’ll do what we can to help!

8-bell Chor

New 6-Bell Christmas Music – O Little Town of Bethlehem

Larry is originally from California, and Carla is from England. In the last ten years, it’s been fascinating to discover how we each use different words and phrases. We still occasionally exchange puzzled looks when one of us says something that seems to make no sense. “More bang for your buck”… “Bob’s your uncle” – we’re still finding phrases that cause confusion, even after so many years together! Another fun discovery has been that some of the hymns and Christmas carols that are so familiar here are sung to completely different tunes in the UK. One of these is O Little Town of Bethlehem. Here, we sing it to the tune ST. LOUIS, whereas in the UK this carol is sung to FOREST GREEN. That’s the tune used for our latest arrangement of O Little Town of Bethlehem, for six bells and piano.

As with all our 6- and 8-bell arrangements, there are no bell changes and no shared bells. No tables are required, so this music works well for socially-distant handbell performances.

How to get the sheet music

If you’d like to play O Little Town of Bethlehem, 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, for anyone who doesn’t have a pianist available, or wants to practise at home.

If you’d looking for an arrangement of this carol that doesn’t need piano accompaniment, we have standard and “surprisingly easy” 8-bell arrangements available from Choraegus.

Please note that sheet music from Choraegus 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. Purchase of a 6-bell arrangement allows you to print and maintain up to three copies for your handbell group (plus the accompaniment score), and also gives permission for recording, broadcasting, live-streaming and sharing on video-sharing sites, church websites and social media. See our licensing agreement for full details, and please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites and social media, and in any printed materials such as church service bulletins.

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 all the answers, and we’ll do what we can to help!

New 8-Bell Music – Blessed Assurance – for Handbells and Piano

The hymn Blessed Assurance was written in 1873, with lyrics by Fanny Crosby, set to the tune by Phoebe Knapp. We’re pleased to bring you our new arrangement of this hymn, for 8 handbells with piano accompaniment.

“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
O what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchase of God
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood

Perfect submission, all is at rest
I, in my Savior, am happy and blessed
Watching and waiting, looking above
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love“

As with all our 8-bell arrangements, there are no bell changes, no picking-up of accidentals mid-piece, and no shared bells. It can be played from just music stands, so is suitable even for socially-distanced handbell groups.

If you’d like to play Blessed Assurance, 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 can be useful if you don’t have a willing accompanist, or if you want to rehearse at home.

Important information about Choraegus handbell music

Please note that our music is designed to be downloaded as PDFs, so you’ll be responsible for printing your own music. 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 sharing on video-sharing sites, church websites and social media. See our licensing agreement for full details, and please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites and social media, and in any printed materials such as church service bulletins.

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 all the information you need, and we’ll be happy to help!

Blessed Assurance - 8 bells and piano

Angels We Have Heard on High – New Music for 6 Handbells, and Piano

Larry’s shoulder is making a good recovery since he had extensive surgery on it in May. He doesn’t need to wear a sling any more, and is gradually building up more strength. Since his shoulder surgery, we’ve still been enjoying putting together new music that only needs six bells. Today, we’re pleased to bring you our latest arrangement – Angels We Have Heard on High.

As with all our 6- and 8-bell arrangements, there are no bell changes and no shared bells. No tables are required, so this music works well for socially-distant handbell performances. The GLORIA hymn tune is also used in the UK as the setting for the carol Angels from the Realms of Glory.

If you’d like to play Angels We Have Heard on High, 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, for anyone who doesn’t have a pianist available or wants to practise at home.

We have other versions of this piece!

We have several other arrangements of this carol. All are available from Choraegus, and all are suitable for socially-distanced handbell groups:

An 8-bell (unaccompanied) arrangement

A “Surprisingly-Easy” 8-bell arrangement

Another (completely different) version for 8 bells; same tune, different key

A 12-bell arrangement

An SSA a capella arrangement

Please note that sheet music from Choraegus is designed to be downloaded as PDFs, so you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Purchase of a 6-bell arrangement allows you to print and maintain up to three copies for your handbell group (plus the accompaniment score), and also gives permission for recording, broadcasting, live-streaming and sharing on video-sharing sites, church websites and social media. See our licensing agreement for full details, and please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites and social media, and in any printed materials such as church service bulletins.

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, and we’ll do what we can to help!

Christmas bells!

Shall We Gather at the River – a New Arrangement for 8 Handbells and Piano

Following on from our popular arrangement of Be Thou My Vision, here’s our latest 8-bell title, Shall We Gather at the River?, arranged for handbells and piano. This beautiful hymn was written in 1864 by Robert Lowry.

“Shall we gather at the river,
Where bright angel feet have trod;
With its crystal tide forever
Flowing by the throne of God?

Yes, we’ll gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river;
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God.”

This arrangement has no bell changes, and no tables are required. It could work well for playing in a worship service, with ringers playing from music stands, spaced apart to allow for social distancing.

Interested in playing this arrangement?

If you’d like to play Shall We Gather at the River, 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; perfect if you don’t have a willing accompanist, or want to rehearse at home.

Please read the following information:

Choraegus 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 video-sharing sites and social media, 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, designed 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!

Shall We Gather at the River - handbells

New Handbell Music for Christmas – It Came Upon the Midnight Clear – for 6 Bells and Piano

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear is our latest carol arrangement. Since Larry had his shoulder surgery in May, we’ve been enjoying the challenge of working on some handbell arrangements that can be played using only six bells, with piano accompaniment. Larry doesn’t need to wear his sling any more. However, he’s been putting it on for the last few 6-bell demonstration videos, because why waste a perfectly good sling?

Larry’s arrangement of It Came Upon the Midnight Clear has no bell changes, no shared bells, and needs no tables, so it would work perfectly for a small ensemble to play.

Would this piece work for your small handbell ensemble?

If you’d like to play It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, 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, for anyone who doesn’t have a pianist available or wants to practise at home.

And look! There are more!

We have several other arrangements of this hymn, all available from Choraegus, and all suitable for socially-distanced handbell groups:

An 8-bell (unaccompanied) arrangement

A 12-bell arrangement

An 8-bell arrangement of the traditional English melody NOEL, also used for this carol

Please note that sheet music from Choraegus 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. Purchase of a 6-bell arrangement allows you to print and maintain up to three 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 video-sharing sites and social media, as well as 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 do what we can to help!

Christmas and holiday entertainment handbells with handbell duo Larry and Carla

A New 8-bell Hymn Arrangement – Jesús es mi Rey Soberano

Jesús es mi Rey Soberano was written in 1920 by Methodist evangelist and hymn-writer Vicente Mendoza. It’s our most recent arrangement for eight bells! We recorded this video in April, before Larry’s shoulder surgery, and we played it once only. As a result, this sight-read is not a polished performance, but you should get the idea.

Looking at the video now, we can sense our tension as we each tried to make sure we didn’t miss any of the ritardando or a tempo markings in the score!

We enjoyed reading through this piece. We’ll definitely be giving it some more attention in the months ahead, aiming for more smoothness. It would be a fun challenge for a quartet, and could be good for social distancing, since there are no bell changes and no techniques that require tables.

Where to get the sheet music

If you’d like to play Jesús es mi Rey Soberano, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus. Purchasing this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group. Purchase also gives permission for you to use this piece in online and live-streamed worship services and performances. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites and social media, and on any printed materials.

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?

If you have any questions about our music, please start by reading our Frequently-Asked Questions. If you don’t find the answers you need, please contact us, and we’ll do what we can to help!

Jesus es mi Rey Soberano - handbells

New 6-Bell Music for Advent and Christmas – O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Looking for 6-bell music for Advent? As handbell choirs cautiously plan for the fall rehearsal season, and look forward (perhaps with some uncertainty) to upcoming Christmas performances, we’re pleased to offer another 6-bell arrangement that would work for a handbell duo or trio. It’s the beautiful carol O Come, O Come, Emmanuel – for six handbells and piano.

“O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.”

If you’d like to play O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, 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 could be useful for anyone who doesn’t have a pianist available or wants to practise at home.

Other versions of this hymn, available from Choraegus:

An 8-bell (unaccompanied) arrangement

A “surprisingly-easy” 8-bell arrangement

A 16-bell arrangement

An arrangement for 3-5 octaves of handbells and 3 octaves of handchimes (Level 3+)

Information about Choraegus handbell music

Please note that sheet music from Choraegus 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. Purchase of a 6-bell arrangement allows you to print and maintain up to three copies for your handbell group (plus the accompaniment score). Purchase also gives permission for recording, broadcasting, live-streaming and sharing on video-sharing sites, church websites and social media. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the title and arranger of the piece on video-sharing sites and social media, 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, 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. If you don’t find the answers you need, please contact us, and we’ll do what we can to help!

6-bell music for Advent - O Come, O Come Emmanuel