March 7, 2022

Handbell Music about Snow!

Snow is a big feature of winter in Michigan. Since we moved here in 2016, we’ve grown to love waking up to snow-covered views from our windows, and having to go outside and shovel the driveway. Larry’s become an expert at using the snowblower, and has even written some handbell music about snow!

We’ve just gone through the time of year sometimes referred to as “Fool’s Spring” here. Fool’s Spring is generally followed by Second Winter. We’ve had a couple of weeks with the sun attempting to shine through the clouds, and the snow has been melting away, leaving us with just the occasional patch of ice, and those murky-looking snow-mountains that accumulate in local parking lots. Just when we start to think that warmer weather really is here to stay… an overnight fall of snow reminds us that winter’s not over yet!

Rather than make another video of the two of us playing this 3-octave handbell piece, we thought we’d show you some snowy scenes from where we live. If you live in a warmer climate and you’ve never driven through snow, our video will give you a view from the passenger seat!

More information about Snow

Snow is for 3 octaves of handbells, Level 1+. Sheet music for this original composition 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 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 composer (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. 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!

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.

More Choraegus handbell music about snow and winter weather

Good King Wenceslas – an 8-bell challenge for Christmas!

Hoe Leit dit Kindeke (Cold is this Little Child) – a chilly Dutch carol, arranged for 8 handbells

In the Bleak Midwinter – this English carol arrangement is available for 8 or 12 handbells

Jingle Bells – dashing through the snow… for 8 handbells with piano accompaniment

See, Amid the Winter’s Snow – an 8-bell arrangement of this traditional English carol

The Snow Lay on the Ground – another lively English carol

‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime – the Huron Carol, currently available in two 8-bell versions, but coming soon for full choir!

Winter Dance – a 5-octave, Level 4 arrangement of Seiichi Kyoda’s wonderful, wintry piece

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.

February 17, 2022

Those Were the Days – for Handbells and Kazoo!

“Those were the days, my friend,
We thought they’d never end,
We’d sing and dance forever and a day.
We’d live the life we choose; we’d fight and never lose,
For we were young and sure to have our way.”

Our latest handbell recording project is an exciting one! The song Those Were the Days was a top 10 hit in 1968, sung by Mary Hopkin. It started life as a Russian song – Дорогой длинною – which translates as By the Long Road. Boris Fomin composed the melody originally, with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevsky. Gene Raskin put English lyrics to the song, made a few changes to the melody, and a popular song was born! The song has now been recorded by many artists, in over twenty languages… and now it’s available for handbells!

(THOSE WERE THE DAYS Words and Music by Gene Raskin TRO-© Copyright 1962 (Renewed) 1968 (Renewed) Essex Music, Inc., New York, NY. International Copyright Secured. Made in U.S.A. All Rights Reserved, Including Public Performance For Profit. Used by Permission.)

More about Those Were the Days

Our arrangement is for 5-7 octaves of handbells, with some optional additional instruments – mandolin, tambourine, flute, wood block and… kazoo! We asked our expert flute-playing friend Rose Wiersma to join us for our demonstration video. Rose directs the Zeeland Community Band, and we’ve played handbells in some of their performances over the last few years. We didn’t know any expert kazoo players, so we had to play that part ourselves. Our mandolin skills are non-existent (and we don’t have a mandolin), but the interesting “thumb-damp shake” technique in the score makes it possible to manage without the mandolin and still achieve a similar effect. We had a lot of fun playing this piece, and we hope you will too!

Where to find the sheet music

Sheet music for Those Were the Days is available to purchase, download and print 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. See our licensing agreement for full details.

Choraegus handbell music will 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!

Any questions?

October 17, 2018

New Handbell Music – Mu Süda Ärka Üles, arranged by Susan T. Nelson

We’re excited to announce that an arrangement of the Estonian folk song Mu Süda, Ärka Üles is now available from Choraegus! This arrangement is by Susan T. Nelson. We commissioned it to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary and Campanelli Handbell Ensemble’s visit to the USA from Estonia in July 2017.

The title of the piece translates as Awake, my Heart. This interesting and beautiful arrangement is scored for handbells (4-7 octaves). There are optional handchimes, a handbell duet part, alternate bells, and bar or wind chimes. Campanelli performed the piece for the first time at Estonian House, in New York City.

An opportunity to use your “alternate bells”!

In one of the performances during the Campanelli tour, a variety of “alternate bells” were also used: Petit & Fritsen and William Dunn handbells, Deagan Pear Bells and Whitechapel Cup Bells. These were all from Susan T. Nelson’s personal collection. However, the piece works perfectly well without the alternate bells, as demonstrated in the video recorded at the Estonian House concert.

In the video, we’re playing an augmented 8-bell duet part. Larry created this to give us slightly more of a challenge than Sue’s original duet part that accompanies the full-choir score. This augmented duet part is not essential to the piece, but you can purchase it as a separate add-on if you’d like to play it. Please note that the 8-bell duet part is not a stand-alone arrangement. We’ll be publishing an eight-bell duet version at some later date!

Would you like to play this piece?

If you’d like to play Mu Süda, Ärka Üles, you can download the handbell score from Choraegus. You’ll also find more music from Susan T. Nelson there!

The Campanelli tour was one of the highlights of 2017 for us, and this piece is a wonderful reminder of the happy times we shared with the group from Estonia. We hope other handbell ensembles will enjoy playing this piece as much as we all did!