August 3, 2020

New Handbell Music – Kingsfold, arranged for 6 Bells and Piano

Kingsfold is one of the pieces we performed in the virtual concert at the recent HMA Area 12 “Handbell Encounters” conference.

Kingsfold is an old English tune, also known as Dives and Lazarus. We use it as the setting for the hymns I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say and When Life Well Lived Is At An End. It’s also the Christmas carol O Sing a Song of Bethlehem. People in folk circles know the song as the Irish ballad The Star of the County Down, and also as My Love Nell. Yes, it’s a very versatile tune!

Our 6-bell arrangement is suitable for 2 or 3 ringers to play. Handbell groups are looking for ways to keep playing, with fewer people and social distancing – and this is one of the ways!

Would you like to play this piece?

If you’d like to play Kingsfold, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus, our music site. You can also purchase a separate mp3 accompaniment track. This could be useful if you don’t have a willing accompanist, or want to rehearse at home.

Important information about Choraegus 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 a 6-bell arrangement allows you to print 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 answers you need, and we’ll be happy to help!

July 27, 2020

New Accompanied 6-Bell Music – Hyfrydol

We used to live in California before we moved to Michigan. We were excited to receive an invitation to teach and/or perform at the recent Handbell Musicians of America Area 12 online conference! We’re officially in Area 5 now, but our Area 12 friends will always hold a special place in our heart.

At the time the invitation arrived, Larry had only just had his shoulder surgery. For that reason, we didn’t feel ready to offer an online class. Instead, we prepared two brand-new 6-bell pieces for the virtual concert at the end of the conference. Hyfrydol is the first of those that we’d like to share with you.

A versatile secular and hymn tune!

Hyfrydol is a much-loved Welsh song, often used as a setting for the hymns Alleluia, Sing to Jesus, Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus, and Love Divine, All Loves Excelling. Our 6-bell arrangement could be played as a duet, or by a trio of three ringers if you prefer just two bells each. People have said that our six-bell music has been useful for handbell duos where one ringer is more experienced with 4-in-hand technique than the other, but you could just as easily have three bells each. Of course, if one of the ringers is wearing a sling, you have fewer options!

If you’d like to play Hyfrydol, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus, our music site. You can also purchase an mp3 accompaniment track. This could be useful if you don’t have a willing accompanist, or want to rehearse at home.

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 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 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. If you don’t find the answers you need, please contact us, and we’ll do what we can to help!

March 15, 2019

New 12-Bell Music – Country Gardens

Country Gardens is a traditional English folk melody and a popular Morris Dance tune. It was first published in 1728. Cecil Sharp collected it and passed it on to Percy Grainger. Grainger then arranged it for piano in 1918. It became one of Grainger’s best-known works and brought him great success.

The song was given the title English Country Garden by Jimmie Rodgers, who sung it in 1962 with the lyrics shown below:

“How many kinds of sweet flowers grow in an English country garden?
We’ll tell you now of some that we know; those we miss you’ll surely pardon
Daffodils, heart’s ease and flox, meadowsweet and lady smocks
Gentain, lupine and tall hollyhocks,
Roses, foxgloves, snowdrops, blue forget-me-nots
In an English country garden”

There are alternative, less flowery, words too. As children in England, Carla and her friends used to sing:

“What do you do if you can’t find a loo, in an English country garden?
Pull down your pants and exterminate the ants, in an English country garden”

Our third attempt – not perfect, but improving!

We had fun playing through this new arrangement for 12 handbells. Our thanks go to J.C. for helping us out during his short visit to Michigan. The video was only our third attempt at the piece, and we hadn’t quite mastered the middle section. However, with a bit more rehearsal time, this piece shouldn’t be too challenging.

Would you like to play Country Gardens?

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

If you haven’t bought music from us before, we recommend that you read the licensing agreement and our step-by-step guide.

Do you have questions?

If you have any questions, check out the Frequently-Asked Questions first. If you don’t find the answers you seek, please get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to help!

Thanks to everyone who’s bought music from us in recent months. We hope you’ll enjoy this piece!

March 3, 2019

New 12-Bell Music – Give Me Jesus

Larry’s been writing a lot of new music in recent weeks, as he continues his recovery from surgery. His son J.C. recently came to visit (currently studying in Alabama). We enjoyed an opportunity to play through a few of the new 12-bell titles. The first to be available from Choraegus is the African-American spiritual Give Me Jesus.

New 12-bell music – Give Me Jesus

This piece proved not to be too difficult for the three of us to play, and would also work for six people with two bells each, of course. The video was recorded on only our third attempt at playing the piece – so it’s not perfect, but you’ll get a good idea of how it sounds. We’re playing the C5 to G6 version, but (as with all our 12-bell pieces) it’s also available for F5 to C7.

Would you like to play Give Me Jesus?

If you’d like to play this piece, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus. If you’re new to buying Choraegus handbell music, we recommend our step-by-step guide. We designed this to keep the buying process as stress-free as possible!

Any questions?

If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, please get in touch with us and we’ll do our best to help. We also have a list of Frequently-Asked Questions!

We hope you’ll enjoy playing this piece. More 12-bell arrangements will be coming soon!

January 22, 2018

New Music for 12 Handbells – How Great Thou Art

Here’s our latest 12-bell piece – an arrangement of the popular hymn How Great Thou Art. Thanks to J.C, who came to visit us for a few days last month and was happy to play through some new stuff with us.

This piece proved to be fun to play, and came together surprisingly quickly. As with all our 12-bell pieces, we’ve made it available in two versions – one for the traditional twelve-bell range C5-G6, and one for F5-C7, so you can pick the one that suits your group.

How to get the sheet music

If you’d like to play How Great Thou Art, it’s available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

When you buy music from Choraegus, you’ll receive instructions to download the file as a PDF. That means you’ll be responsible for printing the music at home, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Please read our licensing agreement for all the details. If you haven’t bought music from us before, you might like to read our step-by-step guide. We designed this to help make the purchase process stress-free!

Your payment gives you permission to print out up to 6 copies of this arrangement for your group. Don’t pay for more copies than you need!

Any questions?

If you have any questions about buying and playing our music, please contact us, and we’ll be happy to help!

October 23, 2017

Accompanied Christmas Pieces – for 12 Bells and Piano

Here are two newly-available arrangements for 12 bells and piano accompaniment. Larry arranged these pieces for a UK group led by Meg Hostler of Finchampstead Handbell Ringers. Their debut performances were in England on Christmas Eve 2015.

The arrangements are less challenging than our other 12-bell pieces. Larry arranged them to be easy for a small group to learn and perform with minimal rehearsal time!

Both these demo recordings were made during an all-too-brief “Christmas in February” rehearsal session when we got together with Meg for an Inspiration International reunion during our most recent visit to England in February 2016. The first piece is In the Bleak Midwinter:

The second is the Austrian carol Still, Still, Still:

The piano accompaniment score for Still, Still, Still is the same as the accompaniment that goes with the solo version of this carol.

Would you like to play these pieces?

If you’d like to play either (or both!) of these pieces for 12 bells and piano, the sheet music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

Choraegus handbell music is designed to be downloaded and printed at home. You’ll be responsible for printing your own scores, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. If you’re new to buying our music, please look at the step-by-step guide. We designed this to help make the process stress-free!

Please read our licensing agreement before making your purchase, and read our guide to how many copies your purchase allows you to print. Don’t pay for more copies than you need!

Any questions?

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

12 bells and piano - Inspiration Handbells

April 8, 2016

A Reunion for Inspiration International, and New Handbell Music!

During our trip to England in February, we enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with a few of our friends from the world of handbells. We’ve already posted about our rehearsal with Pizzazz Handbell Trio and Quartet. We also had the chance to visit our friend Meg from Inspiration International. This is a Berkshire-based handbell project that’s very important to us.

More about Inspiration International

Inspiration International is a project which grew from the community work of Inspiration – an initiative of Finchampstead Handbell Ringers in Berkshire, England. The group’s mission is to enrich the lives of the young and elderly in the Berkshire community. We take handbell music into the lives and homes of those who sometimes feel forgotten by society. Pioneered by Meg, the leader of Finchampstead Handbell Ringers, the group has visited and entertained the residents of many care homes in the area. They have volunteered to share their handbell music with social groups and at community events.

Carla first worked with Meg and Sally from Inspiration when she needed to take a trio of handbell musicians to perform at Heathrow Airport in 2011. The group entertained airport travellers during the busy Christmas rush. Meg and Sally were happy to be involved, and they had a great time sharing their music at the airport.

Inspiration International - handbells — The trio at Heathrow Airport, Christmas 2011

After that, Carla joined Meg and Sally in taking their handbell music to people in the Berkshire community. They visited many care homes and community groups. Space is often limited in care homes, so it was a huge advantage to be able to perform as a small group playing 4-in-hand. The group was honoured to be nominated for the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2012.

When Sally decided to focus on other projects for a while, Meg and Carla started playing duets. That’s when Larry started arranging music for eight bells!

Inspiration handbells - All the Bells in Wokingham, 2012 — Meg and Carla at the “All the Bells” event in Wokingham, 2012

Carla’s move to California, and Meg’s continued work in the community

When Carla moved to California in August 2012, it was a challenge to see how we could continue the “Inspiration” project across the miles. We really wanted to find a way! So, using the powers of modern technology, we’ve been working together to prepare and record music that Meg can use for performances. From the original Inspiration grew the new Inspiration International. Meg continues to visit care homes and community groups in Berkshire. She adds her live handbell-playing to pre-recorded tracks made more than 5,000 miles away in California.

A happy reunion in England

It’s a rare treat for us to be able to get together and rehearse as a group! Of course, we were determined to find some time to catch up with Meg during our visit to England in February. We enjoyed a lovely home-cooked meal, and caught up on some of the news and chit-chat. Then we dropped Meg right in at the deep end with some brand-new and unpublished 12-bell music!

Here’s a video of one of the pieces we tried; it’s the traditional Scottish melody Flow Gently, Sweet Afton. It’s not a note-perfect demonstration, but it should give you an idea of how the piece could sound, with a little more rehearsal time!

Would you like to play this piece?

If you’d like to play this arrangement, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus. Please see our step-by-step guide and licensing agreement for full information about buying our music online.

If you’re interested in finding out more about Inspiration International, please check out the group’s Facebook page!

Any questions?

If you have any questions about Inspiration International, or about buying or playing Choraegus handbell music, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help!

March 29, 2016

New Handbell Music – the Waltz from Sleeping Beauty – with Pizzazz

During our recent visit to England, we enjoyed the opportunity to rehearse some handbell music with friends. Our trip was mainly for the purpose of meeting our new granddaughter for the first time and catching up with family members we hadn’t seen for far too long. However, we didn’t want to miss the chance to get together with Gay and Alan Cooper, the other half of Pizzazz Handbell Quartet.

More about Pizzazz

Back in the days when Carla lived in England, Pizzazz was a trio, with Gay, Alan and Carla as members. They rehearsed in Wallingford, with coffee, sometimes pizza, and lots of music. The three of them would often keep rehearsing until very late into the night. After all, who needs to sleep when there are handbells to play? The three group members shared a willingness to squash far too many bells, tables, foam pads, table covers, music and people into a car. They’d travel just about any distance to give a performance or take part in a handbell event.

As a group, Pizzazz gave performances and workshops at local and national events. They had success at music festivals and in the Trinity College London intermediate and advanced recital exams. The trio recorded a handbell track on a CD by London-based avant pop duo French for Cartridge. They also performed at parties, weddings, charity events and open-mic nights, and represented the UK at an exciting handbell event in Talinn, Estonia.

Pizzazz Handbell Trio at Heathrow Airport — Christmas festivities at Heathrow Airport

Pizzazz Handbell Trio in Estonia — In concert in Estonia

Carla’s move to California

After all the fun they’d had, the members of the trio were understandably reluctant to break up the group, when Carla moved to California (and got married) in 2012. The best solution was obviously for the trio to become a quartet – an international one – with Gay and Alan on one side of the ocean and Larry and Carla on the other. We had our first opportunity to rehearse together during our visit to England at the beginning of 2014.

Since then, we’ve been more than 5,000 miles apart, communicating on Facebook and by email, but not able to rehearse or perform together as a group. When we knew we’d be visiting England again, it was exciting to be able to make plans to get together with Gay and Alan for another rehearsal!

The Waltz from Sleeping Beauty

As we only had one evening to rehearse, we decided to use our time to try out something new. We played through Larry’s 16-bell arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Waltz. You might recognise the tune as the Once Upon a Dream song from the Disney movie.

This piece was new to all of us. It meant that we weren’t able to get a note-perfect performance in the time available. Still, we hope this video will give you some idea of how the piece should sound. We had a lot of fun with it! We hope to be able to get together again someday, and perhaps try for a more polished performance next time!

Our thanks go to Gay and Alan! We appreciated their continued willingness to play insane handbell stuff at crazy hours of the day (and night).

Would you like to play the Waltz from Sleeping Beauty?

If you’d like to play this piece, the music is now available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

Choraegus handbell music is designed to come to you as a digital download (PDF file). That means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Your purchase of this 16-bell arrangement allows you to print up to 8 copies for your handbell group. Please see our licensing agreement for full details.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about Pizzazz, or about our music, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help!

Waltz from Sleeping Beauty - Pizzazz Handbell Quartet — Pizzazz Handbell Quartet – reunited in Wallingford!

July 16, 2015

More Music for Twelve Bells!

We’ve had lots of fun with our eight-bell music. Sometimes it’s also fun to branch out and expand a little. Here’s some new music for twelve bells!

Of course, we can only play four bells each at one time. It’s a problem when we suddenly have 12-bell music, and don’t have a hope of playing it on our own! That’s when we turn to J.C for help. J.C. doesn’t do this stuff on a regular basis, but he has plenty of musical talent, and very little fear of scary handbell music situations. After all, he used to play in Low Ding Zone!

On this occasion we didn’t have a lot of time to spend together. We decided to read through the music, and record as many pieces as we could in as short a time as possible.

Here are the resulting videos from our recent sight-reading sessions. They’re all from either the first or second attempt at playing them. For that reason, the following demonstrations are far from polished. However, they should give you an idea of how the new pieces could sound with a bit more rehearsal!

Although we’re playing these pieces as a four-in-hand trio, they could also be played with up to 6 people, with just 2 bells each. Click on the titles if you’d like to find out more about each piece.