Tag Archives: Larry and Carla

Choraegus Handbell Music in a Time of Social Distancing

These are challenging times for musicians, as we practise social distancing to help slow down the spread of COVID-19. As members of Kalamazoo Ringers, we were disappointed when the decision was made to stop rehearsing for the season. We were all sorry to have to cancel our spring concerts and mini-tour to Ohio. Yes, it was the right decision, but wow, we’d worked hard on all that concert repertoire. We’d really been looking forward to sharing it!

Painful times indeed. However, we still have to do the responsible thing and take care of the health of our family, friends and wider community. So, social distancing it is. Add to that – plenty of hand-washing, catching up with our to-do list, and a bit of rest and relaxation!

Keeping busy as a handbell duo

As a handbell duo, we’re in the fortunate position of being able to continue our own handbell rehearsals as usual. We have bells in our home, and many hours’ worth of 8-bell music. We definitely don’t expect to be bored! We’re working on more 8- and 12-bell music, and will continue making new arrangements available from Choraegus.

Handbell music for social distancing

We’re happy to find that many people are finding our 8- and 12-bell music useful, at a time when many groups can’t get together to rehearse and perform. Churches are increasingly holding services online. Live-streaming is becoming the new way for people to gather in worship together. For handbell choirs that can’t get together to rehearse, 8-bell music could be the answer! We have an extensive selection of hymns, in both standard and surprisingly-easy versions. There’s still time to purchase and download music to share online for Holy Week, Easter, or during the summer months. This could also be a great opportunity to work on 4-in-hand skills!

Music in a time of social distancing
An example of an 8-bell hymn arrangement – Just As I Am (standard version)

The answers to some of your questions

People have been asking us additional questions about playing our music during this time of social distancing, so we’ll answer some of them here:

YES — If you purchased music from Choraegus, you have permission to play the music as part of an online worship service or online performance. Please see the licensing agreement for a few exceptions where additional permission may be necessary.

YES — We give permission for you to live-stream music purchased from Choraegus during a worship service, or to record it as part of the service, for sharing on church websites and/or social media.

YES – If you can’t get together with other musicians to play our music, and you’d like to play all the parts yourself and edit them together, you have permission to do this.

YES – You are allowed to upload any video you make to YouTube or another video-sharing site for the purposes of sharing with others online (see requirement below about crediting the source of the music).

YES — If you can’t get together with a fellow musician to rehearse music, and need to use pre-existing recordings, you are welcome to use our own YouTube videos as part of your worship service, or share our videos on social media or by email.

Things you need to do

Please give the title of the piece, and credit the arranger in your church bulletin or online recording, under the terms of our published licensing agreement. If you post/share a video on YouTube or other video-sharing/social media site, please include a link to www.choraegus.com in the video description.

Questions for us?

If you have any other questions, check our our list of frequently-asked questions. If you don’t find the answer you need, please contact us, and we’ll be happy to help.

We hope you enjoy playing our music, and we thank you all for your support at this time. Take care, and stay healthy!

handbell music in COVID-19 times
At Los Altos Lutheran Church, CA (Photo: Carl S. Gutekunst) – May 2018

New Handbell Music – Song of Hope (Canto de Esperanza)

Here’s our latest arrangement for 8 handbells – the popular hymn Song of Hope. The lyrics to this hymn were written by Alvin L. Schutmaat, a Michigan-born missionary to Latin America, and the melody (hymn tune ARGENTINA) is a traditional folk tune.

Song of Hope – recorded when we still had snow on the ground!

“¡Dios de la esperanza, danos gozo y paz!
May the God of hope go with us every day,
Al mundo en crisis, habla tu verdad.
Filling all our lives with love and joy and peace.
Dios de la justicia, mándanos tu luz,
May the God of justice speed us on our way,
Luz y esperanza en la oscuridad.
Bringing light and hope to every land and race.”

Larry wrote this 8-bell arrangement for the TRC Ringers at Third Reformed Church here in Holland.

Would you like to play this piece?

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

As always, we recommend that you read the licensing agreement before buying music from us, especially if this is your first time downloading music from Choraegus. If you’re new to Choraegus handbell music, we recommend our step-by-step guide!

Please also 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 this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group.

Any questions for us?

If you have any questions about purchasing or playing 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. We hope you’ll enjoy playing our music!

Song of Hope - 8-bell arrangement

Our 4th Surprisingly-Easy 8-Bell Hymn Collection

Some of our most popular 8-bell titles are the Surprisingly-Easy hymn arrangements. We’re pleased to announce the arrival of our 4th Surprisingly-Easy 8-Bell Hymn Collection!

We refer to our Surprisingly-Easy arrangements as “All of the music, but without the twiddly bits” If you’re looking for some new handbell pieces to enhance your worship service, but you don’t want them to take too long to learn, this collection could be the answer. When you’re part of a duo, trio or quartet, or your handbell choir is enthusiastic but small in number, these hymns could be what you’re looking for. If your handbell ensemble takes a break during the summer, but there are people who say that they wish they could keep going – these arrangements will help to keep even the most overenthusiastic musicians occupied!

What’s included in this 8-bell hymn collection?

The hymns included in this fourth collection are:

  • Abide with Me
  • Come, Christians, Join to Sing
  • I Sing the Mighty Power of God
  • In the Garden
  • My Faith Looks Up to Thee
  • We Gather Together
  • What a Friend We Have in Jesus

If you’d like to play any of these arrangements, sheet music for the collection and each individual title is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus, our music site.

More information about Choraegus downloadable handbell music

As always, we strongly recommend that you read the licensing agreement before buying music from us. Please also 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 eight-bell arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group. If you haven’t bought music from Choraegus before, we recommend our step-by-step guide!

There are more Surprisingly-Easy 8-Bell Collections available from Choraegus, as well as our standard eight-bell arrangements – some more challenging than others.

Do you have questions for us?

If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, please check our Frequently-Asked Questions first. If you don’t find the answer you’re looking for, please get in touch with us, and we’ll be happy to help.

8-bell hymn collection
Also available from Choraegus – binder covers for our eight-bell music!

New Handbell Music – Come, All You People, Praise Our God

“Come, all you people, praise our God
and tell his glorious works abroad,
who holds our souls in life;
he never lets our feet be moved
and, though our faith he often proved,
upholds us in the strife.“

Here’s the latest addition to our 8-bell repertoire: Come, All You People, Praise Our God. This hymn tune (ODAWA) – by gospel songwriter Charles H. Gabriel – was first published in 1912.

Sheet music is available from Choraegus

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

As always, we recommend that you read the licensing agreement before buying music from us. If this is your first time purchasing music from Choraegus, we recommend our step-by-step guide!

Please also 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 this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group.

We’re happy to answer your questions!

If you have any questions about purchasing or playing 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. We hope you’ll enjoy playing our music!

Come All You People Praise Our God

New Handbell Music – Nearer, My God, to Thee

Here’s the latest addition to our 8-bell repertoire; the beautiful 19-century hymn Nearer, My God, to Thee (hymn tune BETHANY).

This arrangement is suitable for 2-4 ringers. We demonstrate it as a 4-in-hand duet, but four ringers could also play it holding two bells each.

Where to find the sheet music

If you’d like to play Nearer, My God, to Thee, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus, our music site.

As always, we recommend that you read the licensing agreement before buying music from us. If this is your first time making a purchase from Choraegus, we recommend our step-by-step guide! We designed this guide with pictures, to make the purchase and download process (we hope) a stress-free experience.

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 this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about purchasing or playing 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 be happy to help. We hope you’ll enjoy playing our music!

Nearer My God to Thee - handbells

New Handbell Music – Beach Spring – for 8 Bells

Here’s one of our new favorite 8-bell arrangements – Beach Spring – for 8 bells. Many popular hymn texts have been set to this tune. For example, Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy, Lord Whose Love Through Humble Service and Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing. It’s a very versatile tune, suitable for services throughout the church calendar.

Our demonstration video was recorded on just our third attempt at playing this piece. It’s less polished than we’d have liked, but the notes are accurate, so it should give you a good idea of how the piece sounds. We had a request to publish this arrangement quickly, but at some point we’ll hope to record a better demonstration video!

Sheet music is available from Choraegus

If you’d like to play Beach Spring for 8 bells, the sheet music is available to purchase, download and print from Choraegus, our music site.

As always, we recommend that you read the licensing agreement before buying music from us. If this is your first time purchasing Choraegus music, we also recommend our step-by-step guide! Please also 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 this arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to four copies for your handbell group.

We also have a 12-bell arrangement of Beach Spring, available from Choraegus.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about purchasing or playing 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. We hope you’ll enjoy playing our music!

Beach Spring for 8 bells

New 8-Bell Music – Mfurahini, Haleluya

Mfurahini, Haleluya is the traditional Swahili title for the popular hymn most commonly sung as Christ Has Arisen, Alleluia. This lively tune is from Tanzania, and is particularly suitable for Easter! We recorded the video a couple of weeks ago, before the snow arrived here in West Michigan.

For extra entertainment value, watch the video carefully. You might notice a black squirrel running across the garden behind us. It’s not the first time one of our rehearsal videos has featured a squirrel!

How to get the sheet music for Mfurahini, Haleluya

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

As always, we recommend that you read the licensing agreement before buying music from us. If you haven’t bought music from Choraegus before, we recommend our step-by-step guide. We designed the guide in an attempt to make the purchasing process stress-free!

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. A single purchase of this 8-bell title gives you permission to print up to 4 copies for your group. Please don’t pay for more copies than you need!

If you’re interested in other 8-bell music suitable for Lent, Easter and Holy Week, we have a list of other hymn suggestions. Many of these titles are available from Choraegus.

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!

Mfurahini, Haleluya - Easter handbell music

FREE Handbell Music – Dona Nobis Pacem, for 8 Bells

Yay! Free handbell music! After our busy holiday season, we were happy to be able to start the new year by working on some brand-new eight-bell music to be published on Choraegus. The first of these new pieces is Dona Nobis Pacem.

The scene outside our window would look so much prettier with some snow!

We’re pleased to offer the sheet music for this piece to you for free, as a thank-you to everyone who has encouraged and supported us in our musical endeavours since we started playing handbells together in 2012. You can find it in the Freebies section of our music site, where there’s also free music for Happy Birthday and Auld Lang Syne. You’ll also find printable covers for anyone who’s storing their 8-bell music in binders.

There’s no obligation to make any other purchase from Choraegus to get the free handbell music. Of course, we hope you’ll take a look at other titles we have to offer, but if you want to grab the free music and go, we don’t mind at all. It’s a good way to try our eight-bell music without having to spend any money! Dona Nobis Pacem would also be very suitable for playing as a quartet; useful for those times when you’re working with less than a full handbell choir.

Instructions for downloading the free handbell music

To get your free sheet music, add it to your cart on the Choraegus site, and click on the yellow “Check out with PayPal” button. Enter your details, and click “Confirm Order” (there’s no need to click on the PayPal button a second time). Then check your email inbox! If the download link doesn’t arrive, check your spam folder, and it might be there.

As always, we recommend that you read the licensing agreement before buying music from us (or claiming your free music), especially if this is your first time downloading music from Choraegus. You won’t receive anything in the mail, and will be responsible for printing your own music.

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!

free handbell music Dona Nobis Pacem

All the Thank-Yous for a Busy Holiday Season

Wow! Where did the last month go? Maybe it was because Thanksgiving was late this year, or maybe we didn’t plan ahead enough. It seemed as if November was here one minute, then December was going by, faster than we could keep up with it!

We had a fun and interesting holiday performance season, and managed to escape without having to make any long trips in bad weather. That’s no mean feat in Michigan winters! Many of our Christmas performances are booked months ahead. That makes it impossible to predict if the weather’s going to be cooperative or not.

Our 2019 holiday performances

Our 2019 holiday performance season began the day after Thanksgiving, with our first of two performances at the Kerstmarkt. This annual Christmas market in Downtown Holland is a definite highlight of our holiday season. The bells seem to add something magical to the atmosphere at an outdoor holiday market. We hope to be back again in 2020!

A busy holiday season for Larry and Carla
Our handbells at the 2019 Kerstmarkt in Downtown Holland

An exciting new event for us was the Santa and Reindeer event at the Otsego District Public Library. We met Felix the Fox there!

Otsego Public Library Santa and Reindeer handbells
With Felix the Fox at the Otsego Library “Santa and Reindeer” event

We were pleased to present another holiday performance at the Gary Byker Memorial Library in Hudsonville. This was our second time at the Christmas program there, and we hope to return in December 2020. It’s always a popular, entertaining and educational Christmas event, run by the Friends of the Library.

A holiday handbell program at the GRAM

We had an exciting opportunity to present a handbell duet concert at the Grand Rapids Art Museum, as part of their Light the Night event. The audience was small but appreciative, and had not been expecting us, since the event had been given an air of mystery and advertised only as a “holiday bell music performance”. People were pleasantly surprised at the amount of music that can be made with only eight bells at a time, and we chatted with audience members afterwards and explained more about the history and techniques used in playing our instruments.

Holiday handbell Performance in Grand Rapids
A “holiday bell music performance” at the Grand Rapids Art Museum

Another performance with the Zeeland Community Band

We presented several handbell duet programs to residents at senior living communities again this year, and also joined the Zeeland Community Band for their annual Christmas concert.

holiday season for West Michigan handbell duo
With director Rose Wiersma after the annual Zeeland Community Band Christmas concert

Our handbell ministry activities

We continued our handbell ministry through Advent and Christmas, and shared our music with churches in Holland and Grand Rapids. We also went on a road-trip to Glenview, Illinois. It was a new experience for us to do fierce battle with Chicago traffic!

holiday season for handbell duo
Handbells at a Christmas worship service in Illinois
West Michigan's smallest handbell choir
Christmas Eve at Christ Memorial Church, Holland MI

Playing Christmas music for the Salvation Army

We gave ten hours to help raise funds for the Salvation Army of Holland, MI, and enjoyed playing Christmas music at D&W Fresh Market – our fourth year there! In recent years, some of our friends have questioned our decision to support the Salvation Army. However, we are always encouraged to hear from people who have received invaluable help from the organization here in West Michigan. This happens every year; people stop by the Red Kettle to tell us that the Salvation Army was there to support them at a time when they most needed it. We are constantly reassured that the local organization is doing amazing work in this community.

Salvation Army bell ringers with handbells
Volunteering at the Salvation Army Red Kettle at D&W Fresh Market in Holland

The New Year has arrived, and as we look back at the 2019 holiday season, we’re looking forward to the new adventures 2020 will bring.

We’d like to thank the following people and organizations:

The Kerstmarkt in Downtown Holland, MI
Cherry Republic of Holland, MI
D&W Fresh Market, Holland, MI
The Salvation Army of Holland, MI
Otsego District Public Library, MI
Zeeland Community Band
Waterford Place Assisted Living, Jenison, MI
Friends of the Gary Byker Library, Hudsonville, MI
Sunset Retirement Communities, Jenison, MI
Grand Rapids Art Museum, MI
Third Reformed Church of Holland, MI
The Village at the Pines, Grand Haven, MI
Wespath Benefits and Investments, Glenview, IL
Christ Memorial Church, Holland, MI
North Park Presbyterian Church, Grand Rapids, MI

We’d like to thank everyone who helped to make this holiday season bright for us. If you booked us for a performance or Christmas program or wrote a review of our performance – thank you. To all those who offered us coffee or a meal, chatted with us, or prayed for our safe travels – thank you. If you took the time to say thank you or send us a card – we appreciate you. If you liked our Facebook page, emailed us, bought and downloaded sheet music from our music site, or purchased a copy of The Bass Ringer’s Notebook – we appreciate you too! 

We hope 2020 will be a happy and healthy year for you all!

Christmas Handbells at Otsego District Public Library

December 7 at 10:00 am – 12:00 pm EST

Larry and Carla - handbell duets for the holiday season
"Christmas at Our House" event in California – December 2013

Michigan handbell duo Larry and Carla will be welcoming the Christmas season at Otsego District Library’s Santa and Reindeer Day! There will be popcorn, donuts, hot chocolate, an opportunity to meet Santa and his reindeer, ODL’s own Felix the Fox, crafts, and beautiful handbell music all morning. Don’t miss this exciting family event!

Otsego District Public Library

401 Dix St
Otsego, Michigan 49078 United States + Google Map