Tag Archives: Larry and Carla

Free for a Very Limited time – We Three Kings

We recently gave away a free download of our eight-bell arrangement of Twas in the Moon of Wintertime. Our offer proved to be very popular – so we’ve decided to offer just one more free download this holiday season. Until Friday evening, you can download the score to the newly-updated arrangement of “We Three Kings” completely free of charge!

Here’s a video of us rehearsing the new version of this piece:

This arrangement is a little more challenging than Twas in the Moon of Wintertime, but is still very playable. It’s been one of our favourites since we started playing duets in 2012. If you’ve played our 8-bell arrangement before, you’ll notice that most of the changes are in the first half. If you can already play the previous version, you should have no trouble adding the extra notes in the updated version. You won’t need to learn the whole piece all over again.

And if you’ve never played our 8-bell music before – here’s an opportunity to try it without having to pay! We hope you’ll enjoy it enough to look at other music on Choraegus, and perhaps consider buying music from us in the future. However, there are no strings to this offer. If all you want to do is grab the free music and run, that’s fine. We’ll never pester you with emails or unwanted advertising; but you know where our music is if you ever need it.

How to get the free music

To get the music, just go to the We Three Kings page on our music site. Go to the standard version, enter your name and email address, and click on the download button. Then check your inbox for an email containing a link to download your music in the usual way. Contact us if you have any questions!

Happy ringing!

We Three Kings - handbells

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who visited our website to download the free copy of our 8-bell arrangement of Twas in the Moon of Wintertime. We hope you enjoy playing it!

We’re thinking of offering just one more free handbell music download this holiday season. Keep an eye on our Facebook page over the next few days for an announcement! In the meantime, if you’d like to try more of our 8-bell Christmas and holiday music, there are lots of arrangements available to download from Choraegus. Some are surprisingly easy, others are more challenging, and all are suitable for 2-4 ringers.

thank you for downloading our music

Important information about Choraegus handbell music

When you buy music from Choraegus, it’s important to know that the music comes to you as a PDF file. It’s basically the same process as when you download free handbell music. Don’t wait for your sheet music to arrive in the mail, because it won’t! You’ll need to print copies for your group. Buying an 8-bell arrangement entitles you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell ensemble.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about buying, downloading or playing Choraegus handbell music, you might like to check our Frequently-Asked Questions. There are lots of answers there, but if you don’t find the information you need, please let us know, and we’ll be happy to help.

Free Handbell Music – ‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime

Here’s a little holiday gift for anyone who would like to play our eight-bell arrangement of “‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime”. We’ve updated the “standard version” for 2015, and this week you can download the score completely free of charge!

Here’s a video of us rehearsing the new version of the piece:

If you’ve played our 8-bell arrangement of this piece before, you’ll notice that most of the changes have been made to the first half of the piece. If you can already play the previous version, you should have no trouble adding the extra notes in the updated version. It won’t feel like having to learn a whole new piece. Best of all, those newly-added notes will cost you nothing!

And if you’ve never played our 8-bell music before – here’s an opportunity to try it without having to pay any money. What could be better? Okay, don’t answer that. There probably are better things. But hey… free music is free music, and we hope you’ll enjoy playing this piece.

To get the music, just go to the “Twas in the Moon of Wintertime” page on our music site. There’s no requirement to “like” our Facebook page. We don’t ask you to buy anything, subscribe to anything or jump through any kind of hoops. Just select the standard version, enter your name and email address, and click on the download button. You’ll receive an emailed link to download your music in the usual way.

Happy ringing!

In the Moon of Wintertime handbells
Christmas handbells

Let the Merry Bells Ring – a Concert with VoiceWorks

Let the Merry Bells Ring! We’re looking forward to presenting this holiday concert with VoiceWorks in Redwood City. The choirs will be singing, our bells will be ringing, and we’ll all be celebrating the sounds of the season with carols and wintry holiday music.

VoiceWorks is a community choir of young voices, directed by Catherine Doyle. Their music will be accompanied by pianists Leslie Chang, Brian Connor and Russell Green. We’ll be adding specially-arranged handbell parts to some of the choir pieces for this concert, and we’ll also be performing some duets on our own. There’s something very special about the combination of voices and bells at this time of year, and we’re looking forward to being part of this event.

It’s all happening at 4:00pm on Sunday, December 13th, at the Unitarian Universal Fellowship of Redwood City, CA 94062. Tickets are $15, or $10 for students or seniors. You can buy your tickets in advance, or at the door. Contact us if you have any questions, and we can put you in touch with the choir director.

We hope to see you at this concert. Let the merry bells ring, voices sing, and celebrate the holiday season in Redwood City!

Let the Merry Bells Ring

Looking Forward to Christmas and the Holiday Season!

We’re looking forward to Christmas this year! It’s a busy and fun time of year for us, as we get ready for the upcoming holiday season. We’ve been rehearsing Christmas carols and preparing music for events and performances here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Handbells at the Salvation Army Kettle

We’ll be starting December with two sessions at the Salvation Army Red Kettle at Nob Hill Foods in Mountain View. We’ll be playing our duets there between 1:00pm and 3:00pm on December 1st, and between 3:00pm and 5:00pm on December 7th.

The Kara Annual Candlelight Service of Remembrance

We’ll be at the Kara Annual Candlelight Service of Remembrance on December 3rd. This will be the third year we’ve taken part in this very special event in Palo Alto. Members of the community are invited to join together to remember loved ones and significant others who have died. It’s a non-denominational service open to all.

Earlier that day, we’ll be taking our bells and handchimes to a private event in Campbell. We’ll be playing duets there, and leading a “have a go” session on chimes. The following morning we’ll be playing a selection of holiday pieces at a breakfast meeting in Palo Alto.

Chapel of the Chimes Night of Remembrance

We’ll be at the annual Night of Remembrance at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland on December 9th, playing duets as candles are lit in memory of loved ones who have passed away.

A busy weekend at the German Holiday Market and VoiceWorks concert

Saturday 12th December will be a busy day for us as we play duets at the German Holiday Market here in Mountain View, organized by the German International School of Silicon Valley. This will be our third year at this fun and festive event. In the evening, we’ll be heading to Los Altos to play holiday music at a private event there.

On Sunday 13th, we’ll be performing in a shared concert with VoiceWorks, in Redwood City. We’ve been enjoying working with this group, and are looking forward to presenting a festive program of holiday music featuring bells and voices. More information will be coming soon!

Handbell duets at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display

On December 19th and 23rd, we’ll be playing our duets at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display in El Cerrito. This is one of the highlights of our holiday season, and if you’re anywhere near El Cerrito, you should definitely take time to visit the display this December!

For more information about any of the above events and performances, please look at our Facebook page, or contact us. It’s not too late to book us to play handbell duets at your own holiday event, so get in touch if you’d like to!

Larry and Carla - Christmas

Book us for the 2015 Christmas and Holiday Season!

Need music for your event this winter? It’s time to book us for the 2015 Christmas and holiday season!

Handbells can bring a magical and festive atmosphere to any Christmas or holiday event. We can give a seasonal performance of carols and holiday music. We can provide background music to add that special, welcoming touch to your corporate event or holiday gathering. Nothing says Christmas quite as well as the traditional sound of English handbells beside the Christmas tree. . Our duet performances can bring the sounds of the season to hotel lobbies, church services, shopping malls and private homes!

As the 2015 Christmas and holiday season approaches, we’re looking forward to some fun performances! We’ll be joining VoiceWorks for a concert on December 13th. You’ll also be able to see us at the German Holiday Market in Mountain View. If you’re near El Cerrito, look for us at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display. We’ll also be adding the beautiful sound of handbells to annual services of remembrance in Palo Alto and Oakland.

Why not listen to some of our handbell duets, and consider booking us for your 2015 holiday event? If you need more information or have questions, please contact us!

The 2015 Christmas and holiday season - with handbells

Have you Ever Heard an Alphorn?

If you haven’t hard an alphorn before, here’s your chance! There are only a few more days to go until Saturday’s Alzheimer’s Benefit Concert. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, we hope you’ll come along!

Alzheimer's Benefit Concert - Alphorn

More information about the concert, written by organizer T. Paul Rosas:

Date and time: Saturday, October 3rd 2015 at 3:00pm

Place: LAUMC Sanctuary, 655 Magdalena Ave., Los Altos (at the corner of Foothill Expressway and Magdalena)

This year’s concert includes compositions by two of the Bay Area’s favorite composers, Sondra Clark and Brian Holmes. Sondra’s piece, “That Time of Year” is a setting of one of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Anne Janzer sings it beautifully. Brian Holmes will demonstrate and play the Alphorn for us. He has written two delightful pieces, “Amazing Grace” for Alphorn and organ and “Twilight in the Alps” for Alphorn and vocal trio. Casie Walker, Anne Janzer and Mayo Tsuzuki are the trio.

The program also includes a groovy piece for jazz organ and percussion, played by Paul Rosas and Dylan Damonte; evocative piano and organ duets by Dirk Damonte and Paul Rosas and the extraordinary dancing bells of Bay Area handbell duo, Larry and Carla Sue. The program will end with a “Jig for Handbells and Organ” written by Paul Rosas that will have everyone dancing.

It promises to be unique and entertaining event given to support the ongoing research into Alzheimer’s disease as well as the home services provided by the organization. Please invite your friends and family to come. It really is going to be a special concert.”

Admission to the concert is free, but a collection will be made to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association. If you can’t come to the concert, but would like to support our fundraising efforts for this important cause, please visit our Walk to End Alzheimer’s fundraising page and make an online donation there.

Alzheimer's Benefit Concert

New 8-Bell Music for Christmas 2015!

In the handbell world, our thoughts turn to Christmas and holiday music before most people have even started thinking about the end of the summer. The dilemma is whether to risk being annoying by talking about Christmas when there are still several months to go, or whether to go full-tilt into the festive season, release new Christmas music, and give all the handbell musicians out there plenty of time to practise it before the season arrives. The end of September is approaching. It feels like the right time to introduce our new 8-bell muisc for Christmas 2015.

The following pieces are all available for purchase and download from our music site – and if you click on each individual title, you’ll be taken to the page with more information about each piece, the bells required, and how to make your purchase. Each piece can be played by two, three, four or more people – and we hope you’ll enjoy them!

Angels We Have Heard on High

The First Nowell

Good King Wenceslas

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

O Come, All Ye Faithful

O Holy Night

Once in Royal David’s City

While Shepherds Watched their Flocks

We hope you’ll enjoy playing some of our new 8-bell music for the holiday season. If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to check out our new Christmas music for twelve bells too!

New 8-bell music for Christmas
The most wonderful time of the year!

New Music for Handbells – O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

O Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go is such a beautiful hymn! Today’s our third wedding anniversary. It’s hard to believe that we’ve already been married for three years! Maybe we’re still experiencing that thing long-distance couples complain about – how slowly time goes when two lovers are apart, and how quickly it flies by when they’re together in the same place!

Anyway, it’s time to celebrate our anniversary – and what better way to do that than by publishing a new eight-bell arrangement? This one is the beautiful hymn O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go. The tune is ST. MARGARET, written in 1884 by Albert L. Peace.

“O love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths its flow
may richer, fuller be.

If you’d like to play this piece, the music is available for purchase and download from our music site. We hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we do.

More information about buying music 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.

Please also note that our music is designed as downloadable 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. Please contact us if you don’t find the answers you need, and we’ll do what we can to help!

O Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go - handbells

Chalkboard Encouragement: Let Love Keep you Strong!

“When life feels like a struggle, and things keep going wrong,
Know that better days are coming, and let love keep you strong.”

Here’s a little encouragement for anyone who’s been having a difficult time lately. We’ve been receiving lots of messages on our Facebook page, from long-distance couples. Many people are struggling with the distance, and all the uncertainties that come from being far away from someone you love. We don’t have the answers to all the problems, but we do understand how it feels!

Let Love Keep you Strong

If you’d like to read more about long-distance relationships, you’ll find lots of information on our website. We’ve written about how to cope with feelings of jealousy and insecurity. There’s also an article about arguments; a common problem in long-distance relationships! And if you reach the stage where everything feels too much, read some words of encouragement. You can contact us on our Facebook page, or share your own story there. There will be other people who understand what you’re going through. Perhaps your post will also help to encourage other long-distance couples!

We survived our long-distance relationship, and we hope you can too. The distance may try to break you, but let love keep you strong!