November 25, 2015

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!

November 22, 2015

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.

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.

November 9, 2015

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!

September 24, 2015

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!

September 22, 2015

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

September 16, 2015

New Music for Handbells – I Sing the Mighty Power of God

I Sing the Mighty Power of God will probably be our last 8-bell hymn arrangement of 2015. We need to turn our thoughts to Christmas and holiday music! This hymn tune is ELLACOMBE; the name of a village in England. This tune is also used as the setting for the Palm Sunday hymn Hosanna, Loud Hosanna.

This piece was a lot of fun to learn, particularly in those moments when the repeated notes failed us, and we felt as though we were playing something more akin to “Waltzing Matilda” than the tune we were aiming for. Try it for yourself, and see if you notice the same thing!

More information about the sheet music for this piece

If you’d like to play I Sing the Mighty Power of God, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

When you buy music from Choraegus, it will come to you as a digital download – a PDF file. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Your purchase of this 8-bell hymn arrangement allows you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Please see our licensing agreement for full details.

If this is your first time buying music from Choraegus, you might find our step-by-step guide useful. We designed this to take you through the purchase process and make it stress-free!

Any questions?

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

September 4, 2015

New 12-Bell Music for Christmas 2015!

We’re excited about our new 12-bell music for Christmas 2015! These recordings once again feature Larry’s son J.C., who plays the four bells we can’t manage to play between us.

We didn’t have very much time with J.C on his recent visit. The videos were all made on our first or second read-through of each piece. As a result, there may be be wrong notes or rhythms that are not entirely accurate. We apologise in advance for all those things, but we hope these slightly dubious recordings will provide enough of an idea of how the pieces could sound, given the opportunity for a bit more rehearsal. We hope to have another opportunity to play these arrangements before too long. Please contact us if you have any questions about any of this music, and we’ll be happy to help.

Angels We Have Heard on High

Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella

Ding Dong, Merrily on High

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

We Three Kings

All these pieces are available for purchase and download from Choraegus. Purchase comes with permission to perform these pieces as part of a concert or worship service. We hope you enjoy playing this new 12-bell music!

new 12-bell music for Christmas — Christmas handbells!

August 29, 2015

New Music for Handbells – To God Be the Glory

Here’s our latest addition to our 8-bell hymn repertoire – a new arrangement of To God Be the Glory.

We play this as a 4-in-hand duet, of course, as there are only two of us. However, there are no special techniques required, and it’s suitable for 2-4 ringers.

Would you like to play this arrangement?

If you’d like to play To God Be the Glory, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus.

When you buy handbell music from Choraegus, please note that it will come to you as a PDF file. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music scores, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Purchase of this 8-bell piece entitles you to print up to 4 copies for your handbell group. Don’t pay for more copies than you need to!

If you haven’t bought music from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this to take you through the process in a stress-free way.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about buying or playing our music, please check our Frequently-Asked Questions, in case the answer is there. If you don’t find the information you need, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

August 16, 2015

New Music for Handbells – Praise Him! Praise Him!

We interrupt our preparations for the Bay View Week of Handbells… to bring you a new 8-bell piece. Here’s Praise Him! Praise Him! This one is fun to play! We recorded it on a beautiful, sunny day in Los Altos.

Would you like to play this arrangement?

If you’d like to play this piece, the music is available for purchase and download from Choraegus. We play it as a duet, since there are only two of us, but it’s suitable for 2-4 ringers.

Please note that Choraegus handbell music will come to you as a PDF file. You’ll be responsible for printing your own copies of the score, and won’t receive anything in the mail. If you’re new to buying our music, we recommend our step-by-step guide. We designed this with pictures, to help make the purchasing process as stress-free as possible!

Your purchase of this piece entitles you to print up to 4 copies of the music for your handbell group. Please don’t pay for more copies than you need!

Any questions?

If you have questions, you’re welcome to check our Frequently-Asked Questions, and you might find the answer there. If not, please contact us, and we’ll be happy to help!

July 19, 2015

Not the National Seminar – Our #Pinnacles15 Adventure!

Unlike many of our handbell friends, we didn’t make it to this year’s National Seminar – Pinnacle – in Dallas, Texas. We read lots of news about this exciting event on Facebook. The whole thing was so awesome that it even had its own hashtag on social media – #Pinnacle15.

We’re not the kind of people to sit around and sulk because we were missing out on all the fun in Texas. Instead, we decided to have a handbell adventure of our own here in California. We packed our bells and equipment into the car, and away we went!

Here we are at our destination – PINNACLES!

Our very own handbell event

We checked in at a hotel in the nearby town of Soledad, and our handbell event – #Pinnacles15 – began.

Here’s a picture of the church where we held our Friday evening duet session. We played through some new and unpublished music outside the church of Our Lady of Solitude.

And here’s our opening night dinner. Hey, put your phone away, Larry!

Here’s Larry wearing our event t-shirt:

Here are some of our bells in the hotel room:

Here’s Carla wearing her “Hug Larry if you love Tico Tico” shirt:

Larry held a handbell polishing session:

Wait. Handbell polishing? THAT’S not how you do it, Larry!

Here’s Larry wearing his “Kiss me if you love Tico Tico” shirt. These shirts were worn by handbell musicians from Area 12 at Distinctly Bronze West in February 2015.

Here’s Carla, showing her skills at multi-tasking as she works on music for the Bay View Week of Handbells while drinking coffee!

We enjoyed the opportunity to do some sightseeing in the area too. Here’s a picture of the Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, where we played some of our duets inside and outside the chapel on Saturday morning:

And here we are at the Mission San Juan Bautista, which we visited on Saturday afternoon:

Larry and Carla - Mission San Juan Bautista

Our handbell event was over far too quickly, because we had to be home on Sunday morning, to play duets in a church service in San Jose. But we had a fun couple of days – and you can see more photos from our trip on our Facebook page!